We're Baaaacckkkk :)

Well, there's another 2600 miles on my speedometer. Where to start...

Recap of our last weekend in LA.. Saturday we had an amazing meal with Mitchell and Donna at a restaurant called Kings in Calabasas. I was craving sushi, but we had the girls with us so we had to go somewhere they had a more extensive menu. So we went to this seafood place, and low and behold... they have a sushi roll as an appetizer! Well, kind of. They had a crispy lobster roll, and it was absolutely amazing. I scarfed it down before some people at the table had even had more than a bite of their food. Oops. After that we went to Menchies to get my final dose of their deliciousness for a while. Sunday we packed.. and packed some more. Then they had their annual Oscar viewing party, which was so much fun. Because they get so many of the movies in the mail (sometimes before they are even in theaters!) and their friends tend to get whatever they didn't, I was actually able to see almost all of the movies nominated this year. There were some I purposely skipped, but every movie I wanted to see, and then some, I did. I was really rooting for King's Speech, and I also loved Social Network. 127 Hours was also good, but I only got to see the end because I was on the phone with my CCF boss for the first like hour of it. Boo. Oh, and we had watched Black Swan Saturday night and I HATED it, but I thought Natalie Portman did a great job playing her miserable character, so I'm glad she won. But seriously, that movie was so terrible. Uncomfortable to watch and boring.

We planned on packing after the Oscar party so we could leave at 4am Monday morning. That didn't happen. Saying goodbye to the girls and M&D was so hard. I thought I would be able to hold it all in, but then Kyla saw me walking to the car and thought I was leaving so she chased after me saying she had to stay with me as long as possible and walk me out. Stab me in the heart. Both girls were so sweet saying goodbye, and Donna asked us to come back the next morning for a real goodbye. We agreed, but ended up not doing it until later in the day because Zach woke up very sick. So we finished packing up and stuff, got some Thai food with Mitchell and Kyla (out of school "sick") and said goodbye. We didn't hit the road until 5:00, but it was fine. We both miss all of them so much already.

The car ride.. Not nearly as fun as last time. When we did it for Thanksgiving it was crazy but still enjoyable and just an adventure. This time it was much more difficult. We were so loaded that we couldn't even lean our chairs back. Last time we could lay down in the back seat to sleep... Not being able to lean our chairs back made sleeping very difficult. Also, Bielski was very stressed out by the ride so he was walking around a lot. Zuma was perfect and slept in one of our laps at least 90% of the ride, and Kaos is always fantastic in the car. Having three pets in the car made stops last longer, but its all worth it to have all five of us home. It was nice that we left at 5:00 and then slept for an hour early the next morning because it let us see different states than we had last time around. The states we drove through in the dark we could now see during the day, and vice versa. Not that there is much to see in most of these states, of course. Sooo flat and empty for the most part. New Mexico had some great scenery though (also had a lot of nothing in some areas) and Tennessee was fantastic. We liked Tennessee last time we drove through, as well. This time, we were there for the sunrise so I could see a purplish sky coming out of the mountains, with fog in all of the valleys. It was truly incredible. We also saw an awful car accident there where an 18 wheeler somehow T-boned a car, and the car was crushed on the driver side. We were there shortly after it happened because only one police car was there at the time, and I think the driver must have still been stuck in the car, unless he was okay enough to walk away. He may have been, but who knows. I'm still confused as to how you get T-boned in the middle of an interstate at 2am. It was a horrible image and will stay with me for a long time.

You know its a long drive when you're excited to see that you are less than 20 hours from getting there. When it got below 15, we really couldn't believe we were even that much closer. You can imagine how excited we were when it got to 10, and when we crossed into Virginia.. got past JMU, etc. Just get off 40 in Tennessee is exciting because we had been on there for like 2000 miles and you get on 81 after that so you know you are on your final major road. Kaos usually gets excited when he realizes we're close to home, but we were going to my parents new house, and coming in from Leesburg which he has never done, so he had no idea what was going on. When we finally got to my parents place he gets out of the car, and finally sees my dad and starts going CRAZY. It was so funny to watch. You could just see the realization. My mom and Connor got to the house like 2 minutes after us so my mom gave us the tour. I LOVE their new place. It looks very similar to our old house because it is also built by Toll Brothers, and it is so much bigger than I even expected after only seeing the outside over Thanksgiving. Their furniture fits in so well and I love the layout - very open and perfect for our lifestyle the way the kitchen sits with the TV room, etc. Now that I think about it though, many families probably would have put the dining room where our TV room is, and then put the TV room and family room in the others. So, really... its just my mom being a genius. :)

We're settling in very well and had a great night last night with my family, Zach's mom and Kristen. It feels so great to be back. There area also a lot of weird parts to it.. but stay tuned because I think I will save that type of stuff for another blog. Today was just a relaxed day around the house with my dad and Zach. Ran a few errands, but didn't really get anything done, which was kind of nice actually. Just like before...