We finally got out of the house!

Well this morning we left the comfort of our air conditioned home and ventured over to Espee Park. I see us spending a lot of time there. While it is within walking distance we chose to drive. I just dont want to cross Knox with the kids in tow (theres isn't a crosswalk unless you walk past the park). Anyway, the kids had a lot of fun and even made new friends. There was another women there with her granddaughter Maddie, who is 4 and a friends daughter Jayden, who is 3. She watches both of the girls during the week. They all took to each other right away and had a great time playing. We will hopefully see them again at the park. The grandmother said they go there almost every morning. We will have to go back while the spray pad is open. It was perfect weather for it today, but it they dont turn the water on until 11. We were there for about an hour before it was time to go. Silly me forgot to lube the kids up in sunblock before we left so it looked like they might be starting to burn. When we left it was already 82 according to the digital thermometer they have posted at the park. I am not doubting its accuracy at all. It is hot out today. The weather says we should be at 99 by Monday. But of course they wont say 100 :) Just like home in that sense.
The house is coming together nicely. We spent the last week unpacking and we are almost there. A few odds and ends still remain and the pictures. I hung some yesterday, but with all these walls I just dont know what to do. Dan was making fun of me about it last night. He said we had four walls in the apartment and now you have all these walls to work with and you are having a problem. That is the problem. Too much wall space :) So I am going to work on it again today. I have to finish it today though since all the pics are on the living room floor.
We only had 3 broken items from the move. I lost a vase and the glass on 2 picture frames broke. Not bad at all. I would love to post some pics from the park today but.... I took the camera only to find out when i got there that the memory card was in the computer. So no pics today. Phedora told me we are going back after breakfast tomorrow though. So I will take pics for sure. She told me at the park today... "I am so happy Mom, so happy" It was cute. I am glad that the kids are adjusting well. Hayden told the lady yesterday at Starbucks "I am not moving back to that stupid apartment! I am never going back to Wa. I like it here in Az" He was very matter of fact about it.
I tried to post some pics earlier from the aquarium but for some reason it wasn't working. I will get some up though once I figure out what the problem is. Hopefully by tonight.
I am off to lube up the kids and hang some pictures. Wish me luck!

We made it home....

We set out yesterday morning at 9:30. It was a long drive but we were finally here just after 4. We met Dan at the house and it wasn't at all the way I remembered it :( The tenant had conveniently covered all the stains on the carpets with furniture. And there are a lot of them. If it wasn't in the lease that you have to give them a copy of the receipt for the carpet cleaning I would be wondering if it was even done. There are holes that were terribly patched in almost all the walls. The guys used this stuff that goes on pink and is supposed to turn white once it dries. Well that didn't happen and there are pink spots on the walls. I guess I will get to paint again. Yeah! I think I saw some paint in the garage so I hope that it is white. I guess on the plus side we wont have to worry about the kids or us doing any harm to the house. It definitely needs a makeover. I am hoping that I can strategically place pictures and furniture to hide most of it. I may need to pick up a rug for the living room though. Oh well though. It has a huge kitchen and back yard for the kids.
The kids are really excited and were having a great time playing out back and running through the house. It is strange having more than twice as much space. The movers will be here this morning between 10-12. We were expecting them this afternoon when he left last Friday.
I'm not sure when we will get our cable and internet on so this may be the last update for awhile. Feel free to call my cell though.
We are looking forward to getting unpacked and settled. I will post some pics as soon as we have internet back up.

Fun in Southern California

Well we made it Grandma Bev's on Sunday afternoon. It was a long drive to say the least. Friday went by pretty good. The movers showed up just before 9 am. They had 3 guys and the driver so it went pretty quick. They were done by about 11:30. We had 162 pieces that went on the truck. I had no idea we had so much stuff. Even after getting rid of a bunch of stuff. After the movers left we still had alot to do. Packing all the stuff into my car and Dan's truck that was left over (we ran out of boxes), and throwing away the rest of the stuff we didn't want. We finally turned over our keys at about 3:30. We were officially homeless, we didn't take over our lease officially until today. On the road during rush hour traffic we made it down to Portland by about 7:30. Exhausted we found a Best Western and found some dinner.

We were back on the road at 7 am Saturday. It was a long day to say the least. By noon I was going cross eyed. I hate driving through Oregon its so long and never ending. We finally made it to Ca and silly me pulled over on the side of the road to get Phedora to stop throwing a fit. Well a few miles up the road Dan is calling me telling me to pull over. Apparently, I ran over something that gave me a flat tire. Luckily for us we were just passing through Weed, Ca and there was a Les Schwabb 5 miles down the road. Of course it was the front tire with a flat. So Dan had to put the spare on the rear and the rear on the front and it was HOT! So we head up to Les Schwabb were we buy 2 new tires for the front. Back on the road by 4:30. Trecking on we made it a little town called Willow, Ca. We stayed here on our way back after Christmas and never thought we would be back. But here we were unable to go on any farther.

Back on the road Sunday morning. It was a pretty uneventful day. Thank goodness for that. We made it in once again exhausted at about 4:30. All in all a good day though. We didn't figure we would get here until at least 6.

Monday we went with Grandma Bev to this little hole in the wall Mexican restaurant for the best ever huevos rancheros. I have never had them before but they were really good. I ate all of mine plus some of Phedora's. Afterwards we went over and spent the day with G&G. We had a good time visiting with them and Aunt Janice and Gabriel. We went out to dinner with Uncle Richard and I had some really yummy chicken marsala. I love coming to Ca we always have wonderful food.

Now for today.... Dan was up at 5 on the road at 6 to Arizona. Today was the big day. We got the keys to our new house. We are no longer homeless. With Dan gone Grandma Bev, the kids and I went over to the Long Beach Aquarium. The kids had a great time seeing all the fish, especially the Nemo's and Dory's. They also got to feel the sea urchins and star fish. If only their little arms were a bit longer they could have touched the sharks and rays.

Afterwards we went over to Islands for lunch. I had a delicious Maui Burger and ate it all. I swear I gain a ton of weight every time I come down. After lunch we came home and I got on the phone with T-Mobile. Yesterday afternoon I all of a sudden couldn't make any calls. But I could still receive calls. So after a half hour on the phone they send me to a T-Mobile store to try my SIM card in another phone. If that works then I need a new phone if not then its the network. So off to a T-Mobile store. Only to find out that I need a new phone. Oh Yeah!

One last update....

Tomorrow is the big day! The movers will be here between 8 and 9! Kinda early but this time around we will be ready for them. It has been a long week, filled with packing and seeing friends one last time before we go. Monday night we went out with Ryan, Tuesday night I went out with my girls. I will miss them terribly, but we will be back and reunite! Yesterday we got the kids back from grandma and grandpa and went out to dinner with Sarah and Phil. The days have been spent packing and going through stuff. We have gotten rid of a lot of stuff but we still have a ton of stuff. Its never ending. Tuesday I took 10 bags of stuff to the dumpster, Salvation Army came and picked up a big pile of stuff. And we still have a big pile of stuff to take to the dumpster. UGH! But at least we are getting rid of it now while we don't have to pay for it :) The one thing I love about apartments.
The packing is done. Theres a few things straggling about and the blankets but its done IMO. The cleaning is also almost done. The kitchen took the longest so far. I spent a few hours on it yesterday and about an hour this morning. All thats left is those few stragglers on the counters and to wash them down. I did the living room and dining room this morning and am headed to the bathroom/laundry room next. Then our room and we will be done. Aside for the numerous dumpster trips. Anyone want to come help :) hehe just kidding.
Well we are going to head out tomorrow and see how far we can get. Maybe we can make a really long day out of Saturday and get to Grandma Bev's. Doubtful but you never know. The kids and I are going to stay an extra day there and then head out Thursday to our new home. The movers hopefully will be there on Friday with our stuff. Otherwise I guess we are shacking up in a hotel till Monday when they get there. Dan is going out to Az on Tuesday. We get the keys to the house on Tuesday and he has to be onsite on Wednesday.
I will update you all when we get to Ca and let you know how the trip went. After that I am not sure when we will have the computer set back up. They are turning the cable and internet on sometime next week. So it wont be long after we get there. And I will post pics at that time too.
We will miss you all, but you can take a vacation through us. I will post ALOT of pics over the next 8 months or so. Then we will most likely be back in Wa.

Its Official

It is officially official! We signed the lease yesterday and scheduled the movers today. The movers will be here on Friday. So we will be off hopefully bright and early Saturday morning. I have been busy packing today. I have packed the majority of the kitchen, linens and our closet. I am making a dent in it. Though it doesn't seem like it I am sure. I am looking forward to a relaxing weekend with the family. I cant wait actually. I am worn out on packing and it is no fun cause the kids really want to help. But theres not much they can do. I keep trying to get them to pack/clean their room. But thats not what they want to do. I am off to order pizza and finish packing up some more stuff.

Moving Next Weekend!

Talk about down to the wire! We will be trying to get the movers in here next Friday at the latest. They want us down there and Dan on site the 16th. Wow... I need to get busy around here! I am off to pack for real. I have been wrapping the last of our pictures so far this morning. I am shocked at how many we have in this little house. I cant wait to take pics of the new place and share them with you all.

Wednesday News!

Ok so now that we are all caught up on the waiting game. Today was a beautiful day! Dan and I both took care of some errands this morning. Me and Phedora to Dr. Ben and Dan and Hayden to the car shop. He got rear ended on his way to work yesterday. Then we met up at the Flying Pig for a yummy lunch and off to the Children's Museum. The roof top play area was open so we headed up there. It was brutally cold but nice to be out in the sun. Meanwhile, we are waiting on two important phone calls. One about the house and one from Bill. He went down today to finalize some stuff on the job. We were also supposed to get a moving date today.
So while at the museum, we get a call from the realtor. She is letting us know that we were approved and get to have the house. I am so excited. I cant wait. See my previous post for a full description of the house.
So we are done playing and head home. We are waiting and waiting for the call. Finally at 5, Gary calls and tells us that we are in fact going to Arizona. yeah! But we still don't have that moving date. Dan has a conference call at 9:30. We should find out then. But it will be soon as we were told to go ahead and give our notice here. The last date we heard though was they wanted Dan on site on the 16th. If that is the case we better get our little err... big behinds in gear. We are running short on time.
I will update more tomorrow and post some cute pics from the museum of Phedora.