Year: 2017

Blurry.

Like the Puddle of Mudd song Blurry said..”Everything’s so Blurry”

Very true.

To be fair, the kids slept on our trip we did on the east coast, and because they were well rested they hardly slept on the plane ride across the pond. We arrived early AM and with very little sleep in the last 24 to 48 hours. This would have to be one of the most sleepless I’ve been in my entire life.

I remember landing – it was early. 7am-ish… I don’t recall much about going through the airport, other than the fact that we got our passports stamped. Then we waited outside in what felt like frigid weather for what felt like forever for our car rental place to pick us up. They were very slow, in fact, I think we waited for a little over an hour for them to come. Then when we got to the car rental place we had to wait in a long line. There was no bathroom in the shop and Arabella let us know she really needed to go. She ended up peeing her pants as she couldn’t hold back anymore and there were no bathrooms to be found. Poor kid. We got her changed, finally got into the rental, and started on our way. We were going to be traveling from London Heathrow up to Inverness for some cute little bed and breakfast (roughly a little over 560 miles). We made it all the way to Milngavie (a little north of Glasgow) before we had to stop. It was not a joke either. I was having a super hard time staying awake while driving, and like that picture of entering Scotland, that is how the day feels. Just a blur, passing by quickly.

I know that come the night time I was really struggling. I knew that with it taking another few hours to get to our destination we wouldn’t be able to do it. We called my parents and asked them to look for a place to sleep. We found Premier Inn (pronounced Primer inn by Arabella and lovingly named that ever since). We were talking to them via google voice and VOIP. It allowed for a free call without any additional charges. After we booked a room we made our way over. We stopped, ready to get out and tired as ever. Maryia went into the hotel and started check-in. She quickly came out and let me know that we were at the wrong location. They had two Premier Inns in the area and it was on the other side of the area.

Got everyone loaded back into the car and made our way over.

So we finally got inside the hotel at close to 8:30 pm local time (which is about 12:30 noon US east coast time, and 9:30 am west coast time (just to give an idea of how long it was since we had slept).

We went to sleep and got up the next day at 4:30 am as we were behind schedule by about 2 to 3 hours and needed to make up the time.

Where to next? Well, we wanted to see some castles, as well as visit Loch Ness. Epic. Yes, we were still tired but thankfully a little bit on the mend after that last experience. We didn’t stray off of the roads much as we had packed as much as humanly possible into our trip. You can see this in the fact that we had McDonalds.
Side note: they serve porridge at Mcdonald’s in the UK.

In retrospect, we actually planned far too much. Early to Mid-trip, we decided to nix a good portion of everything we were trying to see and only tried to see the most desired of things. Even with the slimmed-down list, we didn’t see everything as planned.

Pictures!

We visited Urquhart castle. Read more about it here. It sits right beside Loch Ness and couldn’t be a better way to kick things off.

One final photo from the castle is seen below of Arabella who found a little section that she called her size and demanded a photo near. A little drafty but the size works for her.

Stopped to see the Lockerbie memorial, had a brief tour of Manchester, and visited historical sites along the way (when possible). Fun story – there was a tunnel that our GPS took to into to get to the Leasowe castle. Anyway, it was a toll tunnel which we didn’t realize until it was too late. We stopped at the gates – they asked for whatever the charge was. I explained we were from the USA and didn’t have the money. We could pay with a credit card if needed but didn’t have any local currency. After pausing for a moment, the guy told us to enjoy our stay here and that we could pass with no charge. Everyone says people from the UK are rude or whatnot and that just wasn’t our experience.

We then went to stay the night in Leasowe Castle which is also a hotel. We had breakfast at the Castle and continued to make our way down.

We will finish this post off with two photos of Arabella. One was where we were walking the streets of Mancheter as night was upon us – there were little pop-up Christmas shops everywhere and she posed for a photo off in a side area with some crunchy leaves that had fallen (those are the best kind). The other one is what she had drawn during our stay in the Castle (of the Loch Ness monster of course).

just Pray

note: this post was published on 08/03/22 but moved the publish date back to the middle of December 2017 to keep chronological order.

December!

Be prepared for this to be broken out into many, many posts. This is a huge event.

Started off the month by getting a haircut. Arabella was loving the extra time spent with her daddy, and she wanted to post a photo with her pig named “what”. Then we went to the Los Angeles International Auto show where she got to see her all-time favorite van. A Minnie Van! The boy spent his time oo’ing and ahh’ing as babies do, until he fell asleep.

Our trip was set to go! We built in all sorts of layovers across the board. Below is a photo of us driving to the airport (my parent’s car in front of us) so that they could take our car back when we left. Where were we off to? Charlotte, NC (tickets below). Upon getting on the plane we took a selfie (but poor Elijah was buckled up in his seat so he wasn’t seen in it. However, we did take one of him once we landed and got situated in Charlotte.

Another state checked off for the kids. We didn’t have time to go sightseeing as it was one of our shorter layovers. We did however spend some time roaming around the airport. Next up? Charlotte to JFK!

We got on our flight with no issue and took off for the Big Apple. Everyone was ready to start this crazy adventure. Below you can see our boarding pass as well as our sight when we were getting ready to land at JFK. After we landed we ventured through the airport some. They even had a mothers breastfeeding area (which we thought was amazing – no other airport we visited at that point had them).

There is a great photo of Arabella in front of a glass art sculpture called “From New York to the World” which was very fitting. You can see some other random photos in the airport including one of the “Big Apple” because.. well… when in Rome!

We then stopped and got our car rental. We had plans to visit a few states- including where I was born.

After we got our rental car we made our way out. Above you will see photos of Times Square. We also drove by the Rockafeller center and saw the tree in all of its glory. Most everything was closed (as it was midnight east coast time when we landed).

We visited CT, MA, and even RI. Yeah, we didn’t get to see a lot in those states, except for a CT and MA a little. Rhode Island was more of a “let’s go in since we are right here” kind of a thing. However, we were able to visit the first house my parents owned when I was alive (the yellow house above) before they moved to Arizona. I wanted to take our kids to Friendly’s as well – because you have to go. I wished we could have just gotten ice cream or something – but they had just opened and were selling breakfast.

Anyway, we also visited the hospital I was born, as well as the grave of my grandmother (whom my mother has still not been able to go back and visit since her passing). We also went to a few places in town where my dad use to go (we knew this because we were on facetime with them back in California while driving).

After this, we had to hurry back to JFK to catch our flight.

Here is a photo that we noticed in JFK before we left for London. It was fitting as it was our destination. Then there are a few other photos to see. One is Arabella and her coloring of the pig, before dozing off to sleep. The view outside the plane window – landing in London. also the details of our car rental. Pickup December 6th, dropping off December 14th. Why a Jag? Well, our credit card offered primary insurance coverage for our rental and we found this car to be cheaper than an economy class for whatever reason.

Finally, the last photo seen is one that says “Welcome to United Kingdom! Your Tmobile plan gives you unlimited data….” but I was just excited to get the “Welcome to the United Kingdom” text!

We were ready to land and get this show started! We were not able to sleep much on the plane because the kids slept most of the way in the car ride in NY, CT, MA, and RI. We knew we would be tired, but that should be the worst of it, we have pushed through, and now will be unlike any other time. Right?

just Pray

note: this post was published on 08/01/22 but moved the publish date back to the middle of December 2017 to keep chronological order.

November is here!

As we were trying to pick a family team, one that EVERYONE could go for – we tried out the Dodgers. I’m not sure they were a great fit, at least I don’t think so. It didn’t feel right. Anyway, during one of the games, the Dodgers lost because everyone ate their hotdog but Arabella did not. She didn’t care if they won, she did not want to eat the hot dog. You can see a picture of us watching the game in pink T-Mobile capes (at Arabella’s request).

We also went to the Ronald Regan Presidental Library in Simi Valley. It was a lot of fun, and worth the trip. It was the first time we have been on any version of Air Force 1, and there was a lot of history. even part of the Berlin wall.

I thought this view from the back and side of the planes was amazing. First, that view is incredible and the tailfin all but gets erased by the reflections.

So back to that thought we had about what we would do with our time off. As I mentioned we felt motivated to use this time off we had (as our view is that we would not get a time like this again, to not have a restriction of a job or anything – and be able to travel. So what the heck, why not?! Let’s pull the trigger.

Pull the trigger we did. If you see below, we used 60k miles and got 4 tickets to the UK for about $560USD. We would leave in December. Seeing as how we didn’t own very much in regards to long sleeves or coats (other than light AZ weather coats) we decided to go purchase some items so that we would be a little better equipped. Below you can see a photo of the kiddos (partners in crime, those two) at Kohls. Also threw in a freebie of Lijah looking cute in some Mouse Ears.

Nationwide, what was going on? Well, I found this screenshot. Matt Lauer was fired and Trump was being.. well… Trump.

We spend a good portion of our month tracking down and ordering our passports. Even mine had to be re-ordered as my previous one expired without being used. This was the first time that any of us would be flying anywhere overseas. We even started to practice how we would travel (see car seat and the suitcase. It’s best to pack light, as much as possible.

December was almost upon us. We had this little turkey though that kept things fun and allowed us to just enjoy each moment we were in. Look at that smile.

just Pray

note: this post was published on 08/01/22 but moved the publish date back to the end of November 2017 to keep chronological order.

Life keeps comin’ atcha.

Seems like things keep going quicker and quicker!

We started off at the beginning of October by selling our house.

What a momentous event. It was going to work out, we had prayed about things and felt like this was the end of our time in Arizona. We had grown to love this state with searing hot temps but incredible storms, great sunsets, and perfect winter weather. However, it was the end of an era. I never would have thought for a second I would have a kid in this state- little loan two! Here I am owning a house, having 2 kids, and really enjoying life in this state I had once despised.

There was a photo I caught while we were packing things from our house – again, Arabella was asleep in a storage/moving tub. This girl can sleep anywhere but tends to like locations like these. I wish I could sleep like this but I couldn’t even fit in it.

As I spoke about earlier, with moving and that prospect – all of the stars were aligning. We had been displaced, given severance – afforded an incredible opportunity to move to a place where we had more family (Maryia’s side and my side too). The church thing was no longer a concern as we had someone whom we could trust in that area moving to the area. Only thing missing was a job. We believed that would come too. In the meantime, we would make our best go of things.

Contrary to what you may believe: I kept applying to jobs at American Express this whole time. Only once we got to the point of no return with the house did I stop looking. At that point I also contacted Ashima and she was sympathetic to the fact that I was having to uproot my family and got some additional time to look for work. I actually didn’t technically have my last day with American Express until November.

Anyway, after we were able to finish all of the documents, we packed up and headed for LA. It would be a stopover of sorts until we were able to find something more permanent. We rented the cheapest thing we could to take what we had and made the move. Smooth sailing, that is until we dropped the Budget truck off at their lot. They have a sign that says you can return the truck at any time. Well, the next morning we had a call from the company saying that the tank was empty. We had filled it up before dropping it off after hours. We went out to the rental place to find that there was a big puddle of gas where someone had come in their lot after hours (and after we had dropped it off) and stolen the gas. We filed a police report but Budget said if we didn’t fill it up they were going to charge us a lot more. This was super aggravating, and I can’t say that I would rent from Budget again, at least not for a truck rental.

We went to Dunkin Donuts afterward and tried to make the day better. The kids were excited to see Halloween donuts in the shop.

Once we got settled in a little more we ventured out to see another filming sight for the show Big Love. This time was one of the houses (I believe it was Roman Grant’s house) but it has been a few years since I’ve watched it. The house itself (seen above) is pretty much in the exact condition it was then, less the fact that they have repainted slightly around the windows.

Fun story: I once reached out to Grace Zabriskie (Bill’s (who was played by Bill Paxton) mother. I found her website and she was making all sorts of things – this was back in 2013. I contacted her to let her know that her character was just amazing, had so much depth, and was fun to watch on screen. She responded to me – thanking me and letting me know she had been busy with her new endeavors. It was a fun moment for me to hear back- as I didn’t think I would.

Random fact: Bill Paxton and Grace Zabriskie were both born on May 17th (the same day as Elijah).

We also took a trip over to Vasquez Rocks. Lots of different movies have been filmed at that location – even some of Star Trek. The wife colored her hair purple so that is worth noting and showing a picture of. Then we went on another trip. Up route 395 over to June Lake. Why? Well, we wanted to get out of my parent’s house – it was going to be VERY quiet. My parents took a trip and went to Australia for a little. It was something they wanted to do for quite a while and we were fully supportive of them doing so. It also put the thought in our mind that — hey we have all those airline miles and now we have this time off, what should we do? if anything…?

Here is just a small snip of June Lake. It is one of the most incredible places to go to see the leaves change. Seriously, I think this has got to be one of my favorite places to visit for the fall. It was a fun trip to take. We went down back roads and found different viewpoints. If you have a lot of time on your hands you can go back and look at my Instagram from this time. Wowwwww just wow.

After staying a night near Mammoth, we decided to take a drive up to Yosemite National Park. We had the NP Pass and figured we should make good use of it. It is a beautiful park and we plan to someday go back when we can take a day or two and explore additional spots. We made our way back to Los Angeles and had a chance to rest up, do some laundry (and Lijah had to show me his feet, of course), and then we made our way for the weekend trip to Arizona.

Why AZ? Well, we heard of some free events that were going on (as we had just recently moved out of the area). We wanted to do this little carving event they were having, apparently, it was something to be seen. We took the trip and were not disappointed. The pumpkins came to life (if you can’t tell, look at the Carefree sigh, the pumping is giving a peace sign and holding on while laying down. There were lots of areas where they were working, creating art, or doing something else. In addition to that- they also had these intricately carved pumpkins throughout. The boy liked it, the girl did too.

Finally, we made our way back to Los Angeles. Not before stopping to see some more fall foliage. This time it was a pit stop at Big Bear (and it did not disappoint).

How did we end the month? Well, we took the kids to Tina’s Pumpkin patch in Los Angeles (dressed Lijah up in the same outfit Ara once used) and let Ara be a ham (quite literally as she was dressed as a piggy). Drawing near to Halloween, we purchased a few pumpkins and let the kids get inside of them. They really enjoyed this and it made for some unforgettable pictures.

just Pray

note: this post was published on 08/01/22 but moved the publish date back to the end of October 2017 to keep chronological order.

So a lot happened between the last post and now.

We went to 5 & Diner again (no longer our normal location as they closed that location down during this time!). Gas was still pretty cheap (see below: 1.97/gal) and the kids were bonding as well as ever. Arabella had taken a liking to feeding Lijah via a bottle and also LOVED sleeping next to him and with him, with any chance she had.

Arabella also would sometimes add Elijah to her doll basket because he was “so adorable” that he just fit with them. We also took a few photos of him.

Once we got to the middle of September we figured it was time to sell our house. We didn’t get any bites on anything I was applying for with American Express, and so what could we do? I had tried some other places locally but nothing was happening. We had to do something as nothing was no longer an option.

We listed our house. Yes, the same house we had been fixing up this whole time, hardly got done with the paint job on the inside and we were already selling her. What a blow to what we thought was going to be. Yet we listed our house for a fair price and within 2 weeks had an offer on it. During this time we also took a trip up to the Grand Canyon – to ensure that we had some good memories of our final weeks in the house.

The plan now? We would move to Los Angeles and move in with my parents. Boy would this be something new – especially after having a few kids AND owning our own home to have to move back under your parents roof? What could go wrong?

just Pray

note: this post was published on 07/29/22 but moved the publish date back to the end of September 2017 to keep chronological order.