Our Travels

I'm sure people may be sick of hearing all about our move. Ha But I know there are also some of you out there that would like a little rundown of how it all went! It was a pretty long and emotional day yesterday. We started out around 7:30 PST and hit the road to Santa Barbara. It was a nice last drive for us. I know it's only green on the Central Coast for like 2 months out of the year, but when it is... man is it just beautiful! Plus it was nice taking in the green before we hit the white! ahhh 

 We made it to the airport and managed somehow to get all six bags, three carry-ons, two car seats, two toddlers and ourselves to the check out. Luckily, the ladies in the check out were so impressed with how cute our girls were and they were all just super helpful. We ended up having around 250 pounds of luggage. It was scary handing it over to them considering it was pretty much all of our possessions we'd need for the next month!

 Sara ended up having her own backpack of goods for the plane and airport. My bag started overflowing. She loved it! The bag was way too big for her, but she had her beloved Brach troll pillow in there for snuggling. If you're ever flying with toddlers, here are a couple ideas for you that really kept our kids entertained: Window stickers. I know I say it all the time, but seriously! We bought three packs of them for a dollar each and they just played with them everywhere! Then at the end of the trip we just tossed them because they were pretty gross by the end of the day. Stickers. Just normal stickers were so entertaining to them too. Sara had a cool one where she matched the sticker to the outline of the character in the book, it was awesome. Shoes. Who knew shoes could be so entertaining! Jordyn just put them on, took them off, and then kept going. haha And obviously, the iPad. Movies and apps. They're the way to go.

 The girls did amazing on the first leg of the plane ride to Seattle. Sara liked to ask, "Are we going to George Washington first?" haha We only had one meltdown on that plane and I'm pretty sure it was just because Jordyn's ears needed to pop. Poor girl. We had about an hour layover there in Seattle to grab a bite to eat and stretch our legs. Then we headed onto the next plane. I was telling Jason, it's funny when you fly to Vegas, because people are always dressed a certain way when they travel there. Well, while we were waiting for the plane to Alaska, there was a certain type of person that we traveling with us. haha Not in a bad way at all, it was just amusing! Lots of camo and plaid.

Jordyn lost her mind a couple times on the second flight. She had blown through her nap, so as soon as the plane was taking off, she fell asleep for about two hours. I was impressed, but the other half of the trip she was on and off going crazy. But overall, it wasn't too horrible. It was awesome flying over the mountains for the first time. At one point we were so close to the mountains, it was so cool! 

 Jason's co-worker met us at the airport, which was a great help! The girls and I ate chicken nuggets and sat next to the stuffed Alaskan animals while Daddy got the rental car. Then we jumped in and headed to base. I was a little overwhelmed with the first drive. It was just bizarre driving on the streets here. It's not quite home yet. I don't know how long it will take for this place to feel like home. I still imagine ourselves flying back to California in a week. There's just piles of snow on the sides of the roads, and ice everywhere... it's just a little much for this desert rat to get use to.

 We got to base and got settled into our very crappy "temporary housing." And that's when I just lost it. I know I shouldn't complain too much.. but this place is just not a good fit for us to LIVE in while we wait for our household goods. And it's just this brand new place where we really don't know anyone. It's so different that I imagined I guess. I don't know if I'm cut out for it. And like I said before... it's hard thinking about how long it's going to take before this place feels like home. These poor girls are such troopers, but it's definitely making them more moody and irritable than normal.  Moving is so hard, but I think just be displaced for a month or more is the roughest part of this whole thing. But I have to take comfort in God's plan for us and trust that he will use us here for the good of His kingdom. So, to look on the bright side, I just need to find something to involve myself in while we wait for our new normal to begin. This being in between is just killing us. And in other good news, while I was super frustrated and mad about our living situation, we actually ended up finding someone with a house who would rent to us week by week and it's three bedrooms! So that right there was a nice pick me up! That's all for now! The girls have just started to get super emotional.