Christmas countdown

I'm pretty sure it's Wednesday. Working nights it's easy to get a little disoriented about the day of the week. I got up at 630AM on Monday, went Christmas shopping, went to the gym, took some Christmas pictures of the girls (which didn't go very well), had a mediocre 2 hour nap, got ready for work, and then worked until 8AM on Tuesday. So yesterday kind of just disappeared with sleeping, unfortunately, and then I fell asleep when we put the girls to bed, so now here I am at 6AM again! 

This is the week of our tenth wedding anniversary, and originally we were planning on spending it at Disneyland. Fortunately/unfortunately, I changed to a full-time position at work last month, so we weren't able to go to California this week. We are now looking into going early in 2015 though. Anyway, I do have 3 more days off after wasting most of yesterday in my comfy bed, so we're hoping to have some fun. We'll all be going to the gym together this morning, and then we'll be going to the mall to meet Santa! Tomorrow, my parents are coming over to babysit the girls so Mark and I can go on our first date since August! We are looking forward to having lots of sushi! And then Friday is our anniversary, and I'm thinking we'll be going to the zoo to check out ZooLights. 

I think we are about done Christmas shopping for the girls. I have some ideas to make some things for the grammies, and I am still shopping for Mark. We'll be moving Christmas to the 21st to make the holiday a little more relaxed and enjoyable, as I am working the 24th, 26th and 27th. I doubt we would be able to get away with it if the girls were older, but I think it will work this year. 

I have a couple hours still before the girls get up, so I'm going to try and get some cleaning done around here before the day really begins! 

How we got here, part 6

Seriously going to finish this backstory right now.

So, we stayed at a shitty La Quinta near Denver for a night, then did the whole repacking the car thing again, and got back on the road.

Up until the previous day, our plan was to go north through Denver up to Wyoming, then take I-80 west to I-84, as that was the faster route. However, I talked to my brother who used to live in Denver, and he thought we were kind of crazy to not drive west across CO, through the Rockies as that drive is so beautiful. So, we changed our course and we ended up having a really awesome day driving through those giant mountains.

We kept stopping to take pictures of the gorgeous scenery, which definitely slowed us down, and Amelia had a giant diaper explosion in her carseat at one point and the aftermath that followed added close to an hour to our trip. We didn't have enough wipes for all the damage, and I ended up carrying a naked baby into a Dairy Queen and washing her in the sink in the bathroom. We stopped at Walgreens for more supplies, but man, just walking through the store was exhausting due to the altitude (around 10000 feet at that time).

After we got back on the road for a while, we stopped at a rest area where there was still a lot of snow on the ground, so Lily got her first encounter with the white stuff (Amelia missed out because she was napping).After playing with it for a minute, she started crying because her hands got so cold. I made a tiny snowman that fit in my hand, and Lily got over her cold hands to play in the snow a little longer (and throw some at me!)

Later that day, we stopped at a rest area that was right on the Colorado river. It was overflowing with snow melt, and the water was freezing, but that didn't stop Stanlee from drinking it.

We kept on driving (and driving and driving) and finally made it to Utah.

Not long after crossing the border, we encountered a freaky wind storm...are there tornadoes out there? We were low on gas and got a little worried because it seemed we were really in the middle of nowhere, but luckily found a station in time, and got the heck away from that storm. We really needed to start making some progress because it was getting dark and we were several hours behind schedule. We were supposed to be stopping for the night in SLC, but after several hours of Mark driving too fast through dark mountain roads, I was just so done. We got a room in Provo, which was basically the first populated area we had seen in the whole state. We ate some food and crashed very quickly that night.

The next morning we woke up excited because it was Oregon Day! We just had to get through Utah and Idaho, and we would finally be in our new state for the first time! After getting back on the road, we made a little stop at Target for some snacks, coffee and some shorts for the girls because it was so hot out and we were out of weather-appropriate clothes for them. We had a pretty uneventful day of driving, save for the 5 minutes we couldn't get our car to start (Mark forgot to put the car in park!).

One more state to go...

Idaho has some crazy high speed limits so we made it through in good time, and then finally, finally, finally, finally, after years of planning and days of driving, we crossed the border into Oregon, and I literally cried.

We made it!! 

 We stopped at the rest stop at the state line, and we took a lot of pictures. They had an Oregon Trail display set up, complete with the remnants of a covered wagon. It's just hard to comprehend how so many people traveled such a distance on one of those things, searching for a better life, just like we were now. It helped put our trip into perspective a bit, as we made it from Florida to Oregon with 5 days of driving in the comfort of our Mazda. It is simply incredible that in less than 200 years, what used to take half a year (from Missouri to OR) now takes only half a week.

Respect.

After our rest stop celebration, we got back in the car and kept driving west through our new state. We were amazed at how the scenery of eastern Oregon changed as we drove, but it was all beautiful. We passed through an idyllic valley as a train was going by in the distance - it seemed like a scene out of a movie.

We knew we were going to have to stop for one more night before making it to Portland, and eventually we got a room in Pendleton. We ended up having gas station food for dinner due to lack of options. Oh well. We got up uncharacteristically early the next day because it was Portland Day, and we were going home. By then, we were pretty awesome at packing the car and getting back on the road. We continued driving west on 84, and eventually we could see Mount Hood. Mount Hood!!

We had perfect weather as we drove through the Gorge, and finally we were in Multnomah County, and then we were in downtown Portland, on the Marquam bridge, and we were just ecstatic.

We drove past my new hospital, got off on our new exit, and stopped at our new apartment, all these things we had seen in pictures but now we were really doing it! It was only early afternoon, maybe about 12 or 1, and we got our keys and opened the door to the place we would be living.

And then, there was shopping.

We had to find a mattress first, because we had absolutely NO furniture. We had nothing to sleep on at all, so we needed something immediately. After a few stops we bought a floor model that was 50% off. We took that back home (HOME!) and went to Target. It was a painful Target trip, actually. The girls were just so, totally done at that point, but we needed things for living, like food and toilet paper and laundry soap. We spent $800 at Target, the first of several ridiculous amounts we would be spending in the next few weeks. That's what happens when you move across the country with only the things that fit in one car that's also carrying 4 people and an 80 pound dog.

...

So that's done.

We've been in Oregon for 6 months exactly, as of today. It's just crazy to think about sometimes. I know we're still in the honeymoon phase, but man, we really do love this state. I'll be putting a green heart in Oregon sticker on my car soon, that's for sure. Florida has a little place in my heart, but I feel alive here. So far, this place has been everything we hoped it would be, and more. My job is awesome. I've lost 50 pounds. Next year, I'll be doing triathlons and masters swimming. We'll be sledding and skiing on Mt. Hood, and hiking through Forest Park and all around the Gorge. There's so much to do, and so many things to see. The west coast is simply the best coast, and this is where we belong. Thanks for 6 awesome months, Oregon. We are so happy to be here.

How we got here, part 5

Man, this backstory is getting long!

I just realized that this past Saturday marked six months from when we left Florida. So now six months ago from today, we left Atlanta for the next leg of our trip. We spent 3 days in Georgia with Grandmommy Edi, got to visit with Natalie, Ellie, Enoch and Mitch, and we had a lot of fun playing with girls and preparing for future parts of our roadtrip.

  

There, that's better.

I realized that we really, really needed to get a hard-sided top carrier for our SUV as opposed to the soft-sided bag, as repeatedly loading it and unloading it and tying it down was just going to be way too time consuming and annoying. We also had to get crossbars for the roof rack to put the car topper on, so we spent a decent chunk of time dealing with car things, but in the end it was definitely worth it. We took the girls to a splash pad and playground, and they had a blast running around. Lily worked on her climbing skills and Amelia discovered her love for slides. We did a little bit of shopping, and we had some great southern dinners during our time in Georgia as well.

Eventually it was time to repack the car and start the next part of our adventure. This was the shortest leg of our trip, from Roswell, GA to a town a little north of Nashville.

In Tennessee (or Twentysee, as Lily called it), we stayed with Greg (P-Pa) and Merrie. We had a nice dinner with them the evening we got there, and the next day we all went to the Nashville Zoo.

It was so incredibly hot, even worse than Florida, I think. It really made us yearn for the weather we knew Oregon would have in store for us! After the zoo, we went back to Almost-Kentucky, TN and went to a nice Memorial Day party at Merrie's sister's house. The girls got to go swimming and they had a great time playing with Merrie's grand-niece.

The next day, once again it was time to repack the car, because now our road trip was really starting. The family visits were wonderful, especially since we didn't know when we would be seeing everyone again, but finally we were actually hitting the road and going places we had never been before, and setting out for our new home in Oregon.

So we set out from Basically-Kentucky, TN, bound for Kansas City, MO. This was the start of us staying at 4 hotels in 4 days - somewhat a challenging feat with 2 small children and a dog! Anyway, we realized during this trip that Missouri pretty much sucks. Looking back, it was our least favorite part of the trip.  We had a difficult merging situation in St. Louis, and then got stuck in some crappy traffic. It ended up being the least scenic portion of our 3100 mile drive, though we did get to see the Gateway Arch.

 

While Mark was driving, I got us a hotel room in Kansas City, MO (or "Zity, Zourri", according to Lily). We were staying in a tower-type hotel, so we got a little worried about how Stanlee would behave going through the lobby and on the elevator, but he was a champion and didn't bark at anyone, not even people wearing hats.

 

We ended up having to get room service that night for lack of options, and as will become a theme for the rest of our journey, we got up decently early, repacked the car, and got back on the road. This day took us through Kansas City, and
then through the entire state of Kansas.

 We were actually pleasantly surprised that the Kansas scenery was very pretty, as we had heard this stretch of road was just going to be boring as hell. There were some nice rolling green hills though, and the weather was beautiful (but hot!). By the time we were almost to the state border, I was just kind of done. I've seen lots and lots of flat in my life, and I was ready to finally get my first glimpse of the Rockies. Once we crossed into Colorado, the scenery began changing significantly, and while I know it's the motto of Montana, I finally got the saying, "Big Sky Country".

It was gorgeous outside, and the sky was just so big and blue. And then finally, we began to get glimpses of the mountains in the distance.

That evening, we ended up in the suburbs of Denver to have a quick visit with Mark's cousin Nicole and her daughter Shyla, who is just a little older than Lily.
 The girls got to play for a while at a playground, and then at their apartment. Shyla ended up kicking Lily out so she could go to bed, so we left to find some food, and then our hotel. It was around that time we realized that we were becoming very dehydrated from the dry air we were unaccustomed to, and the altitude was also starting to affect us. I ran into Safeway for some drinks and snacks, and we picked up some take-out Italian food that I had craved for some reason. After a few wrong turns, we were kind of pissy, but made it to our hotel, which turned out to be the crappiest of the hotels we stayed at on our trip. It seems like it took forever to get all of our stuff we would need into the hotel room, but I think we were just exhausted from the altitude change and dehydration. We went to bed as soon as we could, because we were excited to start feeling better and to see the mountains the next day! 

...

I think there would be one just one more chapter to this journey, so stay tuned! 

Baby, it's cold outside

Well, we broke down and finally turned on the heat. It's been in the 30's (highs & lows) for several days. We were almost guaranteed a few inches of snow, which I had gotten pretty psyched about, and then nope, nada. We got some sleet and some rain, and then the forecasters were all like, "Oops, our bad". I'm sure it will snow here sooner or later, though, and now since it's been so chilly we had to get some cold weather gear. We are now the proud owners of hats, scarves, coats and gloves, which are going to be necessary for at least the next few days as we have some lows in the 20's, which is kind of foreign to former Florida people.

I'm working the next three nights...my full time schedule is in full swing and it's time for me to get used to three in a row, because twice a month it's going to be my norm. Lily was telling me tonight that she doesn't want me to go to work, and it's hard to explain to a three-year-old why we have to work, even when I know (and she knows!) she likes the end result of it. Now, I need to see if I can get some more laundry done because I know it's going to start piling up over the weekend!

How we got here, part 4

Well, my computer is fixed and it went as well as I could have hoped. I got a new case (pink, what?) and power supply at Fry's (at one point we mentioned the store's name and Lily said, "No, it's the 'puter store, not the french fry store!") and switched everything out with no problems. Unfortunately, Mark hasn't had as easy as a time and he is still working on getting his system running.We thought the store had a replacement motherboard in stock, but it turned out the website was wrong, and they didn't carry any of his socket type any more. So we ended up getting him a new case, MB, processor and power supply. We got home and he discovered the processor had been used and put back inside the box. So we had to go back to Wilsonville and exchange it today. Now he's finally assembled everything, and it's giving him some error beeps and not booting, so he's working on troubleshooting it now.  (Update: I helped him fix it by putting the RAM in correctly).

Last night we went to my parents house that they just moved into, 5 months after getting here. It's in a really awesome area and we are hoping we'll be able to find an affordable house to rent in the region once our lease is up. It was great visiting with my family and the girls had lots of fun running around the partially empty house. We sat at their table for the first time in almost 6 months and ate my dad's awesome grilled chicken and Mark made the joke, "Hey guys, how are we going to get to Portland?" This time, the answer was much easier than before - "Well, you can take I5 or 205...". It's just hard to really explain how many times in the last few years we sat around that table and talked about and planned this move, agonizing over details and how to move the pets, and now here we all are, finally getting settled and really trying to embrace our new Oregon lives.

 So almost 6 months ago, on May 22nd,2014, we got up very early and finished packing our car. We had a hell of time with our car topper, and my dad had to help tie it down (it was a soft-sided POS). My friend Sandra stopped by on her way home from work to say a final goodbye. We walked around the house, making sure we had the things we needed in the car.

 I took a few final pictures of the house - everyone sitting at the table, empty closets, my bedroom door that still had the stickers that I put on it in high school - and then we all went outside, gave lots of hugs to my parents and grandparents, and got in the car, and left our old lives. Mark drove, while I cried. We had planned and planned this change for so long that I should have been very prepared, but it actually happening was overwhelming.

I got over my shock pretty quickly, as we were reminded of one of our reasons for moving when it was about a thousand degrees outside when we stopped at our first rest area. Then, I got a very awesome phone call just a few hours into our trip. I was offered the position that I only kind of even had a phone interview for the previous week, and my start date would be in the middle of June. Knowing that I officially had a job in Oregon was such a huge relief, and it enabled us to have a little more fun on our trip than we would have otherwise.

The girls were really well behaved during our drive to Atlanta, and soon we made it to Grandmommy's house where we would be spending the next few days before heading to Tennessee. The girls were thrilled to get out of the car, visit with their Grandmommy and play in the gigantic playroom.

To be continued, again!