Moving to California

Another cake . . .

2006-03-25T22:19:00.000-08:00

It may not have been on her birthday, but we celebrated Grandma Chris' birthday while she was here. The girls helped me decorate the cake.

curlers

2006-03-25T22:13:00.000-08:00

you will see some of the results in the picture of Becca with Grandma Chris in front of her birthday cake. However, Becca didn't really like the way her hair turned out when we took the curlers out so I only have pictures of her with the curlers in . . .

Grandma Chris's birthday celebration

2006-03-25T22:08:00.000-08:00

The Birthday Girl . . .

with the Cake Eaters.

rest of the pics

2006-02-11T22:54:00.000-08:00

Here are a few more . . .

Then the cake . . .

2006-02-11T22:49:00.000-08:00

Megan chose "triple chocolate fudge" cake and milk chocolate icing.

Megan turns 3!!

2006-02-11T22:47:00.000-08:00

First was presents . . .

Rebecca

2006-01-31T16:33:00.000-08:00

What a great smile!!

Not to mention the cute outfit - Thanks, Grandma Sara!

Papa Calendar

2006-01-31T14:28:00.000-08:00

We have started marking off the days on a calendar by putting a sticker on each morning. Since the return date is never certain this seemed to make more sense than trying to count down.

life abroad

2006-01-31T14:25:00.000-08:00

Mark sent me some pictures today from their stop in Australia. However, from the picture you can see that he is the same anywhere in the world . . .

other photos from today

2006-01-17T00:22:00.000-08:00

Laura and John sent me flowers!Rebecca spent most of the day on the computer . . .
Megan is a messy cake eater!!

My birthday

2006-01-17T00:17:00.000-08:00

Today was pretty good! I baked a cake which the girls decorated. They had a babysitter for an hour this morning while I was running errands. Alex helped them make a card for me.

I put the chocolate frosting on. Rebecca decorated with icing tubes. Megan added the sprinkles!

Curly as promised

2006-01-17T00:16:00.000-08:00

Better late than never.

New Style

2006-01-13T19:18:00.000-08:00

I also got my hair cut and colored today. Tomorrow I will see how it looks curly. Today - styled straight.

Post flood pictures

2006-01-13T19:16:00.000-08:00

Well, I didn't get to taking these the next day but I have finally done it. This was today, Friday the 13th.

It's a purple kinda day.

2006-01-12T11:06:00.000-08:00

Both girls decided to wear purple today and have pony tails. They were so cute, I thought I should share.

Pic from the traveler

2006-01-10T17:42:00.000-08:00

According to Mark, life on the ship is life on the ship. The girls were exstatic to get a picture of Papa in his green shirt!

New dalmation

2006-01-07T20:09:00.000-08:00

Here is a great shot of our happy new dog. Grandma Sara sent her this outfit. She LOVES wearing it. Of course, everyone who sees her says, "how cute!". I think that most of the time - even without the outfit.

"the Flood"

2006-01-04T21:57:00.000-08:00

Oh, yeah, this was what the front yard/road looked like when he left . . .

Tomorrow I will take a picture of what it looks like without the water so you will be able to really see difference. Also, Megan wants me to take a picture of their new curtains in their bedroom so that Papa can see them.

more photos . . .

2006-01-04T21:53:00.000-08:00

Megan and Papa

Rebecca and Papa

Mark's departure

2006-01-04T21:44:00.000-08:00

This was taken on the morning that we took Mark to the air terminal for his six month cruise.

Girls' new bed

2006-01-04T21:32:00.000-08:00

I know I haven't posted lately but things have finally calmed down enough to be able to do just that. Here is a picture from Dec, when the girls got their new bunkbed.

brief update . . . more to come

2005-12-11T19:55:00.000-08:00

We are finally getting a bit settled. I haven't been spending much time at the computer but thought I should take a couple of minutes to update my blog. I have some pictures to share but that will have to wait for another time.

The weather here in central California is significantly different than that in NE Florida. It gets colder here, though still no snow. Pepsi is much more prevalent here than Coke (which for me is a big deal!!). Mark can't get hot tea from the fast food breakfast places (they looked at me like I was speaking German when I asked). There are a million Mexican restaurants but we have yet to find a wing place. Mark is starting to get desperate enough to go to Fresno for wings (about 30 miles away).

The girls are doing pretty well. They are eagerly awaiting the delivery of their bunk bed. For now they are both on mattresses on the floor. Mark and I are in the same boat as the place were we got our bed from had the mattress in stock but not the box spring. It has been a little over a week now since we ordered the beds -- hopefully they will be in soon.

We did get the Christmas tree up and decorated. We also put up the outside Christmas lights. We haven't gotten all the boxes empty yet but in an attempt to help the girls feel at home we decided to go ahead and decorate anyway. We also took a day trip to the Seqouia National Park yesterday. The girls weren't all that impressed with the big trees but it was good to get away from the boxes for awhile. The views were amazing, especially the sunset over the mountains.

Last time zone change

2005-11-29T21:11:00.000-08:00

Well, we finally made it to the pacific time zone!!!!!!!

I got up early this morning to see the sunrise at the Grand Canyon. I took lots of pictures but will have to post them later. I brought breakfast back for everyone - they were all still asleep.

The van didn't like going this morning as the temp. was 21 degrees. However, by the time that we crossed the Hoover Dam it was a toasty 54 degrees.

We have scheduled a flight for Mark to go to Indiana to attend his grandfather's funeral. He leaves first thing in the morning. I wish we could all go -- however our stuff is being delivered to our new house on Thursday morning so the girls and I are going to continue on to California.

Mark is only going to be a couple of days behind us, which will be nice.

Sorry if this post seems a little out of order . . . I am quite tired. Hopefully I will be able to figure out how to set up the computer on my own at the house tomorrow night so that I can post again.

Night all . . . . . . .

New Mexico

2005-11-27T20:53:00.000-08:00

Finally got out of Texas today . . .

What a beautiful state!!

We are staying in Albuquerque tonight. Tomorrow we are going to visit the Petrified Forest National Park. We will be staying in Flagstaff, AZ tomorrow night.
Now it is time for some much needed sleep. We spent 11+ hours in the car today. My eyes are ready to be closed for awhile!!!!!

The long driving day

2005-11-27T20:40:00.000-08:00

We started out this morning at 8 am CT. For the first 3+ hours the wind was relentless. Notice how brown the sky is from all the dirt the wind churned up. . . .

The girls had a long night playing with their new friends Colton and Travis. Megan just couldn't take it any more.

I didn't even realize it snowed in Texas. We got to drive though a very thick, very wet blizzard just south of and including Amarillo

lost tooth

2005-11-27T20:35:00.000-08:00

Yesterday Rebecca had a very loose tooth.
(top left center tooth)

When she woke up this morning the tooth had come out and was just lying on her tongue. She was quite surprised. We decided to make it easy on the tooth fairy and wait until we get to our house in California to put it under her pillow.

On the road again . . .

2005-11-27T04:42:00.000-08:00

After a nice relaxing day yesterday, today we are going to drive til we drop. We are going to get as close to Albuquerque as we can. All the way there would be nice but that would be at least 10-11 hours of driving --- plus stops. We do have a little cushion built in for tomorrow morning if we don't get as far as we hope today.

I thought of my friend Barri a lot yesterday as the radio kept spouting commercials for IKEA in Frisco . . . guess they were having a big after Thanksgiving sale.

Being a week into this voyage, I am looking forward to the end of it. We have gone a little over 1,100 miles but are not yet half way. The full trip is a little over 2,700 miles. By the time we stop tonight we should be past the half way mark.

Pray for my children today. 10-11 hours in the car -- I might have to throw one of them out! J/K

Day 5

2005-11-25T15:51:00.000-08:00

Well, after two days without a good internet connection we are now in Texas. It took us a little over six hours to get here from Nana and Grandpa David's house. Going back to catch you up . . .

Tuesday night Laurel and I went to the Martini Bar near her house. She had a citrus cosmopolitan, I had a Key Lime. All I needed were some grahm crackers for the crust and I would have thought I was having pie . . . until I stood up. lol

Wednesday Mark and I emptied the vehicles to sort and repack everything that had been thrown in at the last minute before we left the house. About an hour and 45 minutes after we left Laurel's we got into stop and go traffic approaching Baton Rouge. It finally cleared when we got west of the Mississippi River. We took the first exit as I really needed to stop. That was when I learned that the breaks on the truck had locked up. This was at 3pm the day before Thanksgiving. After the brakes cooled they unlocked, which was fortunate as very few places were open and none wanted to try to fix it then anyway. We managed to get to Deridder - Mark called ahead to his parents who set up an appointment to get the truck fixed on Friday morning.

Thursday we had a nice relaxing day in Deridder: slept in, watched football, had a WONDERFUL meal, and relaxed all evening.

Friday I repacked our stuff while Mark got the truck fixed. It was less expensive than we had anticipated which was very nice. The trip here went much smoother as we seperated the girls - one in each vehicle. That way they can't fight.

We are planning a nice relaxing evening tonight and not much tomorrow. However, Sunday we are planning a long day of driving - we will see how far we can get. Mark missed the state line sign for Texas so we will have to find another sign to photograph.

Pictures from Day Two

2005-11-22T15:00:00.000-08:00

Breakfast in Tallahassee

Finally done with Florida!

Two states done . . .

We will be staying in this state for 3 days.

Day Two

2005-11-22T14:50:00.000-08:00

We made it to Chez Laure'l!!! Wow there are a lot of blue roofs here! It took us a bit longer to get here than I had anticipated. It is good to be here.

Mark took pictures of each of the state line signs as well as a picture of Laurel and me when we got here. Nothing very eventful today but I am glad to be done with the very long state of Florida!

Day one

2005-11-21T17:10:00.000-08:00

Today we closed on our house in Jacksonville. We are officially homeless now. Just a bunch of vagrants living out of our cars. :-)

Tonight we are in a Holiday Inn in Tallahassee. Tomorrow we will arrive at Chez Laurel for a wonderful evening of visiting and checking out the martini bar (hope they have other drinks though since I don't drink gin).

Nothing really amusing to share today but at least we have started our trip.

Last day in Jax

2005-11-21T06:26:00.000-08:00

The house is very empty - just a few things to load up. I can't really believe that it is time to go. The adventures of our trip will be a great distraction from the major change that is happening.

I don't know if we will have internet access tonight at the hotel in Tallehassee or not. I will be posting an update tomorrow night from Chez Laure'l where we will be staying in Slidell.

Jacksonville has been pretty good to us. It is a sad farewell to all of our friends here. Thank you for all of your help and prayers.

Next post to be from somewhere down the road . . . .

Friday, Nov. 18th

2005-11-18T19:41:00.000-08:00

Rebecca is now officially six! Where did the time go??

All the stuff has been packed - 172 boxes! And that doesn't include the furniture - just the boxes. The truck arrived late this afternoon to begin loading the boxes. They will be back at 7 am to finish loading. Our house-turned-warehouse is quickly becoming empty. This is both sad and exciting - this is the only home my daughters have ever known and change can be scary. But it is fun thinking about where things will go in the new house and how life will be different in a small town verses this big city. I fear my toughest adjustment will be things closing much earlier. We have many places that are open late and/or 24 hours a day. I don't think that will be the case in Lemoore.

As a perk, I talked to one of my best friends from high school this last week. She lives in San Diego. I am looking forward to getting to see her soon! Hi, Beth!

It is late and we have an early start tomorrow. Good night.

Tomorrow they pack

2005-11-14T17:01:00.000-08:00

Well, the day has finally arrived. Tomorrow the packers come to box up all our stuff. They showed up today - which freaked me out as I was not ready for them to be here. Turns out the office girl made up four orders for this week but put directions to our house in the packet for today by mistake. So, they were really late getting to where they were supposed to be and I have already met the guys that will be here tomorrow. Other than a little anxiety on my part - all is well.

Still lots to do - back to work for me . . . .

Fri. Nov 11th

2005-11-11T19:23:00.000-08:00

We made some progress in the sorting endeaver today. Rebecca's birthday party is tomorrow afternoon. When it is over we will be sorting in earnest as the packers will be here Tuesday morning. Tonight I went out to dinner with some of my friends from the local moms group that has been so great for me. Unfortunately the nearest chapter to our new house is over 200 miles away. I am sure I will meet plenty of people anyway.

I realize I haven't posted much here - that is about to change. They will be packing our stuff this week then we get on the road next week. WOW, I can't believe it is time to go already!!!

boxes and boxes

2005-11-08T08:33:00.000-08:00

Well we have started moving boxes. Unfortunately, they are not being moved toward our new house yet. We had put a lot of stuff into storage to make the house look better for selling it. I guess it worked since we are getting $5K over our asking price!! But anyway, we brought a bunch of the stuff back that the mover will have to repack - so that their insurance will cover it. The shelves look very crowded but it is only for a week. This time next week they will be getting empty. The packers are supposed to be here the 15th-17th, then they will load the moving truck on the 18th (which happens to be my daughter's 6th birthday).

-OK, back to the boxes . . .

Friday 11-4

2005-11-04T20:27:00.000-08:00

Guess I didn't pick the best time to start this blog thing. Nothing really happened today to write about. Becca has her friend Ashton here for a sleep over tonight. Ashton's birthday is 3.5 weeks after Rebecca's. Tonight is in honor of Ash's birthday since we will already be in California by then.

Let me tell you - those two did NOT want to go to sleep tonight. We finally had to separate them. Once Ashton fell asleep, Becca went back in and now they are both sleeping.

Kat (Ashton's mom) and I are taking the girls to Libby Lu's tomorrow. It is a girly-girl make-over type place in the mall. I am sure I will have pics to post from that. Becca doesn't know about it yet as Kat wanted it to be a surprise.

Halloween costumes

2005-11-03T14:22:00.000-08:00

Here is a picture of Mark and I in our Halloween costumes.

Disclaimer

2005-11-03T14:00:00.000-08:00

Just so that you all know, I make no claims of being a great speller or an English geek - Math geek, yes - Science geek, yes - English nope. See the previous sentence for an example of what I mean!!
I think this will be fun.

Learning time

2005-11-03T13:43:00.000-08:00

At the suggestion of my "looper" friends, I am starting a blog about our relocation adventures. Thanks La for the info and inspiration. This is a first for me but I am assured that it is easy to do. I will be able to add adventures as travel also, just need internet access. Wish me well . . . .