A month later, Madison and Ephram were finishing packing up the house before finally setting off with the kids to head to the outskirts of Boulder Colorado, four days away. They had the walkie talkies so they could talk to each other since they were taking both vehicles; Madison with Randi and Shai and Sammy, who was in the backseat passed out in his cage, while Riley was with her father. The first day was exciting for everybody and there seemed to be no tension between Riley and Shai even though they were in two separate vehicles. Not too much happened the first day, which was paradise to Ephram and Madison.

The next day they stopped off at rest area to eat some lunch and get a bathroom break and to let Sammy out for a little break as well. Riley and Randi were wandering around while Shai was going around to every other person who had a dog to pet it. "Lunch is ready" exclaimed Ephram as he finished cooking the hotdogs and hamburgers over the grill.

"I'll call the kids" smiled Madison while she fed Sammy, "Kids! Randi, Riley and Shai, soup's on!"

Ephram laughed, "Ran's going to be disappointed when she figures out we're not having soup..."

"She'll get over it" winked Madison as she sat back down at the picnic table when Riley came running up. Madison noticed Shai was still petting people's dogs so she called to him once again. He looked up and took about 10 steps before another person's dog caught his eye and he made a beeline for that dog to pet it as well. Madison put her chin in her hands and muffled amusingly, "oh my god...I swear...that boy has the attention span of a goldfish..."
Randi couldnt help but laugh as she sat down next to her mom. Madison looked at her weird, which made Randi throw her arms on the table and bury her face in them to muffle any sort of laughter that would escape her lips.

Finally, when called again, Shai made his way to the table to join the family for lunch. "Glad you could join us, ya goof" smiled his father as he served him a hotdog.

"sowwy" smiled Shai touching his head.

"Mom called you a goldfish" replied Randi innocently.

"No I didnt..." replied Madison looking at her daughter.

"Yes you did."

"noooo...I did not! I said he had the attention. Span. of a goldfish, completely different sweetheart."

"Hey Mister Clean, how was it spending time with your species?" asked Riley jokingly.

Shai just looked at her and frowned, not sure what to say.
Riley joked again, "you know, I just now noticed how big your ears are..."
"well you have a big mouth" snapped Shai
"Oh good comeback!" yelled Randi with food in her mouth.

Madison shook her head as she looked at Ephram who was trying not to pay too much attention to his bickering kids.

"Here's an idea," Madison said as she put her arm around Riley, "lets go around the table, starting with Ri, and say what we like about everybody else. Ri, start with Shai."
"you're kidding, right?" asked Riley disgusted, "we havent done this for three or four years, why do we have to start now?"
Madison joked, "because we are going to be stuck in the same car for three to four days and I dont want to have to listen to all this."

"Fine..." Riley said as she raised her head and snubbed her brother. She paused to think, then said slowly with a grin, "Shai, I like you because...you're fun...to tease and torment--"
"Riley!" snapped Ephram, trying not to smile.

"What?" she said raising her arms and looking at her father in disbelief, "its true..."

Randi buried her face in her arms once again, trying to muffle the laughter.

"Hey, hey" Riley said as she picked up a stick and looked it over, then looked at her brother, "I got a joke, ready?"
Shai nodded as he bit into his food.

"Okay...two guys walk into a bar and the third guy ducks....get it?"

Shai looked at her and shook his head, the joke confused him, which was exactly what Riley was going for, so she explained it, "okay...two guys...walk into a bar...the third guy ducks...to put it in terms you can understand, two guys walk into a bar" and with that she proceeded to smack her brother on the side of the head with the stick and started laughing as he tried to duck but fell out of his seat instead, "ha! That works! And the third guy ducks, very good goofy, you're getting it!"

Madison's mouth dropped open but nothing came out, instead she covered her eyes with her hand and shook her head.

"Go play..." Ephram said to the kids who seemed to be too antsy to stay in their seats for too much longer, "take Sam!" he said as he gave the leash to Randi.

"Tell me again why we didnt fly?" asked Madison to Ephram who sat next to her.

"A new experience?" replied Ephram. He wrapped his arms around his wife as she put her head on his chest. He proceeded to give her a sweet gentle kiss.

"Too bad we cant get separate hotel rooms from the kids" joked Madison as she hugged Ephram's midsection.

He chuckled, "well, we could, but we'd probably end up with one or two less children by morning. Unless of course the management folk could deadbolt the door from the outside."

"We can only hope" Madison laughed as she brushed some hair out of her face. They talked a little while longer before figuring it would be best to hit the road again.

The next couple days were, thankfully, not as eventful as that day and finally they got to Colorado and the kids were quite excited to finally be so close to their new home. They got to a residential neighborhood and when Madison started recognizing the same colored houses and same people standing outside, she picked up the walkie talkie and beeped Ephram, "Ephram, why does it seem as if we are going in circles?"

Sort of preoccupied, Ephram replied, "uhhmm...this is Allen Avenue, right? The number is 245 but we said no ranch style houses, but there uhhmm...uhh, doesnt seem to be a 245 around here..." his voice trailed off, still preoccupied.

There was a pause, then Madison replied back, "Ephram, sweetheart, is Shai your navigator? We're on Alvinn Boulevard and if you notice, its sort of a Latino residential area, which should have clued you in that your navigator isnt doing that great of a job!"

She clicked off the reciever and jokingly said to the girls, "never leave it up to your father your brother to find a new place. Never leave it up to any boy for that matter."

Riley took the walkie talkie and started talking, "Dad, you're incomprehensible...er, I mean, incomp..uhh"
"Ri, what are you trying to say?" asked Ephram amused

"innnn....com...petent? Yes! You're incompetent daddy!" she replied triumphantly.

"gotcha...okay Mom, lead the way" chuckled Ephram, "we'll follow you now." and with that, Madison lead everybody away from the Latino neighborhood and into the section of town they were supposed to be in about 15 minutes away. "Oh kids, guess what" Madison said happily as they turned into the driveway of their new two story slate colored house, "we get a pool."

"No Way!" cried Riley as she gawked out the window at the house, "do we get a basement too?!" but she didnt wait for the answer and got out of the car as soon as it parked. The three kids wandered around happily while Madison put her arm around Ephram's shoulders and the two stood in the middle of the yard to gaze at their new house. "I absolutely love you, Ephram" Madison said before wrapping her arms around his neck. "I love you too" smiled Ephram before kissing his wife sweetly.

"Oh, guess who lives about five houses down to the right" grinned Madison as she saw a familiar face running down the street, "Jess!!"

(A/N: sorry for the lack of updates lately, they should start rolling again. Thanks for the reviews everybody, they mean a lot, so keep 'em a' comin'! Keep doin' what you're doin', I enjoy hearing from you folks!)