A long road traveled...

Well we made it to Texas. It was almost an 1100 mile trek and even though it took about 22 hours to complete it didn't seem all too long. We had a 26ft Uhaul, our F150 towing Zach's 1963 F100 and then our Expedition. I drove the Expedition most of the way with the two kids. We started the trip off slow as our plan was to leave by 3pm, but that quickly turned into about 3:45 which wasn't all that bad. We stopped at the gas station to fill up before getting on the interstate and something prompted Zach's dad and brother to look under the hood of the Uhaul. They discovered that there was no cap on the coolant. So we drove across the street to the auto parts store and needed the make/model of the Uhaul to get the correct cap. The Uhaul service helpline was useless so we had to make our best guess based on what we saw in the Uhaul. Somehow this slowed us down by about an hour.
We got on the interstate right about when rush hour started and within 45 minutes Levi was screaming his head off and Chloe had dumped a brand new bag of pretzels on the floor of the Expedition so I decided I would pull off and feed both of them and then catch up with the rest of the caravan on the first planned stop. This dinner was crazy. We stopped at McDonald's and they didn't have any available high chairs so while I was feeding Levi Chloe had free range in the booth. She sat nicely in her seat and ate a few pieces of her cheeseburger then realized that I was preoccupied with feeding Levi so she decided to put on a show. She first started by just standing in the booth and looking out the window, then she got bored and decided to sit on the table, then a few minutes later she wanted to just get up and down off of the booth seat, and then finally for her grand finale she climbed on the table and stood up and started dancing. She thought it was funny and I was overwhelmed and just could imagine what everyone else was thinking...can't this lady get control of her child. I did  my best and finally loaded everyone in the vehicle and took off down the road. The rest of the trip was smooth sailing. We left late in the afternoon so the kids would sleep most of the way. This worked for the most part. Chloe actually was getting a bit upset and then she found one of Levi's pacifiers. Normally I would not let her have it, but in this case I was okay with the fact that she had one of his 7 pacifiers that were in the car because it kept her occupied and entertained rather than fussing and bored. Chloe did have a hard time staying asleep as she would fall asleep and then when her head would fall down it would wake her up or if the sun hit her face it would wake her up. She did good though. When we finally made it to Zach's parents house when his mom opened Chloe's door it was like a flood of snacks came pouring out. Chloe had spilled the entire bag of pretzels along with some cereal and crackers. It was very comical.
We all slept really good that night and the kids have had no issue getting adjusted to the time change as we are now two hours different than what we were in Phoenix. We have tried to get adjusted and settled in a bit while we temporarily stay with Zach's parents. Most of our stuff is in storage and Zach has only had to go about every day to get something out that we needed or to put something back that we didn't need. My vacation finally is ending since I have been off of work since the end of March. I will be going back to work on Monday while Zach stays home with the kids for awhile...back to the real world I guess. We will continue to keep the updates coming as we go through this transition time.

Chloe and Allie on a bike ride with Sabrina and the boys while Zach and I packed

Driving away

Having a "picnic" at our first gas stop

Chloe sleeping on the long road with her doggie and pacifer

Dinner at Texas Roadhouse for Grumpy's (Steve) birthday. Chloe was too cool to take her shades off.

Zach getting Chloe ready to "earn her keep" by diving to the bottom of the pool to clean it. (Just kidding she was just interested in the snorkel gear, no need to call CPS)

Chloe found a new "house" the dog crate

Again trying to earn her keep by mowing the grass with Zach. It was her first time on a riding lawn mower.

Trying to get a family picture on Father's day...trying is the key word

Levi with his Great Nana (Zach's grandma)...we told her she could just be called Nana, but she kept slipping in the "great".