We made it!

This first picture is of the girls before leaving. They were so cute with their arms around each other that I had to throw it in.
We managed to get everything into the 12x6 trailer, the landrover, and the car top carrier! Just to have a *little* more room I asked Mom to mail us a box of books that would have been a pain to fit in too. It was pretty crowded in there.
This picture is right before we left. Lily held Milo on her lap almost the whole trip! She was a big help and Milo was such a good cat and hardly cried at all. He just slept and watched cartoons with them. I let him out a little bit and all he wanted to do was sleep on my lap. Renna only got carsick twice in four days. My brother drove the WHOLE way... I was really really thankful that he did too because I could barely stay in the same position in the passenger seat for very long and kept having to eat so I wouldn't feel the morning sickness... I'm a little flabby after just sitting and eating for four days.. need to hit the Wii fit again. ;]
Milo, watching a cartoon..

The girls love their pillow pets! They were a going away present from their Grandma and Grandpa and came in quite handy on the trip.
I only took one picture in a hotel.. this was the first night and least nice hotel. It did have a hottub and pool though that the girls and I enjoyed. The second nights hotel only had a pool outside and it was too cold for that, but, I was too busy using their laundry for the "carsick" towels to do much else.. the girls had fun running down the halls to "help" me do the laundry and get popcorn that they had there for free. The third day we decided to pull a long one and put two days in one. We were on the road that day for 13 hours and went through 4 states. It was a really good idea! It was long of course, but the roads were boring and it gave us a good goal to shoot for. I had the maps and was planning out the stops to coincide with the gas stops and so forth. The girls fell asleep and so I got to watch a movie for a little bit before we got to the hotel in Dumas TX. I'm very glad that I'm not too far along... it was uncomfortable enough at this stage to ride for so long. The night that we got in to Dallas was Wednesday. Youssef said he didn't really believe we'd make it that day even though we told him where we were and stuff.. probably a bit surreal. We unloaded a few things that first night and then went out for steak and enjoyed the "hot pool" as the girls call it.. at our new apartment.

Daniel's been super busy putting things together for me! He put Renna's bed together and this table and chair set that they played at ALL day yesterday! Also.. yesterday we did some shopping for furniture. The money that we saved by getting rid of things and using just the trailer got to go for a few new things down here. It was fun picking out bookshelves that actually matched and stuff (and they were on sale!) I'll take pictures later when everything is arranged. Daniel helped me decide on a few things too.
Black or white? Black is classier.. and he was right. ;]
Here's a distance view of the living room. The ceiling in that part is super tall and I'm loving the light and windows! This apartment is only just over 1,000 sq ft, but it feels HUGE to me! There are so many closets and places to put things! I hardly have to be creative at all to put things away. It's great to be able to use our closets for short term storage rather than long term. The closet outside off of our balcony has our christmas boxes in it and a few other things and it looks really empty. I'm going to add some luggage and other things to it too. There's this little door for the water heater and storage off of the dinning room. It's under the stairs and is just the right size for a few strollers and the vacuum. SO nice to have little places like that!
This is the view from our sliding doors and balcony. It's lovely in the dark as well because there are lights under the water in the pool and waterfall. I took the girls out to the "hot pool" (the one to the left there) and helped them practice their doggy paddles. It was about the same temperature outside as inside and the water in that pool was like bath water.
Milo is really liking the new place and this is the spot he picked last night to sleep in.. the corner stair at the top of the stairs.. he blends into the carpet. :] We did have a hard time finding a place to put his litter box and food and stuff... might take a little adjusting. :]
Yesterday when we got the bookshelves we also picked up some new rugs for the bathroom and a showercurtain. The upstairs bathroom is this dark and bright green with ladybugs added, and the downstairs half bath is purple. It's so much fun to pick out colors for things! I don't feel like I'm very good at it though.. what I envisioned I couldn't find so I had to keep putting things back and matching and comparing till I found something that I liked. I REALLY like it now, but I was getting tired of looking... I'm sure Youssef and Daniel were a bit tired of that part of the shopping trip though too.

And today the trailer is empty and the guys are taking it back to a Uhaul place. Youssef is also dropping off the landrover to get the breaks changed out (they were grinding pretty bad after that long haul!).. it's REALLY REALLY nice to have my brother here! Not only for the driving and stuff, but there's so much to do! Putting stuff together and driving the cars to drop one off and stuff. It's really nice that I don't have to do those things with the girls and stuff. They are enjoying the new place and Renna is fixated on the pool and how fabulous it is. ;] Youssef and Daniel enjoyed the hot tub and relaxed in the jets last night while I fixed up the girls room as they slept, and this morning I took the girls out there right after the guys left. We still have a few more errands to do today, but I'm thinking dinner and a movie will be in order for tonight. Daniel flight is early tomorrow morning. :[
I'm sure he will be ready to see his own kids again, but it's been really great having him here. :]