I was expecting that this cross country would be one of the worst weeks of 2011. I was pleasantly surprised that it was for the most part painless. Our only causalities were a few DVDs that were scratched beyond repair from being flung around in the van and one of our portable DVD players. Our Mazda did breakdown at a gas station in New Mexico but much to our delight Greg was able to fix it himself in thirty minutes. I love being married to a man with an engineering degree! We drove about 600 miles a day (in separate cars) and the girls and dog were so resilient. After about the third day of driving Ellie did start to go on a "wreck and destroy" mission on anything in reach of her car seat. She would basically put on her own Mardi Gras parade and toss my makeup, boxes of crayons, and crackers to all the passengers in the car (including Penny). It was entertaining to drive behind the van and try to guess what random object she had chosen to launch that time. It should definitely be on everyone's bucket list to do a cross country because the scenery, difference in radio stations, and food is so neat to experience. We are looking forward to the next time we do it when we won't have the time restraints to be able to stop and tour all the things the USA has to offer. 
Both sets of Grandparents gave us one of the best Christmas presents by watching the girls and Penny in Northern Virginia while we packed up our house in Virginia Beach and tied up all the lose ends. As you can tell from some of our boxes here that this was not a good atmosphere for kids under 5. We absolutely would have pulled our hair out if we didn't have such great parents!
Apparently the Navy thought the Valdez family was a big deal and sent a truck bigger than our house. This is Greg doing his signature handstand in front of it. We were able to go back to Northern Virginia earlier and celebrate the holidays because GiGi's hired professional cleaners for us. My old pregnant back was so thankful to be "grubbing" in NOVA rather than "scrubbing" in Va Beach. Thank you GiGi!
First set of mountains- Blue Ridge. We saw a lot of sunrises on our trip since both Greg and I are morning people. The girls even got on the schedule of waking up on their own at 5 am with us.
Mountain Climbing at the rest stop
Work that craziness out of your calves girls!
Stretching at a stop when it was raining outside. Ellie can make any situation into a jungle gym.
One of our other hiccups- a blizzard in St Louis. The girls loved the excuse to use their new umbrellas.
One of Ellie's Mardi Gras parades. Never a dull moment.
This man has been living in a Van!
Driving through Kansas- NOTHING there. Just flat land.
While driving through Kansas for two hours we literally drove past no signs of human settlement till we reached these two random buildings. This was difficult for the pregnant lady!
Thank goodness we were able to take a day and a half off and stop in Pueblo, Colorado to visit our extended Valdez Family. The girls were right at home with Uncle Rick and Aunt Diana who immediately started playing princesses with them and spoiled them rotten.
The girls had the ultimate toddler suite at their house. It was fully equipped with their own TV and all the classic Disney VHS tapes. They also had tons of bears to pick from to play with.
I am not exaggerating when I say we were spoiled rotten. All homecooked meals, Christmas presents, and our own bedrooms. The girls are STILL talking about the chocolate chip Mickey Mouse pancakes that they woke up to. My pancakes tend to look like mickey mouse burn victims.
The girls were thrilled to have a day to be wild and play in the snow. A snowball fight is ensuing here.
Mini will take you out with her snowballs
Our amazing Colorado family hosts: Aunt Diana, Uncle Rick, and cousin Kirsten.
Snowman time
Penny getting her hardest work out of the year trying to keep up with Miss Tala in the snow
The family with our Colorado Cowboy Snowman
Snowball fight!
Uncle Rick helping Ellie put the final touches on our cowboy
Hot chocolate time- mmm mmm mmm
The girls loved their special treat
One of the highlights of our trip was visiting Grandpa Valdez at the assisted living home. He is such a social guy that he literally took Greg around the facility for about 30 minutes and made sure he introduced him to everyone he knew. Greg is proud to carry on the Naval tradition that Grandpa Valdez started in the Valdez family.
Ava sang her Christmas carols that she learned in school for him
Ellie was all about Aunt Diana and wasn't really interested in the rest of us.
It was hard to say Goodbye and we wish we could have extended our stay in Colorado.
Finally reaching California! Again not much around the border of Arizona and California except ONE gas station where gas was $4.10 for unleaded. Ouch.
We made it California on New Years Eve around 4:00 PM. This is our new house on base. We LOVE it. It is 4 bedrooms, 2 car garage, with a HUGE yard and a park down the block. Greg has only seen the outside of the house since he had to leave for Top Gun on January 2nd. It was a successful adventure for our traveling circus and we are looking forward to what our 2012 West Coast life has in store for us.
