We're here!!!!!!!

The last few days have been a complete whirlwind but I'm going to try my best to recap them. Saturday we left Palmdale, CA and drove to our new hometown about 45 minutes away. We had a brief meeting with a woman that included giving our car registrations for parking passes, etc. and getting our keys to the unit, mailbox, etc. Brief summary of how we found this rental: Josh and I loved this town when we came to visit in March 2018 and my brother's incredible girlfriend Lena came and toured a couple rental properties for us including taking videos. That being said, I coordinated everything by email with their leasing office and we signed a lease and paid to rent this unit without ever having seen it. This specific unit was occupied up until just a few days before we moved in so the leasing agency could only provide photos of similar units, none of which were identical to ours. All of that aside (plus the fact that we're relatively easy people to please) we love the property! It is a 2 bedroom, 2 full bathroom. Going from our 2000 square foot home in NH to about a 1000 square foot rental unit has been a bit of an adjustment in terms of living space, but it is beautiful with hardwood floors and a nice big balcony, and has everything we need. Unfortunately our belongings are in Los Angeles but cannot be delivered until August 6th. That being said, our place is pretty empty outside of what we had brought for our road trip. We've made several trips to Target/Walmart/Homegoods for various things we need to make it until 8/6, and have been sleeping on air mattresses. Initially we put the boys air mattresses in their bedroom, which really was wishful thinking. Being in a new place and having just spent about 20 nights sleeping snuggled up with us resulted in all of us sleeping in one room here. The boys know when our moving truck comes that they will have their own room, and I think this gives them enough time to get comfortable before we force this. 

Our first night here we drove down to Hollywood and spent a few hours with my brother Adam and his girlfriend Lena, and had a great time at their beautiful place. Since then Josh has been settling into his new job working for Adam, and I have been doing my best to settle into my role as a stay at home mom. I have always worked, and so not having responsibilities outside of the home is a huge change for me, and it's taking some adjusting. Our unit is about a 2 minute walk to the swimming pools, a 5 minute walk to the park, and an 8 minute walk to a retail plaza with various shops, so we are in a great location. Sunday/Monday/Tuesday really consisted of various shopping trips and spending a lot of time at the pool and exploring. The neighbors in our complex have been very kind and welcoming and so far we are very happy with where we are living and with our move. 

Some immediate thoughts on California (and how it differs from NH)

• When you first cross over the state line you go through an AGRICULTURAL CHECK POINT. I thought it was a toll at first and was confused why there weren't any signs for the fee, and was pleasantly surprised when a jolly 60 something year old man greeted us and commented "New Hampshire?? You're a long way from home!" I immediately told him we had no idea what we were doing stopping, he explained that CA monitors produce entering the state and asked if we had any produce or animals coming in, which I jokingly offered him our 2 animals (Henry and Teddy) he laughed and we carried on our way. A couple minutes after pulling away it dawned on me that we had a small cactus plant in our trunk! It was a gift from Josh's mom for my birthday and I had a brief panic thinking I had lied to a possible government employee and then we laughed because it was ridiculous and kept driving.
• Stores charge you 10 cents for plastic bags! We were at Target near our place and the woman asked "Do you need bags today?" I was confused, thinking where else would I put my purchases, and she at the end added 10 cents for each bag to the receipt. During one of my other trips I inquired about this and she said a few years ago CA passed a law to encourage reusable bags. The bags they give you aren't any cheap plastic bags either, they're heavy duty and supposedly can be washed and reused over 100 times. The woman jokingly rolled her eyes when I asked about this and said, "didn't you hear? California is going to save the environment (eye roll)" I loved her.
• Coffee. Where do I even start? I haven't been able to find any coffee places that are drive-thru, and the only one I've found (McDonalds, meh) only offers cream and does not have milk. As someone whose stomach can only barely tolerate milk in their coffee, this has been a drag. There is a Dunkin Donuts about 3 miles away that does offer milk, but bringing 2 toddlers inside to grab a quick coffee is much less than ideal. My investigation into this is ongoing.

Some final thoughts on driving cross country.... 

It was awesome. It really was.

17 days was the perfect amount of time to give us breaks when we needed it and allowed for maximum of 6 hour drive days. (Most driving days were about 5 hours plus whatever stops we made). There were a lot of ups and downs for everyone, a lot of painful moments where I felt like we made the wrong decision, but at the end I look back and am so thankful that we shared this experience together as a family. I will always remember this trip as when Henry got over his fear of water and began swimming, Teddy was the easiest and most free spirited kid, Josh and I were within feet of each other for over 2 weeks and didn't fight or really bug each other at all, and we all did something together as a family that was very much outside of our comfort zone. I am appreciative that we could do this trip without financial stress, HUGE shout-out to my sister from another mister, Erin, who works for Marriott and made the trip significantly more affordable for us to stay at hotels along the way, and shout out to the buyers of our NH home who paid well over asking price and gave us cushion to not have to worry at all about our finances during our trip. 

Thanks for following along on this journey! While I typically try and remain a relatively private personal life, I was surprised at how much I enjoyed writing each night and the response I've received from friends and family has been very kind and uplifting. Even if my eyes were half open and I was basically delirious as I forced myself to type each night, I am happy to have shared this trip with friends and family and to have these entries as a memory of our trip. I purposely have not gone back to read any of my posts. When things settle down a little more I will have time to go back and read them, and I am looking forward to this, since the trip flew by, I know I will have forgotten about so many of the memories.

Time to settle into this California life and figure out what is next for our crazy family! Be well and thanks for following along!!!!!