Hi, I'm new here.

We are new here.
This is a very new feeling. I've been "the new person" before but the situations were always different.

The first time I was ever completely new and on my own I had graduated college! Seriously. I was an intern, with 30 other interns. Then I moved to a new city where I already had friends. I had a sucky job, but worked with some really cool people. I got invited to tag along, explore and learned my way around my new cities with visitors, other interns, friends, roommates
and finally the love of my life.

We moved together to a new city, where we again, had friends. We got married, bought a house in a subdivision and had healthy babies. Insert stereotype here. I don't mind. This is exactly what I wanted. Chad and I both worked outside the home. The boys were in daycare. We met parents of other students. We had a great church that was really focused on children. We met parents in the nursery. And we had ah-may-zing neighbors that had children. We lived there for almost six years and got quite comfortable with our little life.

Now everything is new. Our temporary housing, sharing a room, there is no preschool, no friends, the library is new and doesn't have rhyme time (a favorite for B) and if it weren't for the GPS we would be in trouble! But we are here together as a family.

Just like us, people get comfortable and have their friends and their life. And I know it can be hard to "break into" some circles. Remember, I graduated high school with people I started kindergarten with. I KNOW all to well what a tight circle is. Because I have never been "the new one", I'm not real good at doing the whole, "Hi, I'm new here".

But I can't be the only new person in town. So once a week, I am going to take you to a new hot spot. Hot spot being a relative term. By relative, I mean if you are two and four. We are going to meet new friends. We are going to eat, play, and have FUN.

Even if we have been to a place before, we will go again with a new perspective. Consider this your newcomers guide. Exploring Richmond with a two and four year old.

See you back here next Thursday!