The Movers are Here!

Game On Fools!!!!!!

From NHL.com:

82 reasons to rejoice in hockey's return:

1. Pittsburgh’s Sidney Crosby taking the next step on his journey to greatness. Can he reach 147 points this season, which would mean he accomplished the same 27-point increase Wayne Gretzky had from his second season to his third?

2. Dallas’ Mike Modano breaking the all-time record for points by an American-born player. Modano has been a standard bearer for USA Hockey for so long that he is often taken for granted. This record will assure his legacy is properly recorded for future generations.

3. The Patrick Kane show kicking off in Chicago. Is he ready? Can he follow in Crosby’s footsteps? Can he be the next American icon? We start to find out this week.

4. Anaheim’s defense of the Stanley Cup. GM Brian Burke has already said that he will not stand for the slow start that has plagued so many recent teams that have played into June.
Things could get interesting quickly at the Duck Pond.

5. Speaking of Anaheim, the return of Scott Niedermayer. It looks bleaker by the day that the smooth-skating, soft-spoken defender will return, instead announcing the retirement he has been mulling all summer. If he leaves, it will be far too early and he will be missed.

6. The start of the Brent Sutter era in New Jersey. Have a team and a coach ever been more suited for each other? Sutter is the consummate disciplinarian, and the Devils seem to play best when the whip is being applied. Could this be the year that the aging Devils find a way to win a fourth Stanley Cup since 1995?

7. The Mike Keenan show in Calgary. “Iron Mike” is always good for a headline, an inflammatory quote or a bubbling sideshow. Hockey needs personality like that in the game. And Calgary, it seems, needs his autocratic ways.

8. The outdoor game in Buffalo on New Year’s Day. It sold out in mere minutes and features Crosby against goalie Ryan Miller of the Sabres. What better way to kick off a new year?

9. Speaking of winter, here’s to the World Junior Championships, perhaps the best international tournament of them all. Contested around the Christmas holidays, this year’s affair should be even better than last year’s thrilling show.

10. Young defenseman Jack Johnson playing a full season in Los Angeles. His five-game audition at the end of last season has certainly whetted the appetite.

Want the other 72? Click here.

Big Coop, Enjoying the New House

We Made It

Twelve days on the road, 14 different states, and about 4,000 miles. We made it! We have been in our new home for a week. Just got our household goods Monday, refrigerator, cable, and internet on Tuesday and phone on Thursday (sometime today). As all this is happening, we have boxes and packing paper everywhere, and the kids running wild. Greta seems to be the only sane one in the house, most of the time.

Anyway, thanks for all those who thought about us during our travels. More images from the trip and our new home will be coming soon.

*rawsonfour.

P.S. I learned that you can do a lot more here, just because "you're in the south." That's the answer for everything.

Kids in the Car

A Boy and His Dog

A really neat relationship that's developed on this trip is Cooper has developed an attachment to Greta he hasn't had before. He's always liked her, but now he wants to have her on his lap in the car, he insists on being the one to walk her each time we get out of the car, he wants to walk her in and out of the hotel each morning and evening, and he wants to sleep with her at night.

Day 4 and 5, Truckin

Since we last left our fearless travelers, they have traveled quite a bit. First stop in Wyoming was Jackson Hole. What a great town. It's probably a winter wonderland during the snow season. Then next stop, Yellowstone. Just a nice drive through Teton National Park to the massive greatness of Yellowstone. With a serene view of forest's, lakes, animals (moose, buffalo, elk) and of course the geysers. Old Faithful, pretty much what it is. We had a show time of 2:27 pm, but she came early. It was a geyser, a hot steamy water volcano thingy (as Cooper would say).

After our nice drive through the park, including a nice visit from Officer Smith of the highway patrol (only a warning, but we slowed down after that. Ava has a lead foot). We headed to the Sheridan, Wyoming. Passing through the rodeo capitol of the world, Cody, Wyoming. Next, we had to conquer a mountain so high, only fools like us and the other the other people on the road would dare to climb. So I don't know the name of it, but we can call it "Big Horn". So it took us 2 hours to go up and over this mountain, and it peaked at almost 10,000 ft, and it was 39 degrees at 7pm. Yeah.

We stayed in a Holiday Inn with a waterfall inside, and Greta peed in front of the elevator. Perfect.

A not so good night sleep brings us to a breakfast at Perkins, which has a meal called the "City Slicker" and we head out to South Dakota. We stop in Sundance, Wyoming. Only to find a town of like 150 people and no movies. Next to Sturgis. Recovering from this years bike week, there were still some stragglers drinking and fighting (well not fighting, but I bet they were dreaming of fighting. Ok, maybe not, but I bet at one time in their lives, a fight has accord where they were close by or had to defend themselves).

Mt. Rushmore, 27 miles from Rapid City, South Dakota, was a huge rock far away with four of our influential presidents faces on it. That's it. But it was cool to see.

Driving 400 miles in the middle of the night, watching Backyardingan's and the Wonder pet's, it's cold and we are all tired, we head to Sioux Falls for some sleep and clothes washing.

Tomorrow, Minnesota and the Mall of America.

*rawsonfour and greta too.

Road Trip Day 2 and 3

So, sorry about not having a blog up for the last day (if you've been following). When we got to our hotel in Provo, Utah, we crashed. Here is the recap of day 2 and 3 (and a little preview of what is to come.)

Day 2: We left our hotel in Williams, Arizona, and went to the South Rim on the Grand Canyon. What a great place that is. Cooper was going crazy with all the rocks and sticks. Ava just observed the view, and Greta was just plain hot. This part of the trip only lasted about 40 mins. Then we loaded up the "TC" and drove the Desert View of the Canyon. Beautiful. It took us to a Cameron, Arizona, Navajo land. There were many road side stores selling Indian jewelry and jerky. As a road side side advertized, lots of Nice Indians.

Continuing north, we drove through the painted dessert, through Page, Arizona, known for it's "Lake". Yup that's right, a lake. We stopped at the Super Walmart to get some lunch, and off we went to Utah. As we said in our earlier blog, the land looks great and is doing fine. We have seen some breath taking landscape. This is the best route we could have taken. By 11pm we finally made it to our destination of Provo, Utah, just outside Salt Lake. Sleep.

Day 3: After breakfast, we headedto the Temple Square, in downtown Salt Lake City. Small town, but tons of heritage with the whole Mormon/Joseph Smith thing. Temple Square is where the heartland of the religion lies. The first temple is there, and a bunch of cooperate buildings. Time to hit the road, the Eagles game is on.

Lunch done, and a disappointing start to another football season, we head to Wyoming. Driving a long and winding road, that takes us through picture postcard looking scenery, we take a break at Bear Lake. A huge lake that connects Utah and Idaho. Like I have said before, this is the best route, Rt 89. Also on route 89, there is a landmark for the first Oregon Trail, and I don't mean the video game we all played in elementary school, but the real deal. We also went through the town of Montpelier, Idaho.

Finally, Wyoming. Let me just say that my California attire was no match for the fall of Wyoming. I had to get up in the overhead storage and bust out the long sleeve shirts and the coats. Chilly. We are staying in Jackson/Jackson Hole, and it is awesome. That's right awesome. We ate dinner and headed to bed, as for Yellowstone is a calling tomorrow.

*rawsonfour

Ava's Last Day of School

East Coast Bound

So our we started our trek cross country today. We left California, headed out on 40 East to the Grand Canyon. We are staying in a small historic Route 66 town called Williams, AZ.

You lose the idea the the earth is still pure when you watch TV, and live in the same area for a while. But let us tell you that the the good ol' U.S. of A is standing strong and looks great. We saw mostly desert, but the scenery is still stunning. We didn't take any pictures, but tomorrow we will.

It was long trip, but it was fun. Cooper and Ava colored, played with some toys, read some books and watched movies. Greta slept, as she loathes car rides.

Tomorrow starts the trip through the town and then to the Grand Canyon.

Next stop; Provo Utah. Maybe we will stop in Colorado City and hang with the fundamentalist Mormons. J/K

To all our Cali friends. We will miss you! It was a great 4.5 years. Later Brah.

*rawsonfour

All SET!

The house is all cleaned, kids last day at "school" is today, and Joey checks out tomorrow... One more night in sleeping bags and then...

Here we go!

Library Internet

I'm at the library using the internet to shoot off a resume and update a quick post; phase one of moving happened yesterday. Movers came, boxed up everything (we had to stop them from boxing up paper towel rolls, etc.) Phase two began this morning; movers came and started rolling the boxes out. It's almost noon and I think they'll be done soon. The kids don't seem to like it too much, even though Coop understands it's to move our stuff to a new house. They liked the sleeping bag idea the first night, not so much the second night when the boxes were surrounding us, we'll see what tonight brings!

One last post for the masses

So we lied earlier regarding the lack of communications. But this it it for real. It is not 12am PST, the movers come in 8 hours, and it's a mad sweaty dash to get everything organized. The kids are sleeping in their "Shrek" and "Fiona" sleeping bags (picture to come), and Mommy and Daddy are tearing things up.

Next post, we will be furniture-less and basically gypsies.

By the way

Packing with kids is tough. But packing with kids while it's hot and you are tired and have a headache from the heat is tougher. But packing with kids while it's hot and you are tired and have a headache from the heat, while one of the kids is turning out to be a sickie, that's the toughest.

tough
tougher
toughest

Can't wait till Friday.

Minimal Communication

After today, the Rawsonfour will be finalizing their plans for escape. That means we will be in deep seclusion. No internet, no house phone. We will have our synchronized cells phones that we will use for the raid to get out of here. Once we hit the road, and are in a safe place, we will set up our communications again (free high speed internet at the hotels).


Wish us luck.

*Rawsonfour

Info for your brain housing group

If you wanted to learn more about our upcoming assignment, please view the links below.

http://www.lejeune.usmc.mil/mcb/index.asp
tp://www.iimefpublic.usmc.mil/public/iimefpublic.nsf/sites/2dmedbn


get some.

Tracy's Visit

Our cousin Tracy came up from SD to visit us one last time before we pack up Tuesday for the haul to the East. We spent a fun evening together, including her first trip to the SouPlantation (for those that don't know, West Coast restaurant that's very kid friendly, super healthy all you can east soup and salad bar.) It's always great to spend time with Tracy, we only wish she'd been in SD longer while we'd been here!

Our Cross Country Trip

Below is a link to a map. A map that holds many keys, to many questions. Questions like, "Where are you going?" or like, "How are you getting there?", and the most famous of all, "why are you so damn cool??"

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=d&hl=en&geocode=&saddr=644a+Puller+PL,+San+Clemente,+Ca+92672&daddr=Williams+Arizona+to:Provo+Utah+to:Jackson,+WY+to:Sheridan,+Sheridan,+Wyoming,+United+States+to:Sioux+Falls,+SD+to:Bloomington,+MN+to:Chicago,+Il+to:I-76+E+%4039.961620,+-75.182650+to:105+Hardin+Dr,+Maysville,+NC+28555&mrcr=6,7&mra=pe&sll=49.894634,-96.416016&sspn=21.835244,59.765625&ie=UTF8&t=h&z=4&om=1