Drive from Phoenix to Miami

So... I don't really do New Year's resolutions. I think it's a good idea to sort of keep yourself in check all year round, not just once a year. BUT... What I would like to get better at is keeping my blog up to date. I am pretty good about posting daily, or at least every other day, but I would like for them to be current too. With that being said, here are picks from the long drive out here from Arizona (December 21st - 24th). It was a 2,400 mile trip and took us about 35 hours of driving, although we stopped for the nights.

I finally got my wallet that Paul overnighted to me. We even hassled the postal workers and tried to get it from them before they put it in another truck and delivered it to the house. I thought that would have been helpful to them, and saved me a few hours, but I guess not. They delivered it to us around 1pm.

Brianna, Colleen and Lee were my sidekicks as we ran around spending up the money left over on my grocery card. They were very helpful, and MUCH appreciated. Thanks guys!

Then Mr. Poppins, I mean, Lee :) packed the U-Haul. He has a very methodical brain and can easily visualize how to make oddly shaped and too many things fit into a tiny space. He got all of our stuff packed into a 4x8 trailer... What?! :) Good job Lee.

Since we didn't leave Arizona until 6:30pm, we didn't make it very far. Sad. We only drove until midnight and stopped somewhere in New Mexico for the night.

We woke up early, drove to Texas...

And drove and drove and drove through Texas. That state is WAY too big. We had a few interesting experiences with bathroom breaks, and running on empty...

We stayed the night in Louisiana (I think), where Colleen tried to capture a small litter of kittens,

then in the morning we drove through Mississipi, Alabama, (not too much to see through those states) and made it to Florida. Hooray!!!

Sadly, we didn't make it all the way to Miami, because Florida (who knew?) is a CRAZY big state. So we stayed the night only a few hours from Paul, Stacy and the boys. I was bummed to not be with them, but getting a good nights sleep was probably the best idea since we all were a little loopy. :)

During the trip there was a little of this:

And a LOT of this. Colleen is a professional sleeper. It's actually impressive. :)

In the morning, we drove HOME. Our new home. I was super excited to see Paul and the boys. Although Paul was excited to see me, the boys didn't really know what to think right away, which was good. Stacy took such good care of them while I was gone. They warmed right up and there was lots of snuggling to be had. I missed them SO much.

I don't have any pictures of what they did here while I was driving, BUT... They were busy! :) Matix got a real big boy bed (pictures to come), Hawken upgraded from the pack and play to a real crib (for the first time in his life). They picked out a Christmas tree, colored Christmas pictures, and made home-made ornaments for the tree. They went to the park just down the street a ton, and soaked up all the Grandma time a little boy could want. :) Thank you Stacy, Lee and Colleen for all your help. It made our trip and transition back to the States SO nice.