From CA to VA to NJ to NYC

Here you go, Doris :)

So we left Beverly Hills at about 1:30 Thursday afternoon and got into Sterling at 10:00 Saturday morning. We sat in traffic for the first hour just trying to get out of LA, but after that it was pretty smooth sailing. We thought we'd pull over to sleep through the night a few times, but we drove straight through for the most part. Zach bought 2 five hour energy things because I can't drive at night while hes sleeping, I get way too tired. The second night we did pull over twice, once for 20 minutes and the second time for an hour, so we could both sleep because neither of us could drive. Not many highlights from the trip, but when we got to about Bristol, VA it was 5:30 am and we pulled over to get gas. We were 2 of the 15 or so people at the gas station and we were the only ones not wearing camo. Usually when people stare at me I wonder why.. let's just say this time it was pretttty obvious.

We hung around for about 30 minutes once we got home before we started helping my parents move. We took a break to get dinner and I got to get my hair highlighted/cut but besides that we moved until midnight that night. I woke up to Tony (our amazing helper that we hire for essentially everything) coming over at what I could have sworn was like 3 am, but it was really 7:00. My mom woke Zach and I up pretty much right after that and we moved all day again. It was ridiculous. We got back to the house from our last storage trip at 9pm after we had dropped off the rental truck to grab the stuff we needed to bring to NJ. We realized at that point that we still had a good hours worth of stuff to pack that had somehow gotten left behind. Anyways, after that whole hour of frantic packing we walked around our oddly empty house to say goodbye. No one was emotional, though - we had been expecting this day for a long time. We went out and grabbed some dinner and checked into our awesome hotel and had a great night.

Next morning, my dad woke me up at 8am. I thought he was joking. We had to drop a car off and move some packed stuff around at the place Zach's staying, drop off stuff at the moving truck place, sign the house papers and head to NJ. We got to NJ at about 4:00 and my grandparents were still in NYC with Mitch and Donna and the girls. We had a great night with them, as always.

Tuesday we went into NYC with Dana and her boys and my grandparents stayed behind (with my parents cute little doggy that I've finally met now and I swear hes just a stuffed animal). We rode the train in which was pretty fun, especially since we saw Austin Scarlett from Project Runway when we got off in Manhattan. We strolled the streets - went to the New York Public Library, got lunch at Bryant Park Cafe, shopped, St. Patrick's Cathedral and Central Park.. to name a few. Dana and her boys never go into the city so it was pretty new to them. The boys are at the age where they aren't usually impressed by anything, but they loved NYC. Mitchell asked Owen at one point if he was liking NYC and Owen said he hated cities (typical). I asked him an hour later if this was one of the coolest places he had ever been.. he said yes. Dave agreed with him when I asked him later. It was a great day. A few highlights:
-saw the building my grandpa worked in for 10 years, right near penn station
-a billboard explaining why the speed limit was 30 mph in the city - you hit a kid at 30 mph and there's an 80% chance they'll live, whereas at 40 mph its a 70% chance they'll die
-Dana got incredibly flustered when we got to the NYPL. She is a librarian so when she went in she was just amazed.
-we all forgot my mom's purse on a table outside the library, went to a restaurant and sat down for a little before we even realized it. I sprinted back and it was still there - I've always thought New Yorkers weren't as bad as people think they are - this proves it.
-Central Park still had the colorful leaves on its trees whereas NJ is about 2 weeks ahead and has bare trees
-there were guys with bamboo sticks and sting that were blowing huge bubbles in Central Park. All of us used the sticks and created the bubbles too so we stayed there for about 30 minutes and it was great. Kyla got to stand in a balloon.

Lastly... we had to run to catch our train connection and despite having a huge group including children, we all made it. Impressive.

Today we went on a hike in a nearby neighborhood that was full of Gentleman's Farms. I've been saying for some time now that I want to buy a farm and this makes me REALLY want to buy a farm... I'm just short a few million dollars. These houses were amazing.. the kind that don't go on the market and just get passed down in the family most likely. While we were there a pack of fox hounds and their owners (on horseback of course) came down the road. I'm used to my cousins' beagles so these dogs seemed HUGE. Also, every time I've joined them for the beagling it didn't seem like there were quite so many dogs in the group, but that easily could have been because they were such tall dogs. I texted Linnhe and she even knew the people, I guess its a small community. It was very fun though because the dogs came over to us.. smelled my grandma because she was sitting on the ground, tried smelling Leo because my dad was holding him.. they completely surrounded us. Very cool.

After that walk we were all so wiped out so we just lounged around the rest of the day. At one point we ALL took naps because we were just so done. Tomorrow M&D and the girls and Dana will come over for a Thanksgiving lunch. We've never done a lunch before but since Zach and I are leaving for CA Friday evening it just made more sense, plus it'll be easier for Mitch and Donna to drive back into the city if it isn't too late. Certainly not looking forward to heading back to California quite yet. Because of the moving I haven't even gotten to see my friends really, unless you could a whole 10 minute run-in with Kristen. It sucks. Guess I should start researching farms on the east coast for me to buy :) Feel free to chip in to the farm fund..