On the road again...

Our time in Modesto flew by in one big blur of events. Melissa and her gang took us out for one last run around the town. The annual wine tasting event through Ripon stood up to the high praise and we left full and happy at the end of the night. A little too full in the morning for Sara’s liking….

 Anyways after we recovered it was down to business tying up loose ends while we packed, slept, and worked. (What seemed like the most work we had done since we got here.) A quick trip to mall solidified out need to flee this town, now knowing that we had left our mark when we heard “Peanut butter and Jelly” hollered across the way. Work was brutal, we saw things that should only be seen on TV (if that) but we continued to remind each other that the end was near. We had to leave our mark on the hospital so on the billboard dedicated to all the nurses children’s pictures we posted an entire collage of some of our favorite Modesto events. Some were more normal than others and some will hopefully get a quick giggle and a possible “those girls!” comment every once in awhile. On a more serious note we will miss everyone on the 5^th floor. You all were awesome and taught us so much, and we had a lot of fun along the way too!

After a good days sleep we had to cram out whole life into a 2 door Saturn…we were shocked when everything fit! I think we are getting way too good at packing! With that said we were on the road again for a 2500+ roadtrip back to Ohio broken up into 2 full days of driving, and one overnight stop. The first half was rough getting started but once we got into the groove of things it was a painless 20 hours to Amarillo.  Along the way we ran into some type of meteor shower and saw dozens of shooting stars. Honestly, one of the most entertaining drives trying to look for where the next one would appear., don’t worry someone had at least one eye on the road at all times!

Before we get too deep into our first stop here is a little background on Amarillo: It has become one of our favorite halfway points on our cross country drive. A large part of Jenn’s family lives there and was more willing to have us overnight..who wouldn’t be right?!?!  Recently, one of Jenn’s cousins joined an elite group becoming one the newest hero’s born.  He risked his life to save an older man’s life in a house fire. Casey’s (the hero) version is raw and real and ends with someone getting slapped, but no need to go into detail. In the process he badly injured himself and was life flighted to the nearest hospital. We were bummed he wouldn’t be around the house but it caused us to accelerate our trip so we could visit him! Originally we planned on arriving Saturday but on Thursday when we called Jenn’s uncle and he asked when we would be there we both looked at the GPS and said in 10 hours! Surprise!!! Uncle Don asked us to stall a little so he would at least be home, but other than that he was super excited to see us. Once we got there we also got an awesomely amazing surprise! Casey had made a full recovery and was on his way home! Those doctors must have known two of the best nurses were in town anxiously waiting to take care of Casey! Now we had to be extra careful with this patient because this little nugget was still a falls risk! And boy did we learn a thing or two about falls risks patients in Modesto! 

Having not slept in over 24 hours we thought we put our patient safely to bed and get a little shut eye ourselves, but we were completely wrong! Before you knew it the whole house was filled with cousins, daughters, brothers, sisters, crumbsnatchers, and whatever else you can imagine. The jury is still out as to whether all these people came to see us girls or Casey, but regardless it was an awesome welcome and we had just gotten our 14^th wind for the day! We would like to say we woke up the next morning but that would be false because no one in the house woke up until “evening” approximately 4PM…Whaaaaat our baby eyes were tired! With ample amounts of rest we took showers, ate an awesome meal, and heaed to the “clubs” with some of the cousins. Here we were wined and dined with the local cowboys. We also learned a thing or two about dancing in Texas...moves we now will never forget! 

The next day was set for rest and relaxation so that we could head out early for our next 20 hour drive… However, rumor on the street was that copious amounts of fajitas with all the fixings were on the way over. If you know anything about us it is we don’t turn down food, especially Mexican.  So, we stayed and stuffed ourselves enough to have a little extra padding for the next 20 hour ride home. Delicious!

These people are some of the best family anyone could ask for and we are truly thankful they lets us stay with them for a couple days. We are especially lucky to be in the presence of such a HERO! We left Texas loudly singing....

I need a hero
I'm holding out for a hero 'til the end of the night
He's gotta be strong
And he's gotta be fast
And he's gotta be fresh from the fight
I need a hero
I'm holding out for a hero 'til the morning light
He's gotta be sure
And it's gotta be soon
And he's gotta be larger than life

The final 20 hours of our drive was filled with coffee, double shots, and mountain dew slurps. We made a quick pit stop at Sara's uncles house where a birthday party full with cake, pizza, crowns, and presents was waiting for Sara. Had we known we would have cleaned ourselves up a bit and dressed for the occasion...so sneaky those Boeckls are. We still had the hardest 3 hour leg to go so we crammed back in the car and trudged on. The temperature continued to drop and our eyes felt like weights were tied to the lids, but we made it! Being home never felt so good. A bed with fresh sheets, a clean room, and open arms anxiously waiting for the most prized child to be home ;) j/k. 

This year has been a blast but us world travelers are exhausted! With the cold and the snow we will be on a hybernating vacation at home for about a month. Thankfully we have a new job lined up for the new year. Somehow we got a job in the #1 cancer hospital in the US and CANNOT wait to start the next adventure. California has been fun but it is time to overturn yet another state. The only thing left to say is to look out and see you all in the new year in TEXAS, we are coming your way....

HOUSTON YOU HAVE A PROBLEM!

These 2 snow birds headed south for the holidays : San Diego!

It only took us about 10 weeks, but we finally convinced our employers that we are one person and need the exact same schedule...Not only do we have the same schedule we also coaxed them into giving us 6 whole days off together!! Needless to say we planned a trip down to San Diego to see some of our favorite people for Thanksgiving. We did something we have not done in a loooooong time, we worked FOUR days in a row! Exhaustion was setting in but the excitement of San Diego was kicking in as we began the 7 hour treck down the coast. We were in rare form by the time we reached our old stomping grounds: The Cow Shed.

Our bartender friend was informed there was a "surprise" coming to town for him. When we walked through the door, Will, somehow contained his excitement when he saw us. Direct quote, "What are you whores doing here". Trust us coming from Will that is a compliment. Before we could even warm our bar stools there were 2 beers popped for us and they just kept flowing. About an hour into the night we realized that the chips on the way down to SD were not cutting it for dinner. So Will, being the best bartender in the world, made us his signiture nachos and cheese! Yes! This was a great dinner choice for us. However, what is a good homecooked meal without a glass of milk...so we washed the nachos down with an Irish Car Bomb and headed to the beach with our bagged up beers from the bar. BTW Will forgot to charge us for anything! Again, this showed how much he really did miss us!

On to the beach! We were chauffered to the beach by our good friend Daniel and the "friendly neighborhood black guy" also known as Jah. We realized how much we missed the sound of the waves and the water and the sand and excitement took over. Sara, lacking depth perception on a regualr basis , took off running down the path less traveled. Needless to say the hills and plants tripped her up a bit and she ate a little sand, maybe she was just still a little hungry! Once recovered from that the others had made it safetly down the hill on the nicely laid path, we continued to the water. However, the tide was going out so anther hill tripped Sara up and she ate yet another mouthfull of sand. Jenn stated "You need to go to the car". So Sara without a word put her head down and went to the car..the beach adventure was over for the night. We cruised home to the Lion King soundtrack to show our new motto "Hakuna Matata" it means "No Worries" in case you don't know!

The friendly neighborhood black guy

Fatigue was setting in and it was time to let our baby eyes go to sleep. We didn't know what to expect for the bed we were promised at Daniels house, but man o man it was good! For all you Ohionans out there you need to invest in a California King. Not only is it spacious being slightly larger than a normal King, it also has the softness warmth you can only get in California.

We were jolted awake by a crumbsnatcher screaming for the ice cream truck at 1PM. Reality set in and we realized that we had to do some interviews today, but first we headed straight to the closest restaurant that ended in "tos" for some carne asada. Sitting in the parking lot, smells of delishousness wafting in the windows, we decided to give Hawaii a call back. Sara interviewed here and there were some tricky questions. Whenever she couldn't think of a good answer she restated the question and Jenn quickly came up with a goood answer. She loved us BUT she wanted us to work FIVE, I repeat FIVE days a week...We don't play that game! With one interview completed we needed nourishment so into Albertos we went. Just as we were about to taek our first bite of carne asada fries (only the most delishous treat ever!) we realized there was NO carne asada!!!! Soo we had to take it back!

 With a good meal in our bellies and no worries on our minds, Jenn's phone rang. Houston, Texas and the #1 oncology hospital in the states was calling for an interview (didn't they know we had a late night last night!) Anyways, Jenn swiftly answered all the questions to the best of her ability mostly stating "to be completely honest, I don't know".  Perhaps the icing on this interview cake came when the lady asked if she would take the job if Sara didn't get an offer too. Jenn's response was priceless, "Honestly, no, we are a two for one if you will". Yup that interview went well!!  Little did we know they liked us and the contract for Houston, Texas is in the works as we type. Look out Texas here we come!! YEEEHAW!

With nowhere to go we called our old neighbors to make plans for the evening. They were scared we would pop our tent on their lawn so they quickly invited us over. Before we headed there we stopped at our old apartment to see our good friend Eric. He was a little dumbfounded when he saw he saw our faces sitting by the fountain, but he was thrilled to see us. We think we made his year! (Whaaaaat! he loved us!)

We thought that Maria's kids would be gone for the week, but as we pulled we saw 2 crumbsnatchers out and about and realized we were for a hefty dose of birth control. The 11 year old boy Daniel was out the door before we could even say hi..he is a lil shy. But Gracie the 7 year old girl quickly became our best friend. We painted nails, rode bikes, karaoked to Justin Beiber, learned some hand clapping songs, and chewed gum. Being that we act like children on a regular basis all this stuff was right up our alley...but she is exhausting so the wine bottles started flowing.

We also got introduced to dream dinners, what a concept. You basically go to a place where food is prepared and you test it all out and then make a purchase of a complete meal to make at home. Good thing we didn't know about this place when we lived here because we would have been doing a lot of "taste testing" and NOT a lot of buying..what can we say we are cheapos! We were surprised by another set of neighbors stopping over, Jay and Megan! Dreamdinners really bring a family together. Six bottles of wine later it was time to call it a night and make good use of the couch. We really missed Tom and Maria...thanks for putting a roof over our head and food in our bellies!

We had to kill some time while our Mom, Gorgetta slept so we did some shopping and drinking our specialties. We had to fufill all our favorite SD hot spots and cravings so onto Margaronas we went! As we were enjoying these we ran into an old coworker and her family. Then it was off to Mom and Dads house!

Bill and Gorgetta aka Mom and Dad are our adopted parents from our time spent in SD. These are possibly two of the nicest, coolest people in southern Cali. We brought the beer and they got the pizza and we caught up the rest of the evening. Before Dad went to bed he gave us one rule: He said we must wear these jerseys for Thanksgiving Day. We thought Perfect! Plenty of room to eat!

Dad did all the cooking early the next morning while all the girls slept in until 1PM. So by the time we got ready sporting our perfectly pressed Jerseys it was time to take an afternoon stroll on the beach. It was a BEAutiful day, we looked like quite the family with Jenn and Sara in their jerseys, Gorgetta in a winter coat and Bill in a straw sun hat. Dad stopped to pet every dog that came our way, one was even wearing a turkey costume, which really made us miss Airy :( Hopefully the nighbor is taking good care of her. Mom packed us snacks for the walk, nutritous and delishous chocolate covered cookies. Mom's always know best.

When we got home the smell of turkey roasting filled the air. The table was set and the food looked amazing!! We all joined hands and Dad thanked God for bringing his two children home for the holidays. Sara was so touched she cried, later Jenn said "I didn't know that was the plan, next time tell me don't leave me hanging again! I looked so ungraitful!" Hahha Sara jsut felt so loved and completely happy that her emotions got the best of here. We brushed this little scene aside and scarfed down tons of goood food! Compliments to the chef, You are the best Dad! Food coma set in and we chilled by the TV for the rest of the night. Just when you thought we were done eating Mom made us icecream sundaes for dessert. That was the end of us so we headed to bed.

The next day we strolled the beaches and all the little shops, ate some more mexican, and met a coworker for what was supposed to be one glass of wine becasue mom and dad were leaving the key under the mat and we said we would be home "early"....

That one glass of wine turned into 2 when more cowrkers randomly showed up too! Which then turned into beer at the local Escondido bar. The bartenders parents turned out to be our new best friends and from there the night spun dangerously out of control. We sang some Toby Keith Red Solo Cup together, learned whip cream tricks, danced and had some blow jobs (the shots...get your heads out of the gutter!). Richelle, our coworker, did some celebrity bartending and we got to spin the shot wheel...we won 2 delishous semen chasers and with that it was time to head home. We made a pit stop at the cow shed to say hi to the owner Ray, who corned Sara with a birthday syringe shot. We also picked up a new addiction..SMokING. Now, you may be turning up your nose but this is not your normal cig smoking...We were sitting in the cow shed and whipped out our CANDY cigs!! These turned into a conversation piece and a great addition to our night out! People thought we were nuts! It was getting even later but for some reason we needed to head to the boys house. Here we got ourselves some hats, these hats are apparently a big deal and all week we have been getting hate mail from the friendly neighborhood black guy that he wants them back. Eventually Jah don't you worry we will get them back!

We headed home shortly after that because JAh was chasing us down the road and for some reason we needed these seedless hats. At home we found the key perfectly placed under the mat and we did our best to be as quiet as we could. As we layed in bed our bellies started grumbling and the thanksgiving leftovers were calling our name. Now, Mom said all week that Dad wears a CPAP and cannot hear anything so we talked ourselves into making dinner at 4:53 AM. Ten tupperware containers later our plates were full and we sadi the microwave would too loud so we took out cold plates back to bed and devoured our food. With the grumbellies out of the way we fell asleep only to wake up 2 hours later when mom got off work so that we could say our goodbyes.

With bloodshot eyes and a goal to do some Christmas shopping we headed to the Mexican border. This day turned out to be a disaster. People were EVERYWHERE, it was HOT, and imagine this we were HUNGRY! Sooooo we went into a couple stores and called it a day. We headed to the cheese shop for the best sandwhich around town and then decided it was time to head to Modesto. '

We had to make a quick stop at Maria's for Jenn's sweatshirt and apparently Sara left half her hair on the bathroom floor! oops! Then it was on the road again....

On a normal day this would have been an easy breezy drive, but today it was a challenge. We had to make numerous stops, there was tons of traffic and Jenn was hallucinating. She saw an ape with an axe chopping people up on the highway. Yes we were on the highway but there was not one car even remotely close to us let alone people. So we got off the highway for a pit stop, but it was short lived when the creepiest homeless man decided to stand near the corner gas station we were parked at. We were close to home but the back roads were completely fogged over. We were tired and sick of driving so the fog was playing tricks on us big time! Fortunately, we made it home in one piece and crashed for the night and next day.

San Diego: although it is a ton of fun it can be deadly. The food and drinks it offers will make you a fat drunk and we realized how lucky we were to move when we did. But don't you worry we will be back because our friends and parents in San Diego are the best in the west!