We finally broke out of Indiana on December 29, with our kids packed between the odds and ends that had to accompany us in the van. The whole first day of driving was a rather sad one--saying goodbye to the cornfields, remembering places we'd visited, and an undercurrent of disagreement between Aaron and I over which route we should take to get to California. I had hoped to sweeten what looked to be a long and arduous journey with day long stops in Nashville and New Orleans, which, aside from being music centers for a music family, were also far enough south that they would likely save us from any potentially hazardous weather further north. By my calculations, those stops would have added about 7 hours to our 30-something hour journey. Aaron, though he agreed that dropping south in December was a better bet than trying to stay north on I-80 would probably be a good idea, hated the idea of adding
any hours or days to our trip. By his calculations, going through Oklahoma City would best achieve that goal. We argued on and off all day, but when we finally came to the critical intersection, despite my pleading (and yes, we did both manage to recruit various children to our causes), he won out. Alas. I still think that Nashville/New Orleans would have been a great addition to our trip, especially given that we waited an additional 2 weeks for our moving truck to arrive once we got to California. On the other hand, we feel very blessed that we stayed to the south, at least, because everywhere north of us got dumped with snow and ice immediately after we left. We were also grateful that the moving truck had forced us out a few days earlier than we had intended, saving us from icy roads on the way down.
Our trip was otherwise fairly uneventful--the kids were grateful to be able to watch DVDs in the car, though we mixed it up with some games and plenty of talking about the future. On New Year's Eve, we enjoyed a fancy hotel suite in Oklahoma City and lived it up in the pool, finishing the night by watching the ball drop. A few more days of driving later, we landed in front of a lovely hacienda in the heart of Carlsbad California--it is a beautiful house! However, as mentioned before, we had many days of sleeping on air mattresses ahead of us. Fortunately the previous occupants had left behind three bar stools, so we had somewhere to eat (as long as we did so in shifts). I quickly found a couple of saucer chairs and an additional matching stool to carry us over, and we spent the next little while dividing our time between the beach, the community pool, and the awesome trampoline that Aaron surprised the kids with. Asher set the trampoline up almost entirely on his own, so anxious was he to succumb to the bliss of bounciness. In keeping with his personality, however, he failed to read most of the instructions before attempting several steps, and had to go back and fix several components before he finished a couple of days after he had started. Still, eventually he succeeded, and the kids were able to burn off all the excess energy of days cooped up in a car.
Sera's birthday crept up on us only a day after we arrived, and we did our best to celebrate with a simple store-bought cake and some singing, as well as the very important New Year's crackers I had saved up. A few days later, we made it up with a visit to Medieval Times in Buena Park, in celebration of both Sera's and Emerson's birthdays. What a fun place! Guests were seated at long tables around an arena where we got to watch a full-on medieval style tournament, complete with horses, jousting, sword-fights, kings, and damsels. While we watched, we were treated to enormous chicken legs (probably entire chicken halves, actually), biscuits, salads, and fruit cobbler. Everything was served on tin dishes in courses, and it was all very loud and exciting and jolly.
Annoyingly (since we were living in a house void of very many things to do), school didn't start for the kids until a full 2 weeks after New Year's. Though I can see this being a great advantage in future years, this year it meant almost full-time engagement in trying to keep kids from flipping over bannisters and dangling from chandeliers (haven't our kids outgrown that behavior? Alas, the oldest is the worst perpetrator). We had a few things to keep us out of trouble, though. Amazingly, a friend from BYU days, invited us over for dinner the first Sunday we were in town. It was so good seeing a familiar face when I felt so overwhelmed at the newness of our surroundings. Another friend, also from BYU, invited us to spend an afternoon at the park, and through her I figured out how to start investigating charter schools for Asher, who I was deeply worried about starting in the huge and somewhat overwhelming middle school here, not only in the middle of the school year, but also when he's in the midst of working through all the issues of moving and tweenager angst.
Best of all, though, my mom came out for a visit right off the bat! She and her husband had planned a trip to celebrate her birthday before knowing whether or not we would be there, but went out of their way to make it a special visit for the kids and for us. They invited us out to the pool at their hotel a couple of times, and even kept the kids overnight one night! Since my mom's birthday coincides with Emerson's (twins!), she provided a fancy cake and a party--more swimming! It was a great relief to have someone to talk to about all my own moving anxiety as well--sometimes just talking to me is the most valuable gift someone can give me, and that's especially true when I'm in a new place, surrounded by strangers.
At last, the day after Emerson's birthday and the day that our moving truck finally arrived, school started! I took the three younger kids down to school (which is luckily within walking distance of our house--an especial benefit since none of the schools around here seem to have buses). They were all eagerly embraced by their classes, who were all excited to get new students. Addy scored a class with two of the girls she had already met in her church class, Emerson has part-time surfer who plays guitar all the time in class for his teacher, and Sera made five new friends and fell in love with her teacher the first day. I had already taken Asher to visit the Montessori charter school where the friend I mentioned before sends her kids, but it was a bit of a drive, and though I'd really enjoyed the teachers there, I wasn't sure if it would be a match. After the other three kids made it to school the first day, and while Aaron was waiting around for the movers, I took Asher to visit another Montessori charter school that was a bit closer (and a better drive for us). I fell in love immediately. I checked out two different classrooms, and one of them was the best classroom I've ever been in. I loved the respect the students showed for one another, the differentiated learning styles that were accepted and encouraged, and the fluidity of the school time. Though Asher was a little resistant to the idea of being in a multi-age class (it's grades 6-8), and of being in the same classroom all day, I think it will be a great place for him to have some time to adjust to living in his changing body, get in touch with his own strengths and interests, and really just be able to decide for himself who he is and who he wants to become. I'm sad that they don't have a music program, as he did so well with trumpet in jazz band, but I'm mostly relieved to have him in an environment that will do more to relieve the stress that he carries around in his personality, rather than increase it.
The kids reactions to their new schools have been so fun! The elementary school where the three younger kids go is such a change from where they've been. On the down-side, classes are quite large (all 30+ students), but they were all thrilled to experience hallways that are outside, longer and more frequent recesses, and my personal favorite, peacocks that wander onto the playground now and again from the neighboring Leo Carillo Nature Park. My favorite comment from Sera after going to her new school for a few days was: "it seems like they don't really have that many rules here." Having checked in with all their teachers, they seem to be settling in well, making friends and having a nice time. On their second Friday after starting school, Sera made a splash by cruising through not only the first grade words list, but also the second and third grade lists. On the morning that I attended the flag ceremony where they honored her, there was an additional special event--a student's parent flew a helicopter in and landed it on school grounds for the kids to visit and check out--how cool is that? Asher, meanwhile, has come to really like and appreciate his school as well. He has spent several days working outdoors in the garden his class not only planted, but also built some of the beds for. He loves having recess and gym on a daily basis, and while he's struggling a bit to figure out how to be a self-directed learner, I think it has been a really good experience for him to not have to be directed and nagged all the time.
Meanwhile, the process of unloading and unpacking has been unspectacular. A few of our things were damaged and lost on the move, including, though we can't quite figure out how, Asher's trumpet. I guess it's a good thing these movers were cheap, because we have a few things to replace now. Still, I've been working my tail off trying to get everything unloaded and set up. I figure it doesn't get any easier just by waiting around, so I've really been throwing my back into it--getting things up on the walls, bookshelves put together, etc. For now we've put the boys into two separate rooms, which will hopefully help ease the transition, however, several pieces of the boys' bunk bed were left behind, meaning that only Asher has a complete bed. Emerson hasn't complained too much about continuing to sleep on an air mattress, but I think I finally convinced Aaron to buy a new bunk bed that we can put in his room, potentially putting the boys back together in the same room in the future--for one thing there would be less opportunity for Asher to keep sneaking food into his room then leaving it there to rot (ew! his whole room smells pretty awful, to be honest). The girls' room is mostly set up, and ours is on its way, though I haven't been able to find our bedskirt anywhere, and I can't figure out why whoever built this house didn't put a door between the master bedroom and bathroom.
All in all, we're settling. I really, really,
really miss our friends in Indiana, and I don't know how long it will take to make new ones here--there's a whole different social system here, and I'm afraid it may take me some time to learn to navigate it properly. For now, I'm wearing Aaron out with my clinginess and neediness, but until I can make some friends to absorb a little more of me, that's just the way it's going to have to be. And when it all just gets to be too much . . . there's always the beach!
