July 2010

So many things to say about living here that I simply haven't had time to post about. So now that I have a moment I thought I'd try to get at least a couple posts done. When we arrived in Arozona on July 1st we literally had the stuff in our van and that was it. We had the TV and computer, a few pots, clothes, pillows, and sleeping bags and that was about it. Thanks to my messgae board addiction I already had some friends out here in AZ (not strange creepy people met in a chat room a week before the move but actual people I've been "friends" with online for a few years) that were already anticipating our arrival. One of these amazing ladies loaned us an air mattress (which I am ashamed to admit I still have and it's now March) so we didn't have to sleep on the floor.

We sold a lot of our furniture in Michigan to save space on the moving truck and because we had no idea how much space we'd have in the apartment so we figured we'd get a smaller couch (we had a wrap-around) once we got here. So we figured out where a few furniture stores were and set out on our journey to find a red couch. We asked Nathan what color we should get and that is what he said. Jon and I had actually both been thinking a red couch would be quite fun even before Nathan said red so we were totally on board! The couch was delivered before our moving truck arrived so we at least had somewhere to sit now.

Finally on my birthday (July 7th) our moving truck rolled in. Happy Birthday to me, I get all my old crap back, lol. We had an awesome crew of people from church helping us move in. The truck could not get into our complex so it parked across the street and everything was loaded off the truck into our van or the two pick-ups people brought with them then driven to our unit and unloaded and carried up the stairs. It was quite the operation but it was done quickly.

One of the perks of moving to AZ for our little family was being a relatively short drive away from Disneyland! Since the job lay-off in MI and the subsequent move meant we had to cancel a big Disney World trip we had planned for August we were even more anxious to go to Disneyland. We decided to book a trip for Fall Break (mid-October). After a few days we were thinking that we could get annual passes for a great price that would totally pay for themselves if we just made 2 trips to Disneyland this year so we quickly booked a July trip and left a few days later.

The kids loved Disneyland. We were surprised about how much they remember from last year when we went to Disney World (if you haven't figured it out we are kinda Disney freaks here). Here are some pics from the trip.

Welcome to California! We realized after this trip that our van has pretty much been driven coast to coast now. We went out to New Jersey a couple years ago and now it has been to California.

At a potty break for Nathan we saw this seen. That WAS a fire hydrant. Someone was having a rotten day for sure!

Disneyland and California Adventure:

We were mean parents and made Nathan go on a few rides that he was a bit scared of. Hey, at least we warmed him up with the little kid coaster before taking him on Space Mountain. To this day he is still afraid of elevators because we took him on Tower of Terror.

Nathan is such the Ladies' Man. He's got a way with these Princesses!





And the Fairies just can't resist him either. Seriously, Tinkerbell had a 5 minute conversation with him, completely holding up the long line of people behind us!

We made it back just in time for new teacher orientation and then life got very busy! A few other things we did do in July were find an indoor mall with play area (perfect for those 115+ degree days) and an outdoor mall with splash fountain and Coldstone for the 90 or so degree evenings. So much fun!