Adventures with Elizabeth

Jill's Journal: Oh sure, she looks innocent enough, but if there were ever a person with a knack for finding trouble adventure whenever I’m with her, it’s Elizabeth. It doesn’t matter where we’ve been together over the last nearly 20 years – the Bahamas, Tijuana, Nashville, Phoenix, you name it – if we’re together, hilarity just somehow happens. I’m not sure which one of us is Lucy and which one is Ethel, but we’d surely make those fictional ladies proud by our ridiculous antics. Our time together in Las Vegas on this trip just overlapped by one day, but Elizabeth and I made the most of it with a very rare-for-me girls’ night out. And my goodness, I could not imagine a more loyal and dedicated friend. Everyone should be so lucky as to have an Elizabeth. We’re at such different places in our lives, her single and carefree and me married with soon-to-be-four children, but somehow our friendship still just works. And I’m pretty sure it always will. I have no doubt we’re friends for life.

It’s been over 15 years since Elizabeth and I actually lived in the same city. However, in an extremely bizarre twist, we’ll soon be in the same state again. Plans call for her to leave Las Vegas and move to New Jersey in the spring. New Jersey! Of all places! Her move has nothing to do with ours, but out of this whole enormous nation, we’ll be within an hour of each other on the opposite side of the country from where our friendship started nearly two decades ago. How strange (and fortuitous) is that?

El Taco Loco

Jill's Journal: Rob returned from another week in New Jersey on Saturday and the girls and I picked him up at the tiny airport in Bakersfield, California. Within minutes, we drove past a taco truck named El Taco Loco. Rob quickly reminded me one of his favorite comedians, Gabriel Iglesias, is from Bakersfield and has talked about this particular truck in his act. Apparently, they’re mean to customers, but the food is good (a la the Soup Nazi). Of course, we had to stop.

We had a tiny order and didn’t truly expect any drama. But guess what? They were a little mean! First, they reprimanded Rob for not knowing they weren’t making what he wanted at that hour of the day and then they made some fun of the white boy in Spanish! But I suppose we had been duly warned by Iglesias. Oh well, at least the tacos were tasty. :)

Clip from Gabriel Iglesias: Hot and Fluffy.  Funny stuff.

Oh, New Jersey

Jill's Journal:
I promised some news a little over a week ago…and then little Miss Logan made her appearance and our news just didn’t seem so important. But an email this weekend (thanks Diana!) reminded me I was holding out, so here goes…

Last time we were in New Jersey as a family (nearly two years ago), I may have said some unkind things about the Garden State. It’s no secret it’s not our favorite place. In fact, I think there’s about 49 other states and several other countries we’d rather spend time in than New Jersey. Ouch.

But, as the old adage goes, be careful what you say…because sometimes it comes back to bite you.

While we are in no way ready to give up this RVing lifestyle or settle down, traveling is expensive and Rob’s employer has been trying to lure him to New Jersey for quite some time. When they offered a raise along with extra vacation time to sweeten the pot, we had no choice but to think about it and, after much negotiation, decided to go for it.

I don’t know how long we’ll be there, but we’ve decided to commit. Yes, we are moving to New Jersey in approximately two months. Oh, that’s hard to say! We’ve had so many wonderful adventures in our two years on the road and plan to have many more. In fact, we’ll just do this a little differently. Rather than moving every week or two or three like we’ve been doing, we’ll have an official base to travel from as Rob will be in the office during the week. Other than that, we don’t plan to slow down too much and won’t have to with so many amazing places in very close proximity.

The area of New Jersey we’ll be in is lovely. It’s rural and near the northern end of the Jersey Shore, but inland. With Manhattan being only a little over an hour away in one direction and Philadelphia being about the same distance in the other direction, there’s so much to explore right there (not to mention the rest of the entire East Coast and wonderful New England). We’ll have plenty to keep us busy for quite some time.

Yes, having a new baby played into this decision a little bit, but not much. The girls are craving lessons (Erika and Victoria are dreaming of horseback riding and Madelyn desperately wants to do ballet or gymnastics) and pets (ponies and kittens). While they love our lifestyle (and so do we!), we thought it wouldn’t hurt to give them a taste of regular life for a while.

So, New Jersey, here we come. Well, in a couple of months anyway. In the meantime, we’re going to soak up these last precious weeks with family, enjoy our new niece, “finish” our journey around California, and have a last “hurrah” in Las Vegas. And then? Well, we’ll see where life takes us from our base in New Jersey.

Hip Hip Hooray!

Jill's Journal: After five days totally out for the count, our little Madelyn turned a corner this morning. By afternoon she was getting back to her boisterous, bouncy self, albeit quite a bit thinner and definitely not yet 100%. Poor little thing. That flu, which started off so mild, ended up meaner than I thought. We’re very happy to be on the upward swing.

And here’s something else the girls are happy about (and me too!): Rob is back home from New Jersey. That’s three week-long trips for him in less than three months. Even though he may have to head back out there once more in a month or two, we’re happy to have the bulk of those trips behind us.

“Toby Keith is Right”

Jill's Journal: Rob comes home this evening from another week in New Jersey, an event that indirectly prompted one of my favorite moments of the week. Naturally, the girls miss their Daddy something fierce. One day, we were in the middle of driving and the Toby Keith song “I Wanna Talk About Me” was playing in the background:

“We talk about your work, how your boss is a jerk
We talk about your church and your head when it hurts…”

Victoria suddenly sat straight up in her booster seat and said with all the vehemence a 4-year-old can muster, “Toby Keith is right. Daddy’s boss IS a jerk!”

“What?” I asked. “Why do you say that?”

“Because last time he kept Daddy there in New Jersey FOREVER and now he’s there again,” she sputtered angrily. “And he needs to know that Daddy has a family who loves him! We need him more than that boss does. We’re a family and we belong together.”

She had much more to say, but I was laughing too hard to remember it all. How I love that little girl! (And I'm pretty sure Rob melted when I relayed it over the phone to him later that night...)

Finally home.

I'm so excited to be back home. The plan was to post a photo of my plane coming into LAX - showing my joy to be back home - but I found out, after the fact (just tonight), that the phone was full... You can see my fantastic photo below.

What's missing in the photo is the view of downtown LA and the Hollywood sign over the front of the wing of that 757. Too bad too, because it was a really nice vista. Regardless of the artwork - I'm glad all is back to normal and that the kids gave me a great welcome back. I don't like that I'll have to do it all over again soon, but I'm looking forward to the welcome back then too.

Excellent Pursuits

Jill's Journal: Much to the girls’ consternation, Rob’s trip to New Jersey got extended. There were real tears when they learned the news a few days ago…how they miss their Daddy. I suspect there will be some serious jubilation when he steps off the plane tomorrow, eight days after he left. Here’s some random photos from this week, just to make Rob even a little more eager to hurry home!

They’ve been such good girls this week. With the exception of Rob’s absence, the quiet week has been lovely for both them and me. School has gone so smoothly and I have gotten many projects around the house completed while the girls have played, dressed up, and played some more…all excellent pursuits.

Rob knows this, but I had to put a picture up here: Victoria is officially reading. She started in earnest a couple of weeks ago and is doing an amazing job, not deterred in the least that she’s just four. I tried to put her off since she’s so young but she would have none of it. Then I was sure she'd lose interest because she's so young, but she's proving to be a determined, avid learner. She’s also just days away from being done with the entire curriculum for her first year of preschool, which was supposed to last until June. She’s going to give her big sisters a run for their money if she keeps this up.

Apparently Victoria has a secret to her success. I was teasing her this afternoon, asking how she’d gotten so big and strong and clever lately. Without missing a beat, she said, “It’s because I drink milk.” I suspect her Grandpa, who has been in the dairy industry my whole life, would be awfully pleased with that answer.

Incoming: 83 Degrees?

Jill's Journal: My darling husband is in New Jersey for a few days on business and I’m told it’s cold there. Really cold. That sure makes me appreciate sunny Southern California. The forecast here calls for sun and 80 degrees tomorrow, with sun and 83 degrees the day after that. Eighty-three degrees. In January. Ahhhh, bliss. There’s a reason this is the most populous area in the most populous state.

The girls and I are taking some down time while Rob is out of town. Down time for us still means we have a full school day, but then the girls get to play to their hearts’ content afterward without any “field trips.” It feels nice to have a few quiet days while this busy city buzzes around us, but it’s also freshening us for the days ahead. We have so much to see in the Los Angeles area – I have a “must see” list that’s a mile long – and we’ve barely scratched the surface. I’ve promised the girls one more quiet day tomorrow and then we’re officially kicking into high gear.