Home!

Per request, I just wanted to do a quick post to let everyone know that we are in our new home, with our cats and all of our stuff, safe and sound. We've been here for a week now (with our cats since Tuesday night) and the reality has finally hit us. We're exhausted but settling in! I'll definitely be writing and posting pictures eventually so just wait longer :P

Happy Mother's Day, Mom!

We made three videos to say it all. We love you! 

Dear Mom,

And

Dear Mom,

And

Dear Mom,

Love, 

Your kids.

So long, California!

First, I uploaded a few pictures from yesterday. Don't forget I have link to my picasa albums on the right column of the blog. If you want something even more obvious and easier, you can click HERE

Next, here's the run down on the last two days.

Day: Two
Miles driven: 0
City: Anaheim, California

We spent our second day of our trip enjoying the Disneyland Resort. We started the morning off in the California Adventure park (DCA as most call it) and then spent the afternoon and evening in the Disneyland park. Our evening was filled with fireworks and topped off with a quick round of last minute rides. I can't believe I won't be living close to Mickey Mouse any more. I guess I'll just have to go to Disney World!

Some quick highlights of the Disney pics for those not inclined to scroll through the picasa albums:

Toy Story Mania is the best ride ever! 

Steph and Julia have a tea party

Kristen and Mark go on a cruise

Steph and Julia on Mickey's Fun Wheel

Day: Three
Miles driven: 430
City: Williams, Arizona

Today was a driving day. we made good time on the road and we're well into I-40, which will be the interstate that we spend most of our trip on. We're all done with California and have seven states to go!




Here are the cliff notes from today's pictures:

GAS off of route 66

The cost of gas at formerly mentioned gas station

Arizona State Line

Tomorrow morning we're heading a bit north to the South Rim of the Grand Canyon! When I was seventeen I went on a very special trip there with my dad and aunt and uncle (we took the mules down to the base and back) and now I can't wait to share this fantastic place with Mark and Steph and Julia.

Starting out!

Day: One
Miles driven: 35ish.
City: Anaheim

We've got four exhausted people, but we're all excited! We left our apartment around 7pm tonight after managing to get work done, flights flown, and apartment cleaned and checked out. THEN we packed up the cars and now and we're all set for a big day at Disneyland tomorrow. Now the fun really starts!

No pictures tonight, but will upload some when I get the chance.

The Bradys Take Las Vegas

Last weekend Mark and I spent less than 48 hours in Las Vegas. I think we slept for less than 9 of them! We met my immediate family for a quick family weekend. We had an amazing time. Even though the timing with our move seems a little crazy, it was so great for us to get away from the boxes, the planning, the work, and the stress of everything.

We didn't end up taking tons of pictures because you're not really supposed to take pictures on the gaming floor and it's annoying to carry a camera around. Well those are our excuses anyways!

We all stayed in the Bellagio hotel and wowie what a treat that was! This was the view from our "lakeview" room:

On Saturday day night we all went to see "O" by Cirque du Soleil. Before the show, we had a family dinner at Le Cirque. We all dressed up and I even got to wear my wedding jewelry. The food was amazing, the company was wonderful, and the show was breathtaking. I could do a whole post just on the show, but do yourself a favor and go see it yourself! Here are my parents at dinner, and yes that's a coconut my dad has for dessert:

After dinner Mark and I made everyone put up with some family pictures. Turns out it's hard to herd around people after the event! We should have done pictures before dinner, but c'est la vie! Here's the shot we got. I wish I was standing closer, but ohwell.

On our last day there my Uncle Terry and Aunt Kathie flew out to join us and we got to spend a little time with them. It was so great to spend the weekend with my family. I have to say it makes moving away even that much harder, but I know we'll have more trips like this someday. For now, I'm just savoring the great weekend we had and looking forward to visiting this summer!

Things I Will Miss

If you've been reading my past few posts and thinking wow, it sounds like Kristen is really jazzed about moving to Blacksburg! then you would be correct. However, that doesn't mean there aren't a lot of things about California I won't miss. Maybe even some things about Los Angeles... well I won't go that far. Here is my list of things I know for sure I'll be missing. 

-Proximity to family and friends. From our current apartment, I'm close to my new friends in LA, an hour and half drive from San Diego/Oceanside where my brothers live, and a three and half hour drive from my parents. I won't be able to see my sister-in-laws and my nieces and nephew as often let alone my brothers, who both work out of town. AND my parents will be even farther away! What's more? Our place in LA is only a quick two hour flight to Seattle, where we like to pretend that we live part time. It'll be 10-12 hours total travel time to get to Seattle or San Diego from Blacksburg. Ugh! I'm still in shock over the distance and I think this will be the single hardest thing about moving for me. 

-Disneyland. Mark and I both have annual passes and I love the Disneyland Resort (DLR). Living about a thirty minute drive from the park, it is easy to make evening or half day trips and I'm really going to miss Mickey Mouse. I don't know what I'll do when I have to face buying plane tickets, paying for a hotel, and buying hopper passes every time I want to go now! Sadly, I think the answer is that regular Disney trips are going on hold for a bit now. However, we will be moving much close to Disney WORLD. 

-Avocados. There is a reason why in other states when you order something called a "Californian ___" it is the same menu item with an avocado on it. I love avocados and I am accustomed to putting them on most everything: salads, sandwiches, burgers, tacos, omelets, etc. I'm going to miss being able to add avo to anything I order in a restaurant and I'm surely going to miss being able to buy fresh, good quality avocado in the grocery stores for a good price. 

-Trader Joes. I think it's interesting that Trader Joes seems to have this reputation as an elitist hippy store in states/regions that don't have a Trader Joes. Maybe for some people that rep fits? But for me, I love shopping there because of the good prices, the good quality, and the nice people who work there. I mean, where else can you buy $1.99 cheerios, $0.19 bananas, and have a checker remember that you're from Washington but moving away to Virginia? No where else in LA, I'll tell you that. 

-Eight Lane Freeways. Okay, I know I whine about the traffic, and I know I hate commuting. And overall it is probably a good thing I'll be leaving that life behind. But when there's light traffic (this does actually happen, sometimes) driving in LA can be exhilarating. Especially in Mark's WRX, in the fast lane. The urban girl in me loves taking six freeways to get to Disneyland, loves taking the cloverleaf interchange on the inside lane... all at or below the speed limit of course...

-The Weather. Hard to complain about the small window of weather we've enjoyed in the last six years. Rarely too hot or too cold, not too muggy or to dry, pretty much perfect year round. I am looking forward to real seasons, but it is nice only needing to own a spring wardrobe and being able to wear flip flops in February. I'm sure I'll have a part of me that always misses that. 

-Apartment Amenities. I won't lie. I'm going to miss having a pool, hot tub, package service, 24 hour maintenance, huge trash and recycling bins that I never have to bring to the street, and night security. Not that those things make apartment living worth it, but they still make the list of things I'll miss. Especially the hot tub.

-Coffee Shops. I think my days of living in the cute little coffee shop culture are numbered. Blacksburg has two Starbucks in town and I honestly didn't see any other coffee shops anywhere. And none of the grocery stores had coffee shops in them like the do here. I honestly don't know how any of the Tech students graduate!

I'm sure there'll be more things I'll miss, but that's it for now. Seven nights left in our LA apartment and then we're off! 

House Hunt Trip Wrap Up

Our last few days in Blacksburg were lots of fun because we were able to stop house hunting and pretty much just vacation. We did absurd things like go out to dinner, go on long drives, check out the campus, enjoy breakfast and coffee, and read books and watch Myth Busters. We truly thought we would be house hunting right up until the last day of our trip and that we might have to fax things back and forth to California, possibly have to wait a couple of business days for credit checks to go through, and perhaps break some legs to fight for a space to live. It turns out it was very easy! So we took advantage of our extra time and enjoyed the vacation.

Walking on Prices Fork Road 

The campus is all styled in what is called "Hokie Stone." As far as I'm concerned it should be called castles! If you read any of my posts last summer you might remember my loose definition of castle. If it has turrets of any kind, it's a castle! In addition to the architecture, the sprawling lawns and beautiful blooming trees make this campus one of the prettiest we've been on recently.

Turrets=Castle.

If I would have known I could live in dorms like these I might have picked a different college. MIGHT. 

If only graduate school was really here... (This is actually grad division, where the admins work)

When I was looking through the pictures, there was one that reminded me so much of a hotel we stayed in when we were in England!

England

Virginia Tech

On Saturday Virginia Tech happened to be having their spring scrimmage. Mark and I are eager to be part of a football community again and while we'll always bleed purple, we are okay with rooting for the Hokies also. The game was free, parking was free, and the 40,000 people watching the game made for a fun atmosphere. AND I got to wear a tshirt with a turkey on it (40% off at the bookstore, w00t!)

On Sunday before our flight, Mark's new PI took us on a hike. Now, when we think hike, we think of taking .25mile walk from the parking garage to the park entrance at Disneyland instead of taking the tram. What can I say? We live a pretty sedentary lifestyle. However, this hike ended up being a 4+ mile loop trail to a waterfall and back. Aside from the embarrassment of huffing and puffing through the whole hike, it was AMAZING. It was also about 30minutes away from our new house. I can't believe we'll be living so close to a national forest. Um, if this is exercise, then yes please! Apparently if you hike it in January/February, the falls are completely frozen. We are definitely planning to do that this winter in addition to getting out and walking and hiking more.

We got home late last night and were greeted at the LAX airport by honking taxis and a huge traffic jam. It felt like 1:30am to us because of the time change. When we walked in to our apartment we were sorry to see that the boxes remain stubbornly unpacked and I have a ton of work left. We've got more crazy times ahead, including yet another weekend trip before we embark on our cross country drive. But first... I must take a nap!