Our California Adventure Begins

Wow, it's been almost a week and a half since I wrote last. That must be some kind of record. Well, here we are in sunny California. Steve ran off to fetch a treasure I found on Craigslist and Sophie just fell asleep. I'm all alone with both hands free. I could be in the kitchen continuing to organize things but I can always do that with Sophie strapped to my front. I'd rather chill for a few minutes and post an update on how the past week has gone.

My parents arrived in Provo on Thursday evening to load up the trailer, then off we went. Steve and Matt (his friend from Cali who flew out to help us move -- what an awesome friend!!) were driving our Honda and stopped and spent the night at my grandparents' in Sandy. They figured they'd rather catch up to us going about 80 instead of getting stuck behind us the whole way going 60. My dad didn't stop, though. He drove until FOUR IN THE MORNING. I have no idea how he kept himself awake after the 4-hour drive to Provo and hauling our stuff down three flights of stairs into the trailer. I don't think even Coke is that powerful. You have to know my dad, though. When he's on a mission, there's pretty much no stopping him.

The drive was nice. Mostly because we were in a motorhome and didn't have to stare out into the bleak nothingness of Nevada. Remember that picture of the motorhome and Ellie hooked up behind? Replace Ellie with a 12-foot (I think), enclosed snowmachine trailer and that's how we looked barreling down the freeway. (And I took another shower while en route. I'm getting pretty good at it!)

Sophie in the motorhome. I think the trip and all of the commotion wore her out!

We arrived Friday evening and all of us were too pooped to start packing it into our new place, so we had dinner and crashed. The next morning Steve's dad and brother arrived to help us, as well as a friendly little raincloud that sprinkled on us until we finished hauling boxes in. Then it stopped. It was the only time it rained this month. Figures.

My dad wanted to try out Steve's new scooter. Sophie wasn't sure about it, though. She's probably concerned that some idiot will hit Steve on the way to school because no one's used to having those on the roads around here. Oh wait, that's me.

Luckily, we only had two casualties during the move. The first was a window we broke trying to get our box spring around the corner and up the stairs...

The second was our cool little betta fish, Antonio. I found him on Monday morning stiff as a board at the bottom of his bowl. He made it the whole way to California in an open mason jar in the cup holder of the Honda. That might have done him in, I think. Or maybe he just wanted to be let loose in the Bay. We had him for 2 1/2 years and even taught him a few tricks. He'll definitely be missed.

I'm beginning to think that my perception of what's "ghetto" is changing. I used to think the town we lived in was ghetto. That was until we picked up a pot rack (another Craigslist treasure!) in Oakland last night at some guy's house. South Oakland is ghetto, not San Leandro, which is a little run-down, but it doesn't make me nervous anymore. Our neighbors are all really nice, and I've met some great people since we got here. (That made my mom feel better about leaving us here.)

This is a little off-topic, but yesterday I was sitting on the couch with Sophie and I heard what sounded like an ice cream truck approaching. I wasn't sure if it was an ice cream truck or a taco truck because it was playing "La Cucaracha" over its speakers. It was an ice cream truck after all, and the guy driving it was wearing a turban. Talk about being multi-cultural around here.

Well, we still have some unpacking to do, and I really should go back in the kitchen and finish while the baby is still asleep. I'll post pictures when we get everything situated and we finish painting.