One Year Here- Location

We've been living in our (rental) home on the Upper Eastern Shore in Maryland for one year now, so I thought it would be a good time for an update. When we moved here a year ago, we were generally unfamiliar with the area. While Behn and I both grew up in Delaware- which technically is only a few miles away- we did not grow up this far south in the state. So the towns, shopping, roads, and other attractions were generally new to us. Since then, we've really established our stomping grounds. We live in a tiny one stop-light town in a neighborhood stuffed with great kids and neighbors. Let's start there.

Our rental is a roomy Cape Cod on a quiet street. We have firefighters/EMS on one side of our house and a state Trooper on the other side. While we haven't met everyone, most of the neighbors are so super friendly and the kids have a huge group of kiddos to run around with. I've made one especially close friend, which has been a blessing. The kids run around the acre yard and climb the few trees. We planted sunflowers and cosmos and zinnias, accompanied by many weeds.

Our town is tiny, but has a Dollar Store (which we frequent too often), Food Lion, pizza restaurant, park, post office, few small businesses, and best of all- a free community pool. We have been there nearly every day this summer, and G and P are taking swim lessons. We also have a fish hatchery outside of town, free and open to all. The boys love playing in the creek there and looking for wildlife.

15-20 minutes west of us is a cute, quaint, historic town- Chestertown. There's plenty of arts, culture, and food there. Go 15-20 minutes in the opposite direction- east- and we're in Smyrna, DE, which is where we worship at church, along with my brother and his wife. I also prefer to go to Aldi in Smyrna for my tax-free groceries.  Drive north, and we can go to Middletown, DE- lots of shopping and parks there, as well as some family! Being near(ish) family has been so good for the kids. They LOVE seeing their cousins, aunts, uncles, and grandparents. We're still "far" compared to the rest of them grouped up in New Castle County, but closer than we've been in the past. Drive south and we can still get to my parents' house in about 2 hours. We also are finding the beautiful areas on the eastern shore, like Adkins Arboretum, a native plant garden. We could also be at the beach in just over an hour. So, while we are somewhat isolated in our little town, we are also in the center of so much :)

We've adjusted to Behn commuting a distance a couple days a week, and to him working from home a few days a week. It's not easy, especially since we are homeschooling, but overall it has been working out.

To be continued...

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