Here we are, Nashville!

After we handed over our house keys to the property manager, we left Mooresville with teary eyes on Wednesday morning. The 7 hour drive over the Smoky Mountains did go well and the kids as well as the cat behaved great. Late afternoon we arrived in Hendersonville (part of Nashville), TN at our new rental house:

The big moving truck wasn't far behind us and already the next morning all our stuff got delivered.

It took 3 men only 5.5 hours to empty the truck and leave us with plenty of moving boxes to unpack. This meant all hands on deck, children too:

Except the cat was too scared and rather hid in the bathroom:

And the boat was delivered separately on Saturday:

So for the past few days, we have unpacked at least 50 boxes and are still not done yet. But we are making progress and the house is coming together. This is what our house looked like for the first few days:

And when you have so many empty boxes (luckily a company will come next week to pick them up) and two bored children, you let them color all the boxes they want:

Since we all needed a break from the chaos, we went to explore a nearby park, the boat launch (only 2 miles from the house) and the playgrounds at an elementary school near our house over the weekend.

The park we go to almost daily features an awesome playground. You know you are in Nashville when the playground is funded by Taylor Swift and carries her name as flags (she grew up here and her parents still live in Hendersonville). 

The part of Hendersonville we live at is a peninsula, surrounded by Old Hickory Lake and thus, we are only a mile away from the water on either side. There are geese and ducks everywhere. The town's motto is called: "The City by the Lake"...lol. Here is a map of our location (we are the black spot on the peninsula)

While we still have to shop for some furniture (our dresser broke and I just ordered a kitchen island for more counter space), the kids and I got some good ideas at nearby stores. But my best find was this high-end leather armchair for $35 at Goodwill. It is super comfortable and will be used for additional seating in the living room.

Since Derrick will be able to work from home a few days a week, we needed an office space for him. So one bedroom was converted into an office while the kids are now sharing a bedroom. We bought this used loft bed and both kids are loving their new sleeping quarters (canopy is from IKEA): 

 

We also have a huge bonus room, which serves as the kids' playroom and my office/ craft area. More pictures of the house will come once we have everything unpacked, decorated some and painted a couple of walls. Since the children and I will be leaving for Germany in a week and Derrick will work on the house in the meanwhile, it will be August by the time this will happen. But here is one last pictures of my little ones having fun in the our new backyard:

So here we are, Nashville and hopefully we will stay for while!