Sweet Home Alabama

Okay, so most of you know we received our orders for Maxwell AFB, AL.  What you might not know is that we are leaving DC much sooner than we had expected - May 23!!!  We have to report on June 1 and since we bought a house down there last weekend (another thing you might not have known) we want to get there a little early so that we can do all the closing stuff and get somewhat settled before Erick begins training for his new job as an instructor. 

I had never been to Alabama before this weekend.  The only thing I knew about it came from second hand accounts - one particular account involved squirrels and eating them - so I really did not know what to expect.  Well folks, it's a beautiful state, and the people are so nice - it's just amazing.  I don't know, maybe I've lived in DC too long, but when I stopped for gas right after we crossed the border, the clerk inside began asking us about our whole life story and then told us how much longer it was to Montgomery and places we should look for - I walked away thinking, "man - all I went in there for was to pay for gas and buy a pack of gum!!"  

When we got to Montgomery and began our house search, it was the same, people were so friendly - everyone seemed to know each other and they treated us like they had known us for years.  Can we say southern hospitality?  

We will be living in a suburb of Montgomery called Prattville, a nice community of about 32,000 people - they even have a community choir!!  Our house is in a new development - off the beaten path - and our house backs up to a small lake and there will be a fishing area/picnic area on the farther shore.  

We have pictures that I will post when I get around to it - I am so busy right now - but I will definitely post pics of the finished product.  I am so excited about this move...although I finally met one of our neighbors in DC - a little boy of about 8 who walks his dogs on the path behind our house - and he is sad that we won't be here through September (when he moves) because he likes to talk to us and likes to see Han and Luke.  In the four years I've lived here, that's the only neighbor I've ever really talked to - we didn't really have any before - but it's kind of nice to know that our presence will be missed by someone in our neighborhood.