Moving to San Francisco!

Normally on July 4th we would celebrate with a cook out and fireworks but on this 4th of July, we (me and my wonderful family including very hard working brother in laws) packed a giant UHaul to move us to California. I pretty much had everything packed and sitting in the garage except for the heavier furniture. It was a very long day but by the end the house was completely empty and ready for us to drive to my parents the next day. Lyle had to work but got home the next morning to help me clean the house (we are renting it so we had to get it ready for the renters). We took this final picture in front of our sweet house:

                                         

Lyle and Luke drove the UHaul with the Corolla behind it to my parents' house where we spent the night before starting the long 30 hour drive to SF.

                                         

We woke up the next morning and left my parents' around 8:30 am. The plan was to drive 8 hours each day which would allow us to arrive in SF around 2 pm Thursday July 9th when we told our movers to meet us there.

                               

We had to park the UHaul in the big field down from the house because it wouldn't fit down the driveway. It was a 27 foot travel plus the trailer. It was a beast! And let me tell you it was no fun filling that thing up with gas. I think we got about 10 miles per gallon. It was super depressing. Lyle and Luke drove it the entire way. They called it the Blue Crab for obvious reasons:)  I drove the girls in the new Explorer.

Grandma had to teach AB how to call the cows before we left...AB still does it to this day anytime she is standing near a window. These two have a special relationship:)

                                             

After a rather difficult goodbye we jumped in our vehicles and started what will surely big one of the biggest adventures our little family will ever have! I wouldn't say I am 100% happy about moving...I really love our life in Little Rock but I am excited for the kids to experience something different for a little while. Character building right?

                                         

Our first stop for the night was a little ways passed Amarillo, TX. It was a solid 8 hours and I have to say it was the hardest of all the days driving just because the scenery was pretty boring but the kids did a fantastic job! Lyle got them a hotel with a swimming pool every night which always made them excited. The next day was a little better because the scenery started to change and we really felt like we were getting somewhere.

                                         

My sweet dad called me about every two hours or so just to see where we were and make sure I was doing OK driving. He really is a great dad! Again, the kids did great! AB watched baby einstien videos and Ella talked with me and we listened to the radio and ate snacks. Lyle and I both thought her and Luke would play iPads the whole time but I am being very honest here...they didn't play them at all! They were busy looking out the windows and seeing all the new stuff. It was really nice! The next night we stopped in Albuquerque, NM.

We didn't eat at any fast food places which I think helped us feel better throughout the trip. We had a big cooler packed and stopped at grocery stores at night if we needed anything extra. We stopped at parks on the way and had picnics where the kids could stretch and run. It really worked out great.

The next night we made it to Flagstaff, AZ.

                                          

We were now half way to our new home. The kids could not wait to see their new house. Luke kept saying, "I just can't wait until I open the door to our new house. That is all I want to do!" This half of the drive was kind of tricky. We were in hot hot desert the whole way! The kids kept looking for the traditional cacti but didn't see any...they were bummed Apparently those kind are only found farther south in AZ. We had to keep an eye on the gas gauge because we didn't know when our next gas station would be. At one point we thought we were in big trouble and had to end up paying almost $5/gallon. We were literally in the middle of no where! But the scenery was still very cool and the kids were all eyes out the windows...Luke in the Blue Crab with Lyle and the girls and I in the car. That night we made it to Bakersfield, CA. That was a big relief because we knew we only had a 4 hour drive the next day and we would be there.
                                           

Getting into CA was kind of surreal. We had a check point we had to stop at because of the big truck but we passed with flying colors....they apparently missed the plants we were smuggling in into CA hidden in the car....I didn't know we couldn't bring plants into CA..oops! After 4 hours we arrived at our new home. Lyle did a fantastic job of maneuvering that big truck and trailer through the streets of San Francisco. We made it to the house perfectly on time and the movers where there waiting for us. They had us unpacked and everything in the house in less than two hours! It was great! That night our sweet property managers took us out to eat at a great Italian place where we had delish pizza! Once we finally got home we set up the beds and crashed for the night really really fast! It was a long long trip but we were here. It was nice seeing this shot on our iPhone GPS map. I sent it to our family. What an adventure!