Getting Settled

Our first full week in California has been interesting to say the least. Needless to say, California and Virginia are very different places. Already, we have lived in two houses, Daddy saw two cross-dressers and a person in a clown suit walking out of a bank, and we have been heckled by parrots. Kinda makes us wonder what week two has in store for us!

We really enjoyed our corporate housing - it was a fun little house with a great floorplan, a nice backyard and an incredibly short (1/2 block) commute for Daddy to work. To answer a question that several people have asked about a previous post, yes, it really did have a stable in the back - it's part of a development called Rancho Equestrian that was built for horse lovers in the movie industry.



Madeleine enjoyed having a backyard - she couldn't get enough of being outside, even using her patented one-legged skooch to get around the yard.



But, once our furniture arrived, we had something even better lined up for her - a house with a room truly her own for the first time!


Madeleine was happy to help Mommy organize her shoe collection - Mommy and Madeleine have their own closets now and don't have to share anymore - hurray!!!


Since it's sunny and warm here just about every day here (reminds me of a scene from one of my favorite movies - the first clip here although it's definitely PG-13 for language), Madeleine is spending more time outside than ever before. We've found some great parks and she's getting in some sand time to practice for our first family trip to one of the famous Southern California beaches.

And, she's begun to climb up on the little play areas and use the slide on her own - our little motion junkie likes nothing more than going down the slide as Mommy and Daddy watch nervously, then giggling and going again.

And yes, about those parrots, it seems that our new hometown has a local population of parrots, many of which like to congregate in the palm trees about 100 yards from our house. It's kind of interesting to see them and hear them for the first time - but they are LOUD and their 6am antics are enough to wake the dead. I wish my old roomate Mary still lived nearby - she would know what to do about them!

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California Living

What could be a better way to start out in California - beautiful girls, beautiful scenery, beautiful weather and a nice bottle of wine.





Madeleine is really adjusting to the laid back California lifestyle. The first thing she did upon getting to Cali was to pop on her flip flops and J Lo sweatsuit.





A big departure from our East Coast digs - our temporary house (until our furniture arrives) has a backyard!





Madeleine dines al fresco at least twice a day





If Daddy would get her a pony, we would have a place to put it - we're just a few blocks from a riding trail and many of the houses have small stables - like ours!





You can see why they have the Rose Bowl out here - the roses are gigantic.





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Moving Day Part Deux

The rest of our moving experience on the Virginia side went smoothly. It really hit home when we said farewell to friends on Sunday, had Mommy's car loaded up on Tuesday, and especially after the place had been emptied and cleaned on Tuesday afternoon.



Madeleine, of course, is impervious to all these changes - she was happy at the hotel playing open-and-shut with the patio door. Hard to get too stressed out when she is so nonplussed about it all!



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Moving Day

Moving day is finally ready as we are leaving Northern Virginia for a 2500 mile away adventure in Southern California. The movers came this morning and packed us up - it's amazing how quickly they can erase all the signs of 4 years of human habitation!

Madeleine is, of course, supervising the move.


She has given us permission to take some breaks from the packing to soak in a few of our favorite DC sights one more time - like this year's especially beautiful cherry blossoms.


Of course, when duty calls, not even Moving Day can stand in the way. So Daddy spent the week before the move in Hong Kong and Shanghai, returning 48 hours before the movers. Shanghai, pictured below, reminds Daddy of the current state of our lives - an interesting juxtaposition of the old and new.








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Happy Easter!

Nothing like having a sweet little bunny on Easter Sunday.



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Easter Greetings from Grandma & Grandpa

Madeleine loves opening the mail - and sometimes it's even addressed to her! Normally, she would systematically shred any pieces of mail that fall into her grubby little fingers, but she seemed to know that the beautiful Easter card from Grandma Kay and Grandpa Bob was really meant for HER. So, she took the novel approach of reading the mail instead......











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Barnyard Baby

Madeleine enjoyed her second trip to Lynchburg, VA where Mommy had a couple of days worth of meetings and Daddy played Mr. Mom. She enjoyed the outstanding childrens museum downtown, especially the play barnyard set up especially for kids under 4.





And it wouldn't be a family roadtrip without some hands on supervision of the packing process.





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