The trek

Phew, we made it. It wasn't until 6:00 am on Sunday, June 21st that it felt real. I still am a little bit in shock that we live in Washington, but I'm sure the fact that my family isn't just a short drive away anymore will hit soon enough.

Anyway, Adrian came home on Friday night and was able to take the early flight, thank goodness! The boy were ecstatic to have him back and even still today, 2 weeks later, get upset when he leaves for work. On the Saturday before we started the trek up north, my parents threw us the most amazing, fun, wonderful going away part ever. I couldn't have asked for a better way to be sent off. We played in the pool, had yummy drinks at the tiki bar and enjoyed the company of our best friends and family.

We were hurting after staying up waaaayyy too late, but regardless, we were out of the house by 7:30 am on Sunday! First stop was coffee, second stop was Carl's Jr. (nutritious, I know) and then on to Pismo Beach!

Our awesome and SUPER delicious cake that my mom got from Flour Power Bakery in San Diego. Love you mama!

First Day: Pismo Beach

We stayed at the Best Western in Pismo Beach and I HIGHLY recommend it. This was the view from the patio near our room and basically the view from everywhere along the backside of the hotel. It was also dog-friendly and they really catered to having your pet. 

We were lucky enough to get to spend time with my friend Blair, her husband Justin and their son Rawlin. We went out to a delicious dinner at McClinktock's where we had filet Oscars, calamari, decadent lobster mashed potatoes and more. It was nice to spend some much needed time with them!

Second Day: San Francisco
We bid adieu to Pismo Beach around 8:30 am and started the drive to San Francisco. It was a pretty easy drive, especially having the DVD players in the car for the kids. They were total troopers. We arrived at the Hotel Adagio around 1:00 pm, another dog-friendly place, and we were very happy with our room.

We headed straight to sushi as soon as we got there! The boys were happy to be out of the car.

After driving down Lombard Street, which the boys got a huge kick out of, we headed to the iconic Ghiradelli Square where we HAD to have sundaes because obviously. I mean, forget the fact that San Diego has one of these too, we were in SF!

The usual non-photo photo because being 3 makes you never ever want to take photos. By the way, it was freezing. Like really, really cold. We walked along Fisherman's Wharf all the way to Pier 39 to the sea lions, which was super packed. Either way, the kids got a total kick out of seeing them. We watched the breadmakers in the huge window at Boudin's also.

I am so lucky to be their mom! Even on days when it's really freaking hard to be their mom.

Day Three: The longest driving day ever through the Oregon Coast
Again. Three is hard apparently. It makes you want to kick your brother in front of the Golden Gate Bridge. We drive over the bridge, was pretty awesome, and then started the longest drive of the trip. 13 hours in a car. My booty was so sore that day...

But we did get to drive through the Avenue of the Giants, which was beautiful and so majestic. We pulled off to let the kids and dog run around a little bit. 

One of the coolest we did was unexpected. Adrian was asleep and the kids were watching the DVD players and I was bored out of my mind driving. I saw a sign that said "Elk Viewing" and thought, what the hell. Let's check it out. I had no idea if this would be a 1 mile jaunt off the freeway or a 10 mile jaunt, but who cares. We got lucky and it was 1/4 mile :)

Hi beautiful Oregon Coast I love you. Basically everywhere north of San Francisco, I kept looking around and thinking wow. just wow. What a beautiful country we live in.

This was our view from the terrible dinner we had the night of the horrible car ride. At least the view was stunning!

We were originally supposed to stay the night somewhere along the Oregon Coast, probably Coos Bay, but we couldn't really find a hotel that worked for us. So, we decided to drive all the way through to Portland. Hence the sleeping picture. He was actually sleeping and it was 1:00 am. We ended up with a kickass 2-bedroom suite with two bathrooms.

Day Four: Arrival in Washington
Cruising the streets of Portland in the morning. They were really annoyed about the "cruising" part because walking. ugh. But we pressed on because donuts!

Oh hai Blue Star donuts, basically the entire store of donuts that we decided to try. Apple fritter, maple bacon donut, dark chocolate ganache something (oops, x2), blueberry delicious. We didn't finish them all but at least got a tasting of everything. We were told by everyone to go to Voodoo, but when we checked the Yelp reviews, we knew that Blue Star was the way to go.

Happy to be heading to our new home today! And to not have to walk, because they don't like that very much. Lazy bones.

Crossing the bridge into Washington!!!!!

Aaaaaaaaaaand, we have arrived!

We got to the house around 3:30 pm and my first impressions of Washington are: 

• I love our neighborhood. Even though we wanted to be on some land, I feel like this was a really good choice for us to meet people. 
• People are so nice! We have met at least 4 of our neighbors who have made it a point to introduce themselves to us. It took us months to actually even meet one of our neighbors in San Diego. 
• Kids everywhere. Seriously. There are kids in almost every household in our neighborhood.
• Beauty everywhere. I find myself staring at trees all the time. I love it so much! Except the heat, the heat is not fun. It's been over 85 and typically around 90-95 every day. That's not the business.