We made it!

On February 6th 2010 we rolled into Oceanside. It was a great relief to have a "bed" to sleep in, but it was even more exciting to just be able to call a place home. The movers and our stuff arrived early Sunday morning. We were expecting unpackers to arrive as well but apparently there was an oversight and they never got scheduled. It was probably better that way so we didn't feel rushed to just put stuff places.
I didn't know what to expect driving across country with two kids, one being stuck in a car seat and the other just being bored the whole time. It was great fun and so educational. Despite himself Nicolas did too. Even after the two diaper dashes we had to do at gas stations we had fun. It's those unplanned events that usually make trips so much more fun than we thought. As I'm running out of the gas station telling Nick to, "go go go start the car and go." He thought I robbed the place. We can look back and tell those funny stories to Bella and Nicolas. We had many abstract Nickisms. Things that only Nick and say and of course Errinisms. Nick telling me that Bella will have to have a Quinceañera and I then asked didn't he have to be a practicing Mexican to do that. Nick telling me I didn't need to go up to the room to fix my hair. It didn't matter I was going home with him at the end of the night anyway. Point taken.
We had great experiences in Chicago that have influenced all of our lives. We have learned from some more than others but regardless we have learned. We made friends that we hope distance won't keep us from staying in touch. We are closer to family which we learned even more so is so necessary. We are closer then we've ever lived since being away from Tucson.
I feel like we belong close to the ocean. We are sun people and both my children love the water. It's a hard thing to adjust to when you can't leave the house for days at a time because of the weather. If that's what you know then more power to ya. If you've been born and raised in Arizona it's difficult to get used to. -16 is very cold. We won't miss shoveling snow, mowing a football sized yard and the continued worry of what will break next when owning a home. Nicolas will miss the snow days but I think he would trade the ocean for snow days anytime.
Thank you for keeping tabs on us and for all of you who helped us in this transition. Nick is completely 100% back to being Nick. No stress, laid back and healthy. It takes a lot out of a person when they are trying to be perfect for everyone. It just can't happen. He's loving being back and working with all the people he knew before leaving.
While it was a hellacious 18 months in Chicago it taught us so much we would've never learned otherwise.

Vegas Baby or so they say!

It was a very wet drive into Nevada, or so Nick tells me. When I get in the car and drive I sleep. I always have been so thank goodness Nick is a driver.
Once we made it to Hoover Dam I was so shocked about the construction. Actually not really. The road into Vegas has ALWAYS been under construction. This time though it seems they are building a bridge to head off the bottle neck that happens going down to the bridge. This bridge will be bigger than the Golden Gate and when we drove by I was astounded by the size of it. Amazing! Of course we had fun saying the Dam Dam looks good and all that.
We finally made it to our room at the Bellagio and we ordered Nicolas dinner, Bella was sleeping and headed out to have dinner with Alex, Nick's oldest brother. We ate at one of the previous Top Chef's restaurant. It was good but to me it was still just a hamburger place. I lost money on the craps table, which Alex said I let him show me how to play and I wold win win win. I've never lost money playing craps until this night. $60.00 came and went. Good thing it was the sale money from Craigslist so nothing really lost but still.
We all slept great and ate at the buffet at the hotel. It's always so hard for me to eat at a buffet because I never eat as much as I feel I should. I'm a cereal kind of girl. I could have cereal for every meal and sometimes I do. We had $5.00 cash left and I asked Nick to go win me a million on a slot. Sadly he was at the checkout counter before we were. He didn't win any.
Vegas was fun but we were only there one night and unless you're up all night into the morning, which I've done in Vegas a few times, that just isn't enough time.
We were all ready to head out and get to Oceanside, CA

Flagstaff

We drove in from Albuquerque to Flagstaff, AZ.
Nick hadn't been back to Flag since graduating and for me it had been at least 5 years. We met with Nick's Dad, who we hadn't seen in 9 years, at LaFonda. This Mexican food restaurant brings back so many good memories. We headed back to our hotel, Little America, and we all were out as soon as our heads hit the pillows. Little America is a hotel that was always out of reach for Nick and I. It was too expensive but a place I wanted to stay. It's not that it's overly nice even. It was just always out of our reach. My friend Joy, who lives in Flagstaff, invited us to stay with them. I told her thank you but we really want to stay at Little America just to cross it off the bucket list.
We drove Nicolas by Flagstaff hospital where Nicolas was born. He nodded his head, "that's nice." We drove by where we bought our GEO, where I spent many night drinking and Nick did a lot of not. We drove by the church that we got married at with Nicolas again nodding his head saying, "nice." We went to Mt View which was the dorm that Nick and I lived in. We also look over to the infamous "Fontaine" house. Yep it's still there. We both went to our respective greek "wings" and remembered lots of things. Nicolas got to see his famous picture up in the Gamma Phi wing when he was voted Gamma Phi Guy. This is where I then put, I saw so many Gamma Phi girls and they were so nice and respectful to me. That they gave me the grip and then asked what I'd been up to since being involved with the chapter for 7 years. I would put that right here but I can't........
It really wouldn't have bothered me so much if we hadn't gone up to the Sigma Chi wing. We were up there looking at the composite pictures as we had been a few minutes earlier in my old wing. Four guys came up to Nick introduced themselves, gave him the grip, asked what he'd been up to, how he was doing....... Are you kidding me?? Nick wasn't even in a composite picture because he was a little less involved than I was. He then rubbed it in that is hand hurt from shaking so many guys hands. yadayadayada.
We then left and stopped to surprise an old bank friend and then we were off to Joy's house for lunch. Joy was my Gamma Phi Mom and a great friend in college. I was at Maloney's when Joy went on her first date with Chad, her husband. I remember her telling me to not speak to Chad and to not do anything embarrassing because she might like this guy. I believe I did speak with Chad and he still married Joy so...
Joy has two kids, Natalie and Brett, and apparently her son and my daughter will be married in 30 years. Bells and Brett were sharing sippy cups one minute and then Bella is making weird noises. We look over and Brett is on top of her and they are totally kissing. Super cute, in my eyes. Nick was a little weirded out. We had lunch, caught up and headed out to Las Vegas for the last leg of our trip.
We had such a great time visiting memories that seem like they really happened yesterday and yet it was over 10 years ago when they began. Crazy!!!