Our New Home

We did finally make it to Chicago and our new place. After spending Friday at my parents' house, Elijah and I went to my sister's house while Micah and Nate went to meet the movers to unload the truck.  It was hot and sticky and the three flights of stairs was apparently made worse by the fact that our air conditioning was not working properly.  Everything made it upstairs to the sea of boxes that now covers the floors.  Because it was Sunday when we called our landloard about the air conditioner, it was Monday before it could be fixed. And then on Tuesday it cooled down so much that we turned it off, figures.  But it is supposed to be toasty this weekend.

Best parts of new place:
1. An office/guest room! Which right now is covered in boxes, but soon enough it will be functional.
2. A great park that's only a 10 minute walk with a little kid playground and a huge sandbox.
3. A restuarant called the Rajun Cajun, which despite its name does not serve cajun food but Indian food and soul food. It makes me laugh

Least favorite part:
Third floor walk up, again. If I could take the apartment and move it down a floor or two, I would live here forever.

I'm feeling pretty overwhelmed with the unpacking since Micah started work. The bedrooms are done and the kitchen and slowly I think the rest will come together. But it is hard with the little one "helping". Then there's that whole job thing. I need to get on that.

Day 6? What Day is It?

Driving through Missouri was a long day, made more interesting by billboards. Here are some of our favorites.
"Missouri Hick's BBQ"
"Redneck Steakhouse"
"World's Largest Rocking Chair"
"Vaccuum Cleaner Museum"

Day 5 - TX to OK

Pretty uneventful day, which I like.  Amarillo, TX to Tulsa, OK.

Quote of the day: "It's like every place we stop it hotter than the last"

Day 4 - NM to TX

We went from Albuquerque to Amarillo today.  It was a pretty good drive.  Elijah seems to be tolerating the car much better today.  Only a little fussiness at the beginning, a little nap and then awake most of the rest of the trip with hardly any crying.  We have passed the 1,000 mile marker so that makes me extremely happy because that's about half way. I felt like we haven't been making much progress because it is taking a lot longer than I had anticipated.  But we are probably only a day behind our original plans.

Day 3 - Getting the hang of it

Today we went from Flagstaff, AZ to Albuquerque, NM. It was the first time we have left at a decent hour and I felt like we made some real progress.  Elijah did fairly well, sleeping a lot and crying until falling asleep.  We stopped along the way and Micah texted us to tell us he stopped as well.  Ended up he was at the same stop we were so we all had lunch together.  He caught up while we stopped for a snack earlier that day.  When we got to Albuquerque we got to meet up with some friends that we knew when we were living in Indianapolis.  They moved to Ab... last summer and we all went to dinner. Unfortunately it was a little late for Elijah so he didn't make the best impression. Gone are the days when he would just fall asleep when tired no matter where we were (a bowling alley for example).  But after we put him to bed we were able to chat more with our friends, so it was good.  We had big plans of driving all the way to Oklahoma City tomorrow but we've decided that is a little unrealistic and are heading to Amarillo.

Day 2

We are sad to announce that the kitty we lost and found yesterday is now lost and we had to go on without her. Isadora "Izzy" Bhatti was a sweet, scaredy cat whose little tail would shake when you pet her. She was also a ridiculously good hider. We will miss her quite personality and Elijah will definately miss chasing her and squealing.  I also think he said "Izzy" the other day while chasing her. I hope she is okay and has found a safe place to live.  After waiting all morning for her to show up and tearing apart the hotel room, looking in every nook and cranny, we finally had to continue our trip.  We continued to Flagstaff, AZ and hope the rest of the trip moves along smoothly. So far, it's been kind of rough.

Day 1

Lost cat. Found cat. Leaving by 4pm is almost noon. Kid puked chicken and apples in the car. Waking sleeping kid for Border patrol car search (in which kid was only interested in the "woof woof", no we can't pet those dogs) . Finally made it to Phoenix at midnight. Everyone so tired, except for the kid. Get all the crap out of the way in the first day right?

More details to come.

T minus 10 days

Most of you know we are heading back to the Midwest! In 10 days, we are pulling the U-Haul out of San Diego and driving 2,000 miles to Chicago and I've got to be honest with you, I'm already exhausted just thinking about it. We've got a decent amount of packing done, but plenty more to do. We have one confused little toddler and two nervous cats. Add one brother to help drive and you have the makings of a 1. potential blockbuster road trip movie 2. disaster 3. coming of age novel with highs and lows, lessons learned and everyone is a better person in the end (no comment on who is "coming of age"). I will be happy with #1 or #3 but only time will tell. This is only the teaser trailer, so come back for more. My goal is to actually document this experience, but we'll see if that actually happens.