Keep Your Eye on the Grand Old Flag

Happy Memorial Day to all! We started out the morning at the VA Hospital lawn with a rousing concert by the Sioux Falls Municipal Band, playing all the patriotic classics including the National Anthem, Yankee Doodle Dandy, J.P. Sousa, and Grand Old Flag. Reminded me of my Memorial Days back in Spencerport NY with Moira Walker blaring out taps on the trumpet ;)

After the concert, we packed a picnic lunch and headed to Sertoma Park where they have a huge picnic pavillion and 4 playgrounds! The kids had fun (didn't eat much, but they did have fun ;)

Brian and David played a little Wii together while Michael napped. We watched Notre Dame lose to Duke in the national championship game of lacrosse, and to close out the day, we met some new friends (family friends of Ryan Engle) at a local ice cream parlor called The Milky Way.

Best thing about a 3 day weekend is the following 4 day week ;) It's like a double bonus. So, I hope you enjoyed your long weekend, and I hope you enjoy your short week!

Cucumbers and Rhinos

Man, we ran these little boys ragged today. Which is a nice turning of the tables for once... ;)

We went to Falls Park for the weekly Farmer's Market in the morning.

After naps, we went to the Great Plains Zoo, right here in town.

And if that doesn't sound like such a crazy day to you, it must be because you don't have a 1 year old and a 3 year old ;)

What are the Chances?

So, Brian's boss's wife, Trish, invited us to play at the park with her kids. The park is in an historic district of town (McKennan Park) that is not particularly close to our home (note: in Sioux Falls, EVERYTHING is somewhat close - I would say it took us about 10 minutes to get to this park...) While there, we actually ran into the only other kid that we really know in Sioux Falls, a little girl named Mildred who lives in our apartment complex. I have to say that it went a long way towards making me feel like a part of my new city to be running into friends at the park across town ;)

Brian's First Day

Thursday was Brian's first day of work at Poet, the world's largest producer of ethanol. http://www.poet.com/

He was overloaded with information (I quote him: "I felt like I was drinking from the fire hose") but he continues to be impressed with the people he is meeting and the mission of the company.

Because it's Memorial Day weekend, his boss (who, btw, played football at the Univ of Texas) downloaded him on EVERYTHING and he pretty much hit the ground running...

Until our new car comes in, me and the boys will be driving Brian to and from work, so that means that we got to take some goofy pictures of him on his first day ;)

The First Few Days

Supposedly we left the Windy City behind, but in fact, the first few days in Sioux Falls were windier than any day I remember in Chitown. With Pap'o help, we were able to unpack quickly and start to get settled. We checked out our new grocery store, the Hy-Vee (with which Brian was "very impressed." He was also "impressed" with the gas prices - what is it with men and their infatuation with finding the lowest gas price???)

We had also promised Mam'o and Pap'o a trip to Falls Park before they headed back to NY, so we spent a windy afternoon before heading on to our real estate agent's home for dinner. It was so nice and unexpected to have social plans on our very first night in Sioux Falls! Melissa and her husband and son have a gorgeous home - it got Brian and I excited about buying our new home soon. They have about 5 bedrooms, an office, a finished basement with a bar, a pool table, and a sound-proofed home theater with a 100 inch screen...and that is just IN the house! Their backyard has a fireplace, a half basketball court, and a trampoline! Maybe someday, the Guarraci Mansion will boast some of these features... ;)

In the days that followed, we explored some parks (one with a fabulous frisbee golf course), joined Sam's Club (gotta get our free samples somewhere), and shopped at Target for such essentials as water guns, etc. We play in the backyard on a daily basis and are feeling very comfortable in our apartment. Although it has less square footage than our condo, it feels bigger in every room except for the kitchen.

On Tuesday, a couple of Notre Dame alumni invited us to their gorgeous home for dinner. Again, it was so nice to feel so welcomed in a new place. Everybody has been so friendly to us!

Arriving

The drive was very smooth - a straight shot on 90 all the way into Sioux Falls. The boys were great - we stopped several times for playgrounds, food, gas, and driver changes, and finally arrived at Donegal Pointe, our temporary apartment complex, at about 9:30pm. The boys were GIDDY! David took his shoes off and ran through the grass in our new "backyard." I thought there was no way that they would fall asleep after so much excitement, but lo and behold, exhaustion won out and we all crashed hard. The above picture was taken in the living room of what the boys call our "little new house" (as opposed to the "big new house" which we will buy after our condo sells).

Attempting a Blog

Anybody want to take bets on how long this lasts? I would love to have a blog, now that we are offcially "The South Dakota Guarracis," but I know myself well enough to know that it will last for a few days, a few weeks if I am lucky, and then it will join the great list of "good ideas that I couldn't follow through on." So, enjoy for the next few days anyway...

We have made it through our first week in Sioux Falls SD. We left Chicago last Friday morning at 10 am -ish. Leaving our condo was hard, even for David, who said to his Daddy, "I'm gonna miss this place." It was probably hardest for Mommy who couldn't walk through a room without thinking, "This is where David first went pee pee on the potty." or "This is where I went into labor with David and Michael." or "This is the closet where Michael slept." ;) It was also hard for Mam'o just because Mam'o is Mam'o and she feels the sentimentality and sadness of things more deeply than the rest of us do. Love ya, Mam'o ;) Anyway, after some packing and re-packing, some goodbye tears, and a moment to thank that home, our first home, for all of the beautiful memories, we headed West.

The above picture will forever be the last family picture we ever took at 4738 North Lincoln Avenue....