We've moved to Kentucky!
Q1
We enjoyed a long weekend skiing up on the North Shore of Lake Superior at Lutsen with friends. January in Northern Minnesota with outdoor sports means you embrace sub-zero temperatures. No worries, there was plenty of wine to warm us up too! Just to really test the Minnesotan in her before the move Krista participated in "dipping" in Lake Harriet. A hole is cut in the ice and you submerge for a few minutes. It is supposed to have great health benefits but there's not interest in adding this to a winter routine, once was plenty.
Drew and the kids enjoyed skiing most Saturdays in another year of skijammers and most of those days Krista prepped the house for sale. The kids got to have a little fun with that too- since we decided to replace the rug runner on the stairs we figured why not let the kids color on them as a grand sendoff!
Winter sports activities also included basketball and we relied on family and friends to navigate all of the practices and games since there were often conflicting schedules with the kids during the week when Krista was already in Kentucky.
We celebrated Blake and Leslie's last single digit birthday with bowling and laser tag fun.
The real winner this winter was Drew who finally got his new Bronco after nearly two years of patiently waiting. While Krista was initially resistant it has turned out to be a great family car.
Q2
As the Spring began the activity seemed to really ramp up the pace with the move quickly approaching. In the midst of it all we managed the following notable activities
- Krista caught up with friends at a Kellogg reunion
- We went to see Star Wars at the MN Orchestra- so cool to watch the movie while the orchestra played the soundtrack
- The kids took some horseback riding lessons and even learned to muck a barn
- We had a great weekend campout with the Edina Normandale pack in Southern MN- it was definitely one of the many bittersweet moments of the Spring
- Pinewood Derby was held outdoors again, and it was unusually chilly even for MN
- But quickly things heated up and the kids enjoyed the fun at "Big Bounce America" in record heat
- Both kids played soccer
- Blake got his braces off (mere days before the move!)
- We did our annual trip to Breezy Point and Krista's childhood BFF and her son joined us for the week (we were all Brave as it was the week before the moving truck arrived!)
In Q2 we closed on a new house, sold our MN house, got a contract on a patio home for Sally (Drew's mom) and got the condo in MN on the market. This validated we don't have interest in being real estate barons anytime soon- what a rollercoaster!
All in all the move went smooth as any move likely could, but it was still full of stress, tearful goodbyes and lots of adjustment to a new home and state.
Q3
We didn't last long before driving back up to MN. The kids spent time at Trout Lake Sleep Away Camp, Drew and Krista caught up with colleagues and friends in the twin cities and then had an awesome weekend at Grandview Lodge before making an extraordinarily long journey back to KY with less than 48 hours before school started!
The kids jumped right into a variety of activities- Blake discovered he's awesome at cross- country, Leslie is involved in the Children's Theater and true leader of the Cheerleading squad. They got to be on the same soccer team that came in 2nd in the league and both developed great skills. Leslie also played Field Hockey for the first time- I'm glad she had a great time and to be honest we still don’t entirely understand the game.
Drew jumped right into re-launching the Anchorage Cub Scout pack.
The biggest news however was Bowie dog joined our family. We had promised to get a new dog once we moved and while we were starting to look a stray dog was found on the local tennis courts. We said we'd foster until his family was found. He wasn't chipped and despite all efforts a family wasn’t found. In the meantime, he melded right into our family and ultimately, we failed at fostering and adopted him. He went on to win the rescue category at the Anchorage Dog Show- he had some good PR as the tennis court dog that the community had heard all about.
Q4
The kids have a full week for Spring Break here - so we did a road trip down to Gatlinburg. We explored the Great Smoky Mountain National Park and a day at Dollywood. Basketball season kicked off- and Kentucky sure is a basketball state! Krista went electric and got a Mustang Mach-e after an almost year wait.
Unbelievably we've had snow already here in Kentucky. We're pretty sure folks think we packed it with us from MN, but I promise you we did not. Despite the reduced skiing, I think most of the Hensels will enjoy what is hopefully a milder winter!
I'd like to say we're settled, but the reality is we are all still adjusting. It takes a while to find your groove I guess. It has been nice to be close to family, the school is great, work is hard but good and we know soon it will really feel like home. For now we are still the newbies, experiencing a lot of firsts.
If you find yourself with a reason to be visiting Kentucky- look us up! We'd love to host guests.
