I'm finally here in California! I've been waiting for at least two months (which if you know me at all is a CENTURY to someone as impatient as me) to come visit the village gatehouse in California. This all came about when Ariel mentioned that she would love to come out to Tennessee for the girl's passage, though she wasn't sure how she could leave David to handle all four of their rambunctious little boys and do work at the same time. That's where superhero mom (yes, that would be MINE!) jumps in. My mom loves Ari to pieces and immediately offered to send me to California to swap places with her for a week and THEN let me stay on for the following week. You've got to love my mom. So, with a desperate fiasco of packing and unpacking and packing once more, we set off for the Nashville airport where I was squeezed and kissed for the millionth time from my mom until I absolutely had to board.

Quick question: Do I look like a Randall? I never thought I did but you never know... I was boarded early as a 'young passenger', meaning I wasn't an adult but wasn't an unaccompanied minor, and was asked by a flight attendant if I was Randall. Apparently they had been waiting quite a while for an eleven year old unaccompanied minor. Erm....noooo....not me.

I have flown several times before but this flight topped them all! I'll include pictures but I hardly think they would suffice. For the entire flight I was absolutely glued to the window, snapping pictures with my phone, much to the annoyance of my snoring neighbor (I earned a few dirty looks :P). Flying over mountains, canyons, OCEAN, and cities I finally landed in Sacramento, California. I was soon greeted by Ari and David, not excluding their adorable four, Morgan, Ronan, Tristan, and River.

Since Ari was leaving at the crack o' DAWN the following morning I had altogether an hour to learn everything there was to know about the house and routine. Then, she was gone! With River too, though I wish I could have kept him.

Falling into routine wasn't a terribly difficult process. The day normally went as cook breakfast, clean, school with boys, cook lunch, clean, afternoon chores, laundry, school myself, cook dinner, clean, stories and bedtime! If only the first day had gone so well. I woke early the first morning to cook breakfast, flipped the nearest switch I was sure was the light and jumped back screaming at the garbage disposal. Ha....ha...ha. I made scrambled eggs and toast, to find out the boys really don't like scrambled eggs and the toaster takes vengeance on those unaware of it habitually burning toast unless you're standing RIGHT THERE. Then I ran around the house trying to hunt down a strange beeping until Tristan simply shut the freezer, explaining why it beeped. To top off the day I set the fire alarm off while making dinner. AAGGHHH!!!!

There really has been no day so far to compare with the first. I hope there never is. So far my time with the boys has been really nice. All of these Dickerson boys are incredibly creative and mischievous to the bone, which only makes them all the more fun.

I have officially been here a week and Ariel is coming home tomorrow! So, if you're a friend at home, kiss her and squeeze her say goodbye because she might not be back for quite a while.

I love you all SO much and will write again soon.

All my love,

Chloe