2nd Day

The first day of our trip we drove for twelve hours only through Texas, for those of you who don't have an idea of how sweeping this state is. The second day of driving we crossed New Mexico, Arizona, and finally reached our destination in California. The speed limit for most of our trip was 80 mi/h, which was a little unnerving at the beginning. I had forgotten how low our speed limits in Houston are. Driving on an inner city highway faster than 70 mi/h was scary to me. I don't think that one person in CA drove below 85.

The uneventful second day was only marked by the fact that we had to stop at three immigration checkpoints in NM and AZ. We were asked if all people in the vehicle were American Citizens, and then we were sent on our merry way. We wondered how those stops were useful, since they never asked for any identification. Just took my word for it. They certainly slowed us down and extended our driving time with ah hour and a half. It was somewhat reminiscent to crossing borders in Europe, but not really. If you have no legit papers, you ain't going anywhere! We saw our tax dollars in action - allocated to questionable highway patrols.

Here are some more pictures of the most exciting parts of our drive- statue of a dinosaur, cacti, more cacti, small bushes, no bushes at all...and our little Esther trying to listen to a movie.

1st Day

Last month, Feb the 13th through the 21st, we drove to California in our new car. We thought it was the right time to take our five year old Samuel and two and a half year old Esther to Disneyland, and while in the area also to Legoland. I visited Disneyland for the first time while a freshman in college. It was fun, new, and exciting, but the whole time I thought it would be even better to bring my own children here one day. I could not have been more right about something in my life. The kids had no real idea of where exactly they were going. Samuel knew he would be riding roller coasters and Esther would see Miki's sister, Mini. (We thought appropriate not to correct her as to the true nature of their relationship.) But unless one has been to Disneyland, one does not have an idea of how grand and amazing this place is.

We had a great trip! We stayed with Richard's aunts in Carlsbad, which is an hour drive to Disneyland, so our trip was on the less expensive side. We also enjoy Chris & Patrice's company which contributed to the greatness of our trip.

The kids did amazingly well in the car. Samuel was occupied watching movies most of the time. For him watching more than one movie a day is a treat within itself. Esther watched here and there, but most of the time she looked at books, colored, cut her and her baby doll's hair, put sticky notes all over her seat and car door, and snacked on pretzels and Ann's bunnies a lot! Richard and I drove, read, talked, listened to XM radio, and caught up on some sleep. For us two, the drive was a much awaited quite time, which is a complete luxury these days. With little kids, driving instead of flying is not as bad as it might sound. We did not seem rushed or agitated, or worried about the unpredictability of flights these days. We did it all at our own pace, and we stopped to eat and walk whenever we needed.

It took us exactly 24 hours of driving. We stopped half way to lodge for the night. Aside from Esther cutting her own hair, and I annoying Richard with CNN and Oprah Radio, we have no complaints.

These are some of the pictures I took the first day of the vast land that lies between Texas and California. Note: Most were taken while the car was in motion.

Finally!

Esther finally looked into the camera and smiled! I have waited for this moment since about two years ago. Unlike Samuel, she's been camera shy. I hope this is the beginning of pictures full of open eyes!!!

A week ago we returned from Disneyland, so I'll have many pictures posted soon.