Cross-Country Road Trip Commences in < 24 hours

Here we go

One more time

Everybody’s feelin’ fine

Here we go nowww

(Here here here here we go! *NSYNC has got the flow!)

*NSYNC was and always will be better than Backstreet Boys. Just accept it.

Here we go, though! Hittin’ the road on our wild adventure to Alaska! FINALLY. The entire move was postponed when Aaron had to go back out to sea one last time here in Virginia, which I was NOT mentally prepared for. Especially not with the insane amount of morning sickness this pregnancy. But hey, here we are! Alive and ready.

How Are You Going to Drive That Far With a Toddler?!

The number one question I get about our cross-country plans is “How are you going to drive that far with a toddler?!”

No one ever said it was going to be easy…but it’ll be fun! Anders is a car baby. We don’t own a tablet, and I’m 95% sure he’s unaware that you can watch anything on a phone. He plays with toys, has “conversations” with us, stares out the window, sleeps, and eats. We are very lucky that—for the most part—he’s always been very content in the car. Of course, I’m sure there will be some difficult moments when he’s bored and starts chucking his food at the window, but we’ve built in lots of time for rest days and short drive days.

Maybe all the people who look at me like “Oh you poor girl, you’re in for it” will be right, and Anders will be a nightmare 80% of the time. But I know my kid, and I wouldn’t embark on such a massive journey without the extremely strong belief that we will all remain happy and healthy the majority of the time. Especially if Aaron doesn’t force me to listen to Science Friday for 8 hours straight.

What We’re Most Excited About in Alaska

One of the best parts about moving to Alaska is that Aaron will be on land duty, meaning he’ll be home every night and on weekends like a “normal” job! No more long months away on the ship, and no more being on call 24/7. We’ve never experienced consistent exposure to each other in our entire marriage—the longest we’ve been in the same place is three months. So we are SO excited to finally have a routine and continuous support without all the transitions leaving and returning.

[Insert joke about most people wishing they had periodic breaks from their spouse.]

The Goodbyes That Made It Real

All in all, we feel almost nothing but positivity and excitement for this move! Thank you to EVERYONE who took the time to say goodbye. My girlfriends in the DC area who had a casual pizza dinner with me, Mihmsy who drove 8 hours in one day just to have lunch together, Kiet for driving down from Philly, all of our friends and family who came to our going away party, and everyone in between who has made the effort to see us or reach out. We are so lucky to miss all of you.

We’ll see what the next chapter holds, and will keep you updated on our cross-country adventure!

Oh, PS- We didn’t get perfect view of our little nugget in the ultrasound this week, but based on the angles we DID get, it looks like Anders is getting a little SISTER! We’ll let you know for sure after our next appointment!