Day 1

Maryland, Pennsylvania, Ohio and Indiana

The baby hated being in the back of the van so we moved him up to the middle. He still hated it. It was rough but we got to South Bend much quicker than we were expecting. We stopped at an awesome playground in Ohio for a picnic dinner (there is only so much McDonalds we can eat!) This hotel is a bit of a disapointment with no pool (dispite the web site that advertises a pool), but we have a kitchen so I am making eggs for breakfast before we hit the road for Omaha. I forget how flat the middle part of the country is! Bubba did great and even woke up this morning really excited to go to Monterey. We will see how day 2 in the car goes. Hubby and I have not run out things to talk about yet! I guess thats a good sign!

I packed these big ziploc bags with goodies for the kids (like DVDs, stickers, books on tape, coloring books ect). They have a bag for each day and for every hour that they don't whine, they get a prize. It was a bug success today with only one kid faltering once. Hopefully the enthusiasim will keep up! Our plan is to find a nice playground after breakfast so the kids can run around and get their energy out before we leave.

last day

Today is our last day as east coasters. The house is empty. I am taking cupcakes to the kids schools today and I made little notes for them to hand out to their friends with their email address's on them.  Bubba is still taking it hard but he is coming around. This morning he even suggested that we just leave tonight so we can get to California faster.

The good news is that I called ahead to the housing people and looks like there is a chance that there are some houses we could move into immediately. This is great news because our things wont have to go to storage if we get a house next week. We have appointments on Wednesday to see them. Now we just need to do some research about the elementary schools that Bubba would go to depending on where we live. Maya is starting Kindergarten and was accepted to a charter school (Bubba is on the wait list). Things are slowly starting to fall into place. It would be great if we had a house to move into when we get there!

reality

We went camping this weekend in PA. Mostly, I planned the trip to avoid reality. The movers come tommrow. My oldest, Bubba (6) is taking it the hardest. He is an emotional kid and this move is very hard for him. I moved a lot growing up so I can relate. I was hoping that this little get away would help him get away from the stress of the move. But it was all waiting for us when we got back. We leave Saturday. I know we can do it, I just don't want to. I try to talk positive about the move and how much fun it will be in California but I don't think the little ones really believe me. 

Camping was fun none-the-less. The kids did great on long hikes and pond swims. Archery, marshmellows and finding turtles & lightning bugs rounded out our days.

deep breathing

movers come 1 week from today. Storage people come wednesday. life is crazy. Every once and while I stop and think " I can't believe we are doing this again". 8 moves in 9 years. Either I am getting old or the novelty is wearing off.  We decided  (a long time ago) that it would be a good idea to go camping memorial day weekend. So everything has to be ready for the movers by this thursday because we leave friday. This move seems so much harder than the rest. I have done this by myself before but for some reason this time is proving to be a big challenge. Everyone keeps telling me how beautiful it will be in Monterey, but heart is just not in it. I will keep an open mind. It's hard to leave home, no matter how old I am.

coming soon...

I have decided to blog my way cross country with the kids. It's going to be fun, scary and overwhelming all at once. Stay tuned for details. We set sail May 30th!