Yes, it's been forever! But you try moving cross country, starting a new job and school, and buying your first house - all with a 2-year-old! OK, we fib. The 2-year-old was the easiest part of all of the above... But since we haven't updated you lately, here's the quick version of our trek and some snapshots of our new life here in Arizona. Stay tuned for more - we know you want to see the house before you buy tickets to come visit...

Leaving Providence was hard. We loved living there and loved our friends there. But we couldn't resist the lure of the West (this time the Southwest), or at least we should say we've been unsuccessful at getting the University of Arizona (where Jen got her first real job) to move back East. So it was off to Tucson for us.


Sam had some very close friends to say goodbye to. Belle came first - she left town too, for Wisconsin.


Sarah, on the other hand, remains in Providence. No wonder we've already been back there twice! We can't keep these two apart!


Not one for long goodbyes, Sam was ready to go!

We also made a whirlwind stop through New York (our home away from home while we were on the East Coast) to say some more goodbyes...


A quick city lunch with Cohen representatives...


Then a visit to the publishers! This is how children's book editors win the hearts of kids - free books! Thanks David!


Sam's friend Jack. Today eating cake. Tomorrow playing poker as retirees in Florida!

We used the opportunity of our move to take a cross-country road trip. The first half of our trip was devoted to seeing as many people as we could fit into our route. The second half was spent seeing some really cool stuff in this country.



How to take a 2-year-old cross country: pack a lot of stuff!


Sam got to see Great Grandpa Hy. Grandpa's classic comment: "He's dressing like me now"


Our first stop out of New York - New Jersey! We got to meet baby Robert!


We met up with Shari and Dave and Nick and Cate in the middle of Pennsylvania - what a fun rest stop!!


On to Cleveland! Sam didn't know quite what to make of those Gordons...


Here is the Gordon ring leader... Lulu (age 5)!


We had a midnight rendezvous (literally) with our friend Pammy for some of that world-famous Chicago food!


Next stop: Wisconsin. Okay, that wasn't really on route to Tucson. But we had important people to see! Sam is still talking about his trip to the Madison Zoo with Aunt Rachel and his (almost) twin sister Belle.


Two peas in a pod! (Now separated by too many miles... :<(


Here's our Providence gang - reunited, mid-west style.


Now for some sight-seeing! No cross-country trip is complete without a visit to Mt. Rushmore! Don't worry... we didn't see anyone trying to carve our current president into the mountain!


We introduced Jen's parents to the amazing scenery of the West at the Badlands. We even got Jen's mom to climb some mountains.


Never let age slow you down... This is Sam signing away his rights before his crazy parents took him white water rafting...


And here's Sam, all ready to go. Don't worry, the rapids weren't too bad, but Sam really didn't like the 50 degree water (Brrrr!)


We hiked down to see the cliff dwellings at Mesa Verde - but Sam was smart enough to insist on being held!


One of our country's classiest sites - the Corn Palace in South Dakota.


Our last destination before reaching Tucson - the Grand Canyon. We made it just in time for sunset! Did we mention this is only 4 1/2 hours from our new home? Come visit!

We will warn you... Tucson is different! First of all, it's the desert. There are no trees. There is very little grass. "Yards" are typically dirt or gravel, with a few cactus thrown in for decoration. People say that within a few years you fall in love with the desert and never want to leave. We're waiting. So far we've sort of fallen in "like" with the desert, but we're not ready to commit (the 70 degree sunny winter days are helping though!).



Welcome to our new house! This is what we've been keeping super busy with - we've repainted about half of the rooms in our house (some more than once... don't ask!) Sam's been a great help!


As you might expect, Sam's made the fastest and happiest adjustment to life in Tucson!


He still misses his friends and family - but now that he sometimes talks on the phone, he's learning how to reach out and touch someone! Can you hear him now?



Grandma, Poppa and Uncle David were our first official visitors to Tucson!


Sam had a great time playing with Grandma...


...but Poppa had some clever ways of winning Sam's heart!


Sam thought Poppa's slippers were VERY fashionable!


We've been exploring all that Tucson has to offer. Here Sam is with his friend Gabe at the pumpkin patch (yep, even in the desert!). Check out the white pumpkins!


This year we moved beyond our theme of things that roar. Sam went trick or treating for the first time! He would shyly knock on a neighbor's door and whisper happy halloween. Then, with all his might, he yelled "I'm a yellow duck! Quack, quack, quack!"


Our first posse visitor - Steve Cha! And our first hike in Tucson. Here we are in front of the forest of cactus! (Don't believe us? Come see for yourself!)


This is how kids in the desert play dress-up. "I wonder what it's like to wear a sweater and hat?!?" they say. Did we mention the weather already?


Yep, this is the kind of "parks" Sam will be playing in... actually the park right near our house has grass, so we're not too worried about (horti)culture shock when we travel back east.

Somehow we've also found the time to travel since arriving here in Tucson...


Sam got to celebrate Great Grandma's 90th (shhhhh!) birthday. He'll travel for any event that includes cake!


Happy Birthday Great Grandma!


Sam also made it to LA to wish Aunt Jill and Uncle Brian congratulations on their engagement.


And, of course, we're now only an hour away (by air) from Vegas, so Sam and I cruised the strip while mom was busy at a conference. To call Las Vegas a zoo is an accurate description - we saw lions and tigers and flamingos and sharks and dolphins and even penguins! Sam loved it! Coming soon... pictures of our house!