Day TWO

Happy Alex, not a bad view for me to have huh?

Sammy

Kate putting her beloved peanut butter crackers in between her toes!

Oh Trudy

Day one ended with us all sleeping at a Holiday Inn Express in Goodyear, AZ. We were confused on what time it was, it's weird being behind 2 hours. It's like it only took us 10 minutes to go thur New Mexico & into AZ. We had an ok night sleeping, Kate woke us up coughing & Alex woke up WAY to early-in any time zone!!
We had breakfast & headed out at about 9:40. The kids & dogs did great, we all even took a nap, except Mike that is. It actually didn't take as long as we thought it would & we were in Huntington Beach by 2pm.
It was so neat how the land changed on our way here. Austin is a little hilly with trees & then all of a sudden we were on flat land with nothing, well we did see some very large tall cactus. There really isn't much between west Texas & AZ! So we went from dessert looking surrounding to green mountains!! It was neat to see some very large windmills once we got into California, along with the houses in the mountains.
So back to our day 2, we get to our home away from home & everyone is excited to be here!!! We explore all the rooms & let the kids play while we unload the car. It was really warm for here (like 80 degrees) so we decided to explore & go grocery shopping. First we drove to the beach, which we decided was to far away to walk to every day & parking there is only $1.50 an hour. I was surprised to see so many people out & about on a random Wednesday afternoon, I wonder if it is like that all the time. We saw the Dog Beach & we decided we fit in here with having dogs, but not so much with having kids! Next we headed to get some groceries. While checking out we got a phone call that someone had Trudy! Yikes!! Now let me back up, on Day 1, stop 1, Trudy pulled on the lease & her collar came off & Mike had to run after her AND now she had gotten out of our new backyard!! I have to say I was nervous about her getting out. The gate is an iron one with slates & I was afraid she could get thur it & well I guess I was right! So we rush home to get Trudy & met a neighbor. Thank goodness for good people!!! Especially ones who will chase crazy dogs like Trudy!!!
So by now Alex is screaming his head off so I feed him & try to find a place to put his pack n play for him to sleep (while he is still screaming)!! Alex ended up in our room, with one half of his pack n play in our closet. Not sire if this is where he will stay, but it works for now.
We had picked up chicken wings at the Albertsons for dinner, so we all sat down to eat. Mike & I are both mentally & physically exhausted by this point!! Mike played with Kate while I worked on unpacking the kitchen a little & I'm going a little crazy that I can't unpack upstairs since Alex is sleeping!! Anyway, Mike heads to bed & Kate & I watch some American Idol. She starts to do some rubbing of the eyes so even before Idol is over, we headed to bed!!
All in all, the two days of driving wasn't all that bad. Sammy gets first place for being the best traveler, then Kate, who only complained two times the whole trip, next goes to Alex, who was pretty good, but he did do his fair share of crying & then he did throw up once. Trudy comes in LAST place due to escaping two times. But all in all we made it here safe & sound and we can't wait to explore California!