Anyway... we're here! I don't even know what to say, except that it's been really crazy over the past week and a half. (And sorry if I ramble... I'm really, really exhausted right now. I only sleep like five hours a night.) There was the move, of course, and the never-ending unpacking/organizing. (As it turns out, we have A LOT OF STUFF. The movers just kept coming and coming with more boxes!! Always more boxes!!!! And it's pretty much impossible to do any unpacking during daylight, a.k.a. Weston, hours). But there was also the passing of my beloved Uncle Joe in Cincinnati, who I'm really, really going to miss. Then, there's been Weston's crazy behavior, which has ranged from extreme clinginess to rampant hitting. To make matters worse, he came down with some sort of stomach virus a couple days ago. I think this move has been hard on him. Once or twice a day during our four-day roadtrip, he would say, "Wanna go home..." That broke my heart! I think he's slowly adjusting, and we're trying to be there for him as much as we can, but it's difficult when there are so many things that we're trying to do, too.
Anyway, we're getting there. This is what our apartment looked like on our last night in Pasadena:
And then the next day, it was bye-bye, Pasadena apartment! We'll miss you. Kinda.
I'll give you a full run-down of our cross-half-country roadtrip, but I think the first thing that struck me about Tulsa was how green it is here. Supposedly, Tulsa is part of Oklahoma's so-called "Green Country," which is basically the northeastern portion of the state. That was really nice to see -- grass and trees!!! Tulsa kind of reminds me of Tennessee, in that it's humid and wooded but also has those swaths of red dirt in some places.Anyway, I think it's fair to say that we like Tulsa and we like our new apartment. It is by far the nicest place we've ever lived. (The honor was previously held by Wymount.) The pros: it has a swimming pool, and said pool is right next to our building in the complex; our unit has a dishwasher; it has central air conditioning (which Tim has never had in his life); and it has a washer and dryer. About that last one... WOW. Neither Tim nor I have ever had our own washer/dryer, ever, and although I've always craved it, I had no idea how easy all you fine people with your own washer/dryers really have it. Our first night here, I had to do two loads of laundry, and I could not BELIEVE that I could just walk over to the machines, without piling everything into laundry baskets or going outside or checking to see whether there was even a washer available, and just start the laundry. I COULD NOT BELIEVE IT. It was a glimpse into the lives of the other half. I am still in shock that I don't have to go outside to do laundry, because that's been the routine for the past seven years.
So, things are good so far. There are cons to this apartment, too, though: it's on the third floor, which means we have to leave 10 minutes earlier to everything than we would otherwise since Weston goes down the steps so slowly, and which means that I will never again be able to do any significant shopping during the day because it will be reeeeaaaally annoying to lug up bags of purchases plus Weston. Our little balcony overlooks not a forest with a sparkling stream, but a parking lot and a medical building (with the golden arches glowing in the distance). Plus, we can no longer walk our trash out to the trash cans; now we have to carry it down two flights of stairs, load it into our car, and drive it to the central trash compactor. So, those are a few of the things that are less desirable about this place, but on the whole, we like it.
One thing that I've realized since moving here is that Black Friday is going to be OFF THE HOOK. We live about one minute away from the big 71st Street thoroughfare in South Tulsa, which, I believe, boasts every single major retailer that exists on this planet. In our six days here, we've already been to the Super Target and Super Walmart three times (each). It's wild to be in a store so big that you can't even see where it ends. Thanks to a ginormous grocery shopping trip this evening, our pantry is now full of a combination of Trader Joe's items that we lugged from California (well, to give credit where credit is due, the movers lugged it), and the Great Value label. (Waffles for $1.50? Bananas for $.49/pound? Are you kidding me?? But that's a blog post for another day.)
We've also already been to several places that we've really been looking forward to: Braum's (a local favorite -- basically a burger joint + ice cream shop + dairy market), Cici's (THERE'S A CICI'S HERE!!!), Krispy Kreme, and Chick-Fil-A. I've also been to the mall and to a playground, but I'm sure I'll blog about those places another day, too. I don't have any friends yet, so these activities have just been for me and Weston (since Tim had to start work the very first day that we arrived here, while the movers were still unloading boxes... he's been really busy helping to get items together for a forthcoming video game pitch). Actually, in all honesty, it's been kind of fun to be completely off the radar. I don't know ANYONE here, so I've taken that to mean that I don't need to wear makeup. Haha! (It's not like I'm going to run into someone I know at the store!) However, tomorrow is our first Sunday in the new ward, so it's probably time to make myself presentable again, in the hopes of maybe making some friends here.
And FYI, we did in fact experience our first major Oklahoma thunderstorm/tornado warning the other night. It was raining harder than I've ever seen the sky rain, and we were technically in the zone where the newscasters advised hiding out in your basement/closet/insert safe location here, but we didn't. We weren't sure if it was actually a serious storm, or if they just exaggerate tornado threats around here because it boosts ratings. It turns out that yes, it was a serious storm, and yes, we were probably morons for not taking precautions. But, it was interesting and exciting nevertheless. Welcome to Oklahoma!!
So, this has been a very busy/stressful/tired/tumultuous time for all of us. Tim and I have been so preoccupied with everything going on that we keep forgetting that Sunday (today) is our seven-year anniversary. Hahaha! We decided that we're going to celebrate by watching the LOST series finale. Yes, we are pumped, but... LAMEST. ANNIVERSARY. EVER. But don't worry, in addition to trying to look presentable and smiling at people at church tomorrow, another one of our objectives is trying to find a babysitter so that we can hopefully go out next weekend. Hahaha! We're lame.
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And now for the CROSS-HALF-COUNTRY ROADTRIP RECAP!!!
I guess you could say that it went well, although Weston certainly hated it. In my pre-motherhood days, I would have definitely considered a paid roadtrip from California to Oklahoma to be a really wonderful, relaxing, and highly anticipated vacation. In reality, I was dreading it because of how disruptive it would be to Weston, and I was definitely not considering it to be a vacation in any sense (even if we did try to make the best of it). We had lots of fun and sweet family time, but we also had lots of stress and frustration! We stayed in five hotels in five different states (California, Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, and Oklahoma), and we sat in the car for about six hours a day, four days in a row (sometimes arriving at our destinations after 9 PM because of stops along the way).
With that in mind, here's a nice morning photo of Weston:
Hahaha! (And you may notice Weston's little boo-boo. He fell on the concrete in front of our apartment shortly before we left and scraped his face. Ouch! So, all of his roadtrip pictures feature a prominent and very yucky scab just under his nose.)Our first night at the hotel was HORRIBLE. We finally got Weston into bed at 9:00, and he was asleep within 10 minutes (even with us right there in the room), so we knew that he had been exhausted. But then he woke up crying and coughing at 10:45 and didn't fall asleep again until 2:15. Yes, A.M. He woke up again at 5:45, and despite our many efforts, did NOT want to go back to sleep again. So, we started our day quite early, and we were all pretty tired and grouchy.
Fortunately, our Present-A-Day program seemed to go over well, because it gave him a new, novel toy to play with in the car each day. Sometimes (like the first day with Woody), the enthusiasm was slightly underwhelming (haha!):
We ate lots of quick meals at restaurants along Interstate 40. Tim's boss told him to take me out for nice dinners along the way, which was really generous of him. But we struggled to think of a nice place where we could feasibly take Weston. As such, this photo was taken at Denny's (aren't those two darling?):
A morning with Sesame Street in the hotel room was always a good morning (he likes his backpack a little bit):
... but 6+ hours of driving each day was a bit trying:
On the upside, after the first night, he started sleeping better in the hotel rooms. There were no more massive middle-of-the-night crying/coughing fits, and even when the last two hotels didn't have cribs and he had to sleep in a big bed with me, he still did pretty well. (Oh, there was that time on the fifth night when he sort of rolled out of bed and sort of bonked his head really hard on the nightstand... but yeah, aside from that.)
We ate lots of quick meals at restaurants along Interstate 40. Tim's boss told him to take me out for nice dinners along the way, which was really generous of him. But we struggled to think of a nice place where we could feasibly take Weston. As such, this photo was taken at Denny's (aren't those two darling?):
A morning with Sesame Street in the hotel room was always a good morning (he likes his backpack a little bit):
... but 6+ hours of driving each day was a bit trying:
On the upside, after the first night, he started sleeping better in the hotel rooms. There were no more massive middle-of-the-night crying/coughing fits, and even when the last two hotels didn't have cribs and he had to sleep in a big bed with me, he still did pretty well. (Oh, there was that time on the fifth night when he sort of rolled out of bed and sort of bonked his head really hard on the nightstand... but yeah, aside from that.) Anyway, one thing that made the drive smoother for Tim and me was our new GPS. I fought getting this little gadget for a long time, but (recalculating) eventually realized that if we're (recalculating) going to get one some day, then now would (recalculating) be the best time on account of (recalculating) the move:
On our second day, we visited... you guessed it... the Grand Canyon!!!
They've got a nice, shiny, new Visitor's Center there on the South Rim (but it's still surrounded by quite a bit of construction):
Tim and I did our best to entertain Weston along the walkway detours:
As is customary, we took a bamillion pictures of the canyon, but I won't bore you with them since everyone takes a bamillion pictures of the canyon. However, Tim managed to capture a sweet picture of Mommy and Weston:
The next picture does a much better job of capturing what it was actually like, though. In a nutshell, WESTON HATED THE GRAND CANYON. He cried and fussed and wanted to be held the entire time, and all he wanted to do was leave until it was time to leave (when he decided he wanted to stay). Let's just say that it sucked it made for fond memories. :-)
So, we got some good pictures, but it was a very wimpy visit to the Grand Canyon. We were probably there for 25 minutes, and there was no hiking, camping, rafting, kayaking, backpacking, birdwatching, rock-climbing, helicopter-riding, or anything else that makes for an amazing Grand Canyon experience. We came, we saw, he cried, we left. Hahaha! It's alright, though; I've decided that we'll go back again some day for a family camping vacation that will be AWESOME.
Oh, and what idiot wears sandals to the Grand Canyon...?? Oh yeah, ME:
Anywho, later that day we made a spur-of-the-moment decision to also visit a giant Meteor Crater near Winslow, Arizona:
Tim got more cute pictures (thanks for taking some pictures of me, honey... I luuuurve you):
Yet on this trip, where there is a picture of cute Weston, there follows a picture of angry Weston (hahaha!):
(The poor guy! It's been a big, weird change for him, and he's been sick to boot. Bless his little heart... I love 'im.)
On our second day, we visited... you guessed it... the Grand Canyon!!!
They've got a nice, shiny, new Visitor's Center there on the South Rim (but it's still surrounded by quite a bit of construction):
Tim and I did our best to entertain Weston along the walkway detours:
As is customary, we took a bamillion pictures of the canyon, but I won't bore you with them since everyone takes a bamillion pictures of the canyon. However, Tim managed to capture a sweet picture of Mommy and Weston:
The next picture does a much better job of capturing what it was actually like, though. In a nutshell, WESTON HATED THE GRAND CANYON. He cried and fussed and wanted to be held the entire time, and all he wanted to do was leave until it was time to leave (when he decided he wanted to stay). Let's just say that 
So, we got some good pictures, but it was a very wimpy visit to the Grand Canyon. We were probably there for 25 minutes, and there was no hiking, camping, rafting, kayaking, backpacking, birdwatching, rock-climbing, helicopter-riding, or anything else that makes for an amazing Grand Canyon experience. We came, we saw, he cried, we left. Hahaha! It's alright, though; I've decided that we'll go back again some day for a family camping vacation that will be AWESOME.
Oh, and what idiot wears sandals to the Grand Canyon...?? Oh yeah, ME:
Anywho, later that day we made a spur-of-the-moment decision to also visit a giant Meteor Crater near Winslow, Arizona:
Tim got more cute pictures (thanks for taking some pictures of me, honey... I luuuurve you):
Yet on this trip, where there is a picture of cute Weston, there follows a picture of angry Weston (hahaha!):
(The poor guy! It's been a big, weird change for him, and he's been sick to boot. Bless his little heart... I love 'im.)And just so you believe me, here is proof that Tim was, in fact, on this family roadtrip, too:
On the third morning, we gave Weston what turned out to be his favorite present-of-the-day: Jessie! Yeeeeee-HAW!!!
That same day, part-way through the drive, we impulsively decided to visit a small dinosaur museum in Tucumcari, New Mexico:
Even though Weston relished ANY opportunity to get out of the car, he seemed to really like the dinosaur exhibits here:
As did Tim! (Haha! He funny.)
We ate at a Route 66 joint called Del's Restaurant after the museum visit:
After dinner, I had to take a picture of this stretch of the road outside the restaurant. If you've ever seen the movie Cars, just know that it is SPOT ON. This Route 66 stretch of Tucumcari was nearly dead -- stores and restaurants (aside from Del's) were boarded up, signs were tattered, and it was strangely quiet. It was exactly like Radiator Springs. We actually watched Cars in the car on one day of the drive, and it was weird to be doing exactly the same thing as Lightning McQueen -- driving cross-country on Interstate 40 while completely bypassing the little towns that line the old Route 66. Very weird. At least Del's was still open... I'm glad we dined there and supported the town in a small way:
We stayed in Amarillo on our fourth night, and then the next day I took lots of pictures...
... as we arrived in:
Wheeeeeee!!! We ate lunch that day at Braum's, an Oklahoma institution with its ubiquitous giant-pink-ice-cream-cone sign:
Weston loved his vanilla ice cream with M&Ms, Tim loved his Heath bar Blizzard (but they don't call it a Blizzard), and I loved my little peanut butter-hot fudge sundae:
Then as we got closer to Tulsa, I got more and more surprised at this: a GREEN landscape! (Tim had told me that it was pretty green, but I remained skeptical. I thought Oklahoma was brown and dry and flat... y'know, Dust Bowl!)
And fiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiinally, we made it to our new place:
Nothing was set up for the first couple days, so the counter served as Weston's highchair for awhile:
There were boxes, boxes, boxes everywhere for about 2 days, and then we finally moved some of the crap into the office so that we could sort of arrange a living space. This is what our living room looks like now, which is a great improvement over the previous giant-mass-of-furniture-and-boxes:
We've been here for six days now, and for five of those days, our dining room looked like this:
The only reason that the dining room is slightly less chaotic today is because Tim and I launched a major let's-knock-this-out-because-we-are-so-sick-of-all-the-boxes campaign this morning. There are still boxes in there, but we've conquered about 75% of them at this point. Hopefully over the next few days, we'll get this place completely set up!! Then maybe we can actually relax and enjoy Tulsa a little bit. :-) Yaaaaaay for settling in!!! Yaaaaaay for new job!!! Yaaaaaay for Tulsa!!! (Oops, I just fell asleep.)
On the third morning, we gave Weston what turned out to be his favorite present-of-the-day: Jessie! Yeeeeee-HAW!!!
That same day, part-way through the drive, we impulsively decided to visit a small dinosaur museum in Tucumcari, New Mexico:
Even though Weston relished ANY opportunity to get out of the car, he seemed to really like the dinosaur exhibits here:
As did Tim! (Haha! He funny.)
We ate at a Route 66 joint called Del's Restaurant after the museum visit:
After dinner, I had to take a picture of this stretch of the road outside the restaurant. If you've ever seen the movie Cars, just know that it is SPOT ON. This Route 66 stretch of Tucumcari was nearly dead -- stores and restaurants (aside from Del's) were boarded up, signs were tattered, and it was strangely quiet. It was exactly like Radiator Springs. We actually watched Cars in the car on one day of the drive, and it was weird to be doing exactly the same thing as Lightning McQueen -- driving cross-country on Interstate 40 while completely bypassing the little towns that line the old Route 66. Very weird. At least Del's was still open... I'm glad we dined there and supported the town in a small way:
We stayed in Amarillo on our fourth night, and then the next day I took lots of pictures...
... as we arrived in:
Wheeeeeee!!! We ate lunch that day at Braum's, an Oklahoma institution with its ubiquitous giant-pink-ice-cream-cone sign:
Weston loved his vanilla ice cream with M&Ms, Tim loved his Heath bar Blizzard (but they don't call it a Blizzard), and I loved my little peanut butter-hot fudge sundae:
Then as we got closer to Tulsa, I got more and more surprised at this: a GREEN landscape! (Tim had told me that it was pretty green, but I remained skeptical. I thought Oklahoma was brown and dry and flat... y'know, Dust Bowl!)
And fiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiinally, we made it to our new place:
Nothing was set up for the first couple days, so the counter served as Weston's highchair for awhile:
There were boxes, boxes, boxes everywhere for about 2 days, and then we finally moved some of the crap into the office so that we could sort of arrange a living space. This is what our living room looks like now, which is a great improvement over the previous giant-mass-of-furniture-and-boxes:
We've been here for six days now, and for five of those days, our dining room looked like this:
The only reason that the dining room is slightly less chaotic today is because Tim and I launched a major let's-knock-this-out-because-we-are-so-sick-of-all-the-boxes campaign this morning. There are still boxes in there, but we've conquered about 75% of them at this point. Hopefully over the next few days, we'll get this place completely set up!! Then maybe we can actually relax and enjoy Tulsa a little bit. :-) Yaaaaaay for settling in!!! Yaaaaaay for new job!!! Yaaaaaay for Tulsa!!! (Oops, I just fell asleep.)
17 comments:
YAY! for ac!. YAY! for washer/dryers. YAY! for dishwashes. YAY! for great places to shop.
BOO! for living so far away now. :(
Oh man, sorry that it was so hard with Weston. but I can completely understand. Jonathan would be at LEAST that difficult in a big trip/move. At least we won't have to drive for 4 days before we move.
But yay for a new place!!! I'm glad that you get the benefit of a washer and dryer (and dishwasher!) Wait till Weston barfs--you're going to be soooooo happy when you can just throw everything in the washer right there in your apartment. Not that I'm actually wishing for him to barf or anything...
And go you for making the "I don't know anyone--no makeup!" rule. That is beyond awesome.
ohhh jean you make me laugh. great recap of your drive / first few days in ASLUT. sorry about weston's issues but i think it is so cute that you got him the daily presents, scheduled field trips, etc - best mom ever.
and btw today is MY first day in our new ward too, so i'm right there with ya when it comes to trying to look presentable and make friends. though i will def miss the days of not wearing makeup since i know NO ONE in this state. :)
Curse this stupid machine. Don't you hate it when your comment doesn't post right?
Glad you made it safely and sanely to Tulsa! I hear you on the whole New Mexico/Cars thing. Whenever I watch Cars with the kids, I get a bit nostalgic about our year there. They really nailed the landscape there.
Good luck with the rest of the adjustments and the remainder of the moving in stuff!
Great post- you never disappoint. I'm glad you made it and I feel ya with Weston's "go home" requests. My kids finally stopped saying that, although they still ask for certain friends. It is really sad to see them go through a change that they really just don't understand.
I fully appreciate the weather advisories being for the ratings, because I think it means that you lived in California just long enough to think that scary storms don't really exist. I think in Ca, they do have advisories "for the ratings."
I'm excited to hear how things progress in Tulsa. I'm sure that you will love it soon enough.
That was fun to read! Usually move posts are a bit bland but you are such a great writer that I found myself laughing out loud several times! I am so happy you guys made it safely. Hopefully Weston will adjust soon!
I loved reading your post too! I'm glad you guys made it there safely! Sounds like some good memories were made on the way!
Seriously Jean, I hope you realize just how awesome you are. Moving is one of the hardest things, and you are so positive and funny about it! I remember those exact feelings when we finally got a washer and dryer, and then finally a dishwasher. It almost makes you mad that others don't appreciate it like they should! Well, enjoy Tulsa. Won't it be nice to actually get a paycheck with your names on it??? Yeah for employment!
I wish there was a way to bottle up your adorable sense of humor and Anderson Family spontaneity! I would buy a hundred bottles to take with me on every road trip I ever go on! Its so cool that you just stopped at a random dinosaur museum along the way! And so many other places!
This post was SO FUN to read, Jean! Seriously, no detail is too small! I love the way you capture and enjoy the little details :) I love them!
I can't wait to hear more about everything as you get settled in! SO EXCITING!!! Keep us all posted!
I can't believe you've lived 7 years (and a baby) without a washer and dryer. You need an award-- hey, how about a washer and dryer as the prize?! ;-)
I've been very anti-GPS and wanting to just learn things and be able to figure them out myself. But, after flying into Chicago last night and finding our way to Indiana (thankfully using my parents GPS), I think it's not as silly as I once thought. Hooray for technology that makes moving easier.
I have so many things to say my brain might explode.
Having a washer/dryer is the most underrated thing in the history of the universe. If your kid pukes at night? Just throw his clothes and sheets in the washer! If you get a nasty spaghetti sauce stain on your shirt and don't want to worry about it setting? Throw it in the washer? If your washcloths stink? Throw them in the washer! I seriously still kiss mine sometimes. I love my washer/dryer.
Being on the third floor is underrated, too. I usually just let my kids climb up the stairs while I make a trip or two with the groceries. It's good exercise. If they fall once, they become much more careful (HA!).
Cici's Pizza is so awesome. I can feed me and both of my boys (who each will sit and eat for 1.5 hours nonstop) for $4.50 at lunch. It is miraculous.
Tornadoes are insane, but the accompanying thunderstorms are wicked cool.
How was church? And what did you think of Lost?
Weston is very, very, VERY cute.
HAPPY ANNIVERSARY!!!!!!!!!!
You are a wizard at bringing order out of chaos. I'm sure it pained you (as it does me) to see those pictures of frowning, weepy, clingy Weston. It was sweet how attentive you and Tim were to his needs. Once things settle down and the new apartment takes shape, I have no doubt that the little guy will be back to his smiling, happy self.
I'm so glad you didn't fall into the grand canyon! That sign is hilarious.
You're practically official oakies now (isn't that what they are called?). Glad you made it. Endless days in a car can make grown ups pretty antsy, let alone a sick toddler.
Can't wait to see pics of the finished appt.
p.s. I'll never complain about having to walk to the garage to do laundry again. I forgot too easily of those days of making sure you had enough change and dragging laundry down stairs.
Hey Jean and Tim,
Happy 7-year anniversary! I'm sure the next 7 years will be just as good as the first 7.
phew, I'm so glad you made it and you have time to blog about it! Oh I love your couches too, they look great in your new place!! =)
Thanks for the post, glad to see you guys made it!
YAY! You made it! I LOVE this post. OK...I actually love ALL your posts...they're so "Jean". Awesome.
Yes, it SUCKS traveling cross country with a toddler and staying in strange motel rooms. UGH. We did LA to Dallas when Sammy was 18 mo old...and it SUCKED.
Love all the documentation--and YES...HOORAY for a washer/dryer.
So jealous.
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