Oh My.

Guess what everyone does Saturday mornings here up on the Hill* … Yup they go garage sale shopping. We are not the … “Oh Oh is it 7am yet so we can go garage sale shopping” … people. Therefore, left were some slim pickings. We did however score a kite and book for Becca, some clothes for Ethan and a dress form for me One may ask why I need a dress form … Just because it is cool!!!! I can dress her up, take pictures … Yes Sally and I will have many adventures.

After our treasure hunting we took the drive down the mountain we now live upon (also refered to as the Hill*) to Santa Fe … to hit up Target! w00t! We decided that although some may find hotel living to be fun, we find it stressful and annoying. So since our new place is equiped with a Murphy bed (so there is so totally a place to crash if you come to visit!), we bought some sheets and the minium gear to survive until the movers come.

A side note on the movers. It works like this … the movers come and pack our gear and take it to a big truck trailor were other people that are moving have gear on said truck too. So multiple households are on one truck and said truck heads out. First on the truck is last off the truck and distance travelled, blah blah blah. Our stuff is still in transit somewhere, and we hope hope hope to see it next week (althought they have till like the 10th or something crazy). In the meantime we are going to “settle in” the best we can and then play tourist with the kids.

The kids truly have been amazing. They could be making our lives a living hell with all that we are putting them through. Yet Ethan is still smiling away and even giving out a few giggles. Becca’s imagination is soaring. I throughly enjoy listening to her amazing stories and plotlines.

Before we left Riverside, Becca got her hair cut. I had been fighting bangs since she has had hair, sadly I lost the battle. Her hair grows forward, right into her face, causing a cousin It effect if not tackled. Well with Becca’s new found “independence” tying back her hair is not always doable. In comes the bangs. I have to say I quite like them and now I have to learn to trim them. Being a curly haired girl myself, bangs were never my thing.

Since we will be relocating to the house as of tomorrow I will no longer have GASP an internet connection. I am sure it will not be long until I find every hot spot, WiFi in the area, however posts and reading will be sparse. We will be hopefully hooked up with some DSL by the end of the week.

*The reference to the Hill is based on Los Alamos history of being a secret location for the government lab. While I am still learning about the rich history here, the Hill sounds perfect for our new home.

Pics of the Day ~ Los Alamos Scenery ~

We have only been in Los Alamos a couple of days, so my thoughts are very premature. J & I are both feeling the effects of the drastic elevation change and trying to find our footing.

The skies are an incredible blue that has been long lost in the smog of California. The air is fresh and forestry. The hint of rain dances everyday after the sun has beaten down on the mountain.

There are three main roads. One that leads to the National Lab, one that has all the shops and another that takes you out to the golf course. If there are more “main” roads we have yet to discover them. The roads that are main routes seem to be cluttered with traffic, however nothing compared to Southern California.

It is glorious to witness so many people walking, riding bikes and chatting with one another. It is an odd sensation to tone things down, to want to slow down. In California I always felt so rushed and tense, yet here we are feeling awkward that the pace is your own.

In the post office the “Take a Number” is empty. The two postal officers call out “Who’s Next?” instead. Can you imagine the mayhem that would occur in Riverside if that were the system! We stopped by to hook up our utilities and the lady chatted away with us. Come to think of it we have not seen any bars on the windows or bullet proof glass to speak through … maybe we are hitting up all the wrong places … hehe.

I feel a tad overwhelmed. The moving company is holding our gear hostage till LATE next week * sigh * Since we have possesion on the townhouse, we are going to hit up a few garage sales on Saturday and see if we cannot score some gear to live there without our stuff. I am * trying * to have the “we are on vacation” mindset, except we have all the stress of hooking shit up and arranging stuff. I need my YARN darn it!

Ooooo we saw a bum! Darn it should have taken a picture! He was snoozing on the grass with his dog, with his gear around him. I hope he heads south for the winter ’cause we are told it gets chilly here.

Ethan is growing and changing so fast. He smiles at everyone and is trying so hard to be all tough guy standing (with support!), head control and attempting to sit. It is so cute. Becca is amazing. She totally self entertains herself, pretending she is a cat … hiding in closets and crawling on the floor. When she eats … “Cats don’t like rice” grrr So we have to approach it from a cat’s perspective to have compliance at times. She has had a few melt downs regarding not getting her way 100% of the time, yet seems to be getting through the transition. We took her swimming today and she is such a fish! Swims under water so well for being almost three. It is fun to watch.

I’ll let you know how the garage sales go …

Pic of the Day ~ Ethan & Becca ~

What a day! Whew … I am exhausted. We arrived uber late last night. Anyone that proclaims that travelling with two children under the age of three is easy is a nut job. We survived the journey and I tell you there will be NO road trips in our near future.

We really do have amazing kids. They suffered through an entire day of driving through countless construction zones, tourist traps and insane weather. Towards the end we had to do an emergency pull over right in front of a casino that was being built, due to Ethan simply having enough with being in the car. Becca had had a similar melt down earlier, thankfully there was a rest stop that allowed us to stretch our legs, and recover.

Between Albuquerque and Santa Fe we ran into some wild weather. The rain pounding on our roof wasn’t so bad, however when the marble sized hail starting drilling into our car I got a little nervous. We pushed on and arrived in Los Alamos unscathed.

The jerks at the hotel gave our room away and tried to stick us in a room with ONE bed. Ummm hello four people … one bed … ugh. Today they corrected the error and we will not have to go to bed at 8pm when Becca goes down (or else she stays awake, can you blame her?)

Today we spent the day doing more driving (we were really popular with the kids) and looking for a place to call home. At first we started to panic, everything in our price range was on the dumpy side. I would prefer not live in a place where the selling point is that the wood stove will heat the entire house! Then we spotted the cutest condo, made arrangements to view it and the sweetest old lady showed us the place. It was so cute! The lady that owns it is now in Texas and was a little iffy stating she was selling and that others had agreed to rent it. I was a little bummed then more determined to find a place.

One of the ads was for a 3 bedroom 3 bath townhouse in the same area as the ever cute condo. We went to see it and the the people that own it are so awesome (the lady even works for the labs too!). I was a little taken aback by the sea foam green plush carpeting through out all THREE floors, yet the double garage, fantastic deck overlooking the canyon, tons of room, fridge with water and ice maker, washer, dryer, dishwasher AND walking distance to the hot spot in town* … well one can live with sea foam green plush carpet. One is always in need of blog material. Sea foam green plush carpet can go a long way.

J signed the lease papers tonight and we have the keys. We are hoping to contact the moving company and see when our stuff may make it to this neck of the woods tomorrow and deal with hooking stuff up and all that jazz. I am so so relieved that it is no longer in question where we call home.

Tomorrow I will share my first impressions of this mountain town where EVERYONE talks to you, smiles and waves (a little freak-eh if you ask me), for tonight I am weary and in need of a rest.

*Everywhere we went there was a MASS of people … I can get a Starbucks coffee faster in California for the love of pete … oh the Quiznos was PACKED with people. It was MAYHEM! I swear everyone in town was in those two locations when we were!

With help from our cat Kitt we made the insane 6 hour trek to Flagstaff, Arizona. You see I have never owned a car with cruise control. The sweet pleasures of driving with my fingers was discovered last night. weee! We did not get going until after 3pm due to the movers taking a little longer than we had first hoped. This made our first day of travelling a long one.

At one point J looks over at me and asks “Is that your nervous, I am going to drive us all off the road laugh?” Muwahahaha! Clearly he did not appreciate the self propelled glory of cruise control through mountainous terrain.

Becca got confused at some point. She figured we would arrive in Los Alamos in no time at all. No stopping for dinner or the night. If we were stopping it meant we had arrived. No matter how many pictorial representations of Riverside to Los Alamos I drew on Colour Wonder paper, she was devastated that we were not “There Yet”.

Pooh to the rescue! We threw character building out the window and opted to have technology entertain our cute & cuddly daughter, while we weary parents enjoyed the silence.

Now that the kids have had some much needed not-strapped-into-the-carseat time we are eager to get on the road again, arriving finally, in Los Alamos this evening.

… To get back on the road again …

We spent our first night of many in a hotel last night. With the movers packing up most of the apartment yesterday, it was simpler with the two kids to camp out down the street rather than work around all the boxes.

I thought I was reserving a room with two rooms, so that Becca could retire when she was ready and we could stay up later, preparing Ethan … etc … I was mistaken. So we all went to bed at 9pm … hehe … Actually it turned out great. Ethan only got up once through the night and J & I slept really well too!

The movers are finishing packing and loading their truck as I type … We hope they will be done mid afternoon then we hit the road to Flagstaff … I cannot wait to go! This waiting around part kinda sucks.

We are heading over to the apartment to check on the movers progress then get Becca’s hair trimmed and some lunch. Not sure how we will kill the rest of the time.

I am eager to go, but it pains me to leave everything we built here behind. New adventures to come I am sure … I hope … Venturing to the unknown is so hard, yet so much fun in the long run. Byeeee Riverside !!