Our stuff just left Bakersfield on Wednesday via the moving company, so we continue our hotel stays. I am beyond ready to be settling in my new house. Every day, James and I go over there for one reason or another. Yesterday it was to have the fridge delivered. Today, the cable internet gets turned on. We water the lawn and spend time with the cats and let the girls run crazy in an enclosed area larger than our cramped hotel room.
We are ready to be home. The girls can't express this particular desire, but they are beginning to grow restless and Cadence actually cries every time we leave the house (not because it's home, but because it's big enough to actually run).
Anyway, we've been here about a week and a half, so here is my list of top 10 things of Houston (so far), in no particular order:
1. The Rain - It fascinates me. You can see blue skies and sunshine but you can still have your windshield wipers on full blast because you're stuck under one of the fat gray clouds that happens to be raining at that exact moment.
2. The Clouds (and blue sky) - I never fully realized what we were missing. There are some seriously gorgeous clouds here in Houston. Big fat fluffy ones. All the time. And a bright blue sky behind it. No smog to diminish the blue and no mountains to comb out the fluffy clouds.
3. Half Price Books - Its exactly how it sounds. A used book store chain. We got a hard cover copy of a Wheel of Time book (that we already own, just not in hardback...) and a paper back cover copy of another Wheel of Time book (same situation, lol). James also got a new role-playing book. We got a DVD and I got another book I've been wanting for awhile. And we only spent $35 ($20 of that was the role-playing book).
4. Sweet Tomatoes - Better known as Soup Plantation, at least to me. Oh yum. And it's not too far from our house.
5. Showboat DriveIn Theater - I've been sulking that I won't get to see Harry Potter's final chapter until it came out on DVD unless we befriended a new babysitter. But, we're going to see it AND Captain America tonight. Bring our portable DVD player to entertain the kids and close our car so if they scream they're only bothering us and enjoy two movies we've been wanting to see for $10. Score!
I did intend to do top 10, but I'm running out of time, so top 5 it is!
Friday, July 29, 2011
Friday, July 22, 2011
The past week or so (with pictures)
We were homeless starting Wednesday, the 13th. Packers came early in the morning and packed everything up. The girls spent the day with Aunt Robyn (and eventually the rest of the family). And I spend the day running errands, checking into hotels, and occasionally kicking my feet up at my mom's house, trying to enjoy every last moment. We enjoyed a dinner at La Mina, since it's my all time favorite Bakersfield restaurant.
He doesn't know I took this picture, lol:
Cadence enjoyed dipping the chips in the salsa, but not eating them. She also begged for Megan's high chair:
Thursday, we drove out to Taft to see James's grandparents one last time (as well as meet up with Jared and his girlfriend who were in town), then all of us trekked out to Porterville to see Talon, Jacob, Charish and Sydnee. After a few pictures and dinner at Taco Bell, we all went to the park. The girls, who'd begun showing signs of having a very stressful week, perked up once we were at the park and I got some super cute shots:
We spent most of Friday with my family, except for dinner with James's boss. It was a very strange day, and we all started crying when it came time to leave. Heck, I was blinking back tears when I was trying to track down the kids' shoes to put them on. I cried for awhile after that. Every time I had myself under control, James would pat my knee or squeeze my hand or give me a hug and I'd start crying all over again.
Saturday morning, we said good-bye to Bakersfield and drove through Barstow and on to Flagstaff. It was fairly uneventful. It was our hardest day with the girls as they got used to this idea of a road trip. By the last hour we were counting down miles and trying to keep Cadence happy long enough to reach the hotel. The second day she did better. James woke up at 2:30am and we just went. We were out of the hotel by 3:30 and on our way. It was great, because we had an amazing sunrise over the Arizona desert on the way to New Mexico. Gorgeous:
The best part of the early start was the girls sleeping for the first few hours and then being perfectly content to watch their DVDs between stops:
The third day, we were ready to reach Houston. The girls, now used to road trips, did all right all said and done. We stopped off in Fort Worth to visit an old cemetery where one of my ancestors was buried. Unfortunately, they didn't have a gravestone for her, but there were a few others with the same last name:
We reached Houston, finally, and were happy to be here. We went shopping shortly after arriving to stock up our kitchenette for the three days in our first hotel. The girls loved the car attached to the front of the cart.
And, of course, we had to stop by the big Bass Pro Shop just down the street. Cadence and Megan LOVED the aquarium full of catfish and the like.
Megan cracked me up because she was mimicking this O-mouthed fish. She and the fish just stared at each other with their round mouths for a full minute until Megan started giggling.
Anyway, obviously there's more. We've been keeping busy trying to get the car registered, signing our lease, filling out paperwork, and all the other important stuff you're supposed to do when you move to a new state. Our stuff is finally en route from Bakersfield to Houston, so we're hoping to set up house within the next week or so and plan to post pictures as soon as it's done! We've also been enjoying some summer rain. I just had to bust up laughing when I walked out of the hotel and curse myself for not grabbing my sunglasses, then 2 minutes down the road I have to turn my wipers on full force. I don't think I've turned the wipers on that high since we bought the car!
Megan ignored the chips and salsa and tried to eat me instead
He doesn't know I took this picture, lol:
Cadence enjoyed dipping the chips in the salsa, but not eating them. She also begged for Megan's high chair:
Thursday, we drove out to Taft to see James's grandparents one last time (as well as meet up with Jared and his girlfriend who were in town), then all of us trekked out to Porterville to see Talon, Jacob, Charish and Sydnee. After a few pictures and dinner at Taco Bell, we all went to the park. The girls, who'd begun showing signs of having a very stressful week, perked up once we were at the park and I got some super cute shots:
We spent most of Friday with my family, except for dinner with James's boss. It was a very strange day, and we all started crying when it came time to leave. Heck, I was blinking back tears when I was trying to track down the kids' shoes to put them on. I cried for awhile after that. Every time I had myself under control, James would pat my knee or squeeze my hand or give me a hug and I'd start crying all over again.Saturday morning, we said good-bye to Bakersfield and drove through Barstow and on to Flagstaff. It was fairly uneventful. It was our hardest day with the girls as they got used to this idea of a road trip. By the last hour we were counting down miles and trying to keep Cadence happy long enough to reach the hotel. The second day she did better. James woke up at 2:30am and we just went. We were out of the hotel by 3:30 and on our way. It was great, because we had an amazing sunrise over the Arizona desert on the way to New Mexico. Gorgeous:
The best part of the early start was the girls sleeping for the first few hours and then being perfectly content to watch their DVDs between stops:
The third day, we were ready to reach Houston. The girls, now used to road trips, did all right all said and done. We stopped off in Fort Worth to visit an old cemetery where one of my ancestors was buried. Unfortunately, they didn't have a gravestone for her, but there were a few others with the same last name:
We reached Houston, finally, and were happy to be here. We went shopping shortly after arriving to stock up our kitchenette for the three days in our first hotel. The girls loved the car attached to the front of the cart.
And, of course, we had to stop by the big Bass Pro Shop just down the street. Cadence and Megan LOVED the aquarium full of catfish and the like.
Megan cracked me up because she was mimicking this O-mouthed fish. She and the fish just stared at each other with their round mouths for a full minute until Megan started giggling.
Anyway, obviously there's more. We've been keeping busy trying to get the car registered, signing our lease, filling out paperwork, and all the other important stuff you're supposed to do when you move to a new state. Our stuff is finally en route from Bakersfield to Houston, so we're hoping to set up house within the next week or so and plan to post pictures as soon as it's done! We've also been enjoying some summer rain. I just had to bust up laughing when I walked out of the hotel and curse myself for not grabbing my sunglasses, then 2 minutes down the road I have to turn my wipers on full force. I don't think I've turned the wipers on that high since we bought the car!
Thursday, July 21, 2011
I Promise
A new post is on the way soon. We've had a few hiccups here in Houston, namely, learning we'll be hotel-dwellers for twice as long as initially expected. Thankfully, Seaboard put us in a really nice hotel that's more like a 1-bedroom apartment. The girls sleep in the living room's pullout couch and James and I claimed the queen-sized bed in the separate bedroom. And we recently stocked up the full-sized fridge (the only thing this kitchen lacks is an oven, but at least it has a stovetop!)
But, we have arrived safely in Houston, well, Pearland, rather. We're off to get our fancy Texas licenses and register our car. We have the keys to our new house (though no stuff to move into it yet, thus the reason for our extended hotel-stay).
So, we're doing good. :-)
But, we have arrived safely in Houston, well, Pearland, rather. We're off to get our fancy Texas licenses and register our car. We have the keys to our new house (though no stuff to move into it yet, thus the reason for our extended hotel-stay).
So, we're doing good. :-)
Saturday, July 9, 2011
What's the word?
Life is surprisingly quiet, considering this time next week we'll be on the road toward Flagstaff. I plan on taking advantage of having family nearby to get all my cleaning and organizing done so the packers' job is easier.
The girls have been crazy lately. Everyone tells me they're probably sensing that something big is right around the corner. I believe it. I've noticed changes in my own way of getting through the day and I think the girls have picked up on it. They've definitely picked up on the fact that I have way less patience than normal recently.
Anyway, a little brag post before I run and put on a bit of make-up for my lunch date:
Cadence is amazing us with how smart she is. She picks up so much just from interaction. She's able to count in her head (small numbers) and tell me how many things she has. For example, if I give her three cookies, she doesn't have to count them out loud to recognize she has three of them. She's speaking in full sentences almost entirely now. The heat's gotten to her recently and she's been whining in one-word sentences, but mostly she'll chatter at us nonstop. She loves songs and now has a small arsenal of favorites. She won't sing with me when I'm singing but at night I'll hear her singing "Wheels on the bus" or her favorite: "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star".
Megan's talking like crazy, too. Unlike Cadence, who picked up words I used frequently, Megan has picked up on her sister's favorite words. Our favorite of hers is a very pronounced "He-ey!" whenever someone does something she disapproves of. She still monkeys Cadence in everything and has a chronic case of the "me-toos". She's so cute when she wants a diaper change. She'll bend over and put her head on the ground, then flop her butt sideways and roll to her back and grin up at him. Thanks to her sister, she's also very much aware of bodily functions such as "pee", "poop" and "fart". And if she ever hears a fart sound, real or not, she will instantly run over to me and pull on the waistband of my pants to see if it was me. Cracks me up.
Anyway, kind of nervous how they'll handle the upcoming road trip and week or more of hotel stays. I'm optimistic, though. So long as they have plenty of freedom to run themselves ragged, they're pretty easy-going kids. We've split it up so we only have one really long day of driving and two 7-8 hour days.
The girls have been crazy lately. Everyone tells me they're probably sensing that something big is right around the corner. I believe it. I've noticed changes in my own way of getting through the day and I think the girls have picked up on it. They've definitely picked up on the fact that I have way less patience than normal recently.
Anyway, a little brag post before I run and put on a bit of make-up for my lunch date:
Cadence is amazing us with how smart she is. She picks up so much just from interaction. She's able to count in her head (small numbers) and tell me how many things she has. For example, if I give her three cookies, she doesn't have to count them out loud to recognize she has three of them. She's speaking in full sentences almost entirely now. The heat's gotten to her recently and she's been whining in one-word sentences, but mostly she'll chatter at us nonstop. She loves songs and now has a small arsenal of favorites. She won't sing with me when I'm singing but at night I'll hear her singing "Wheels on the bus" or her favorite: "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star".
Megan's talking like crazy, too. Unlike Cadence, who picked up words I used frequently, Megan has picked up on her sister's favorite words. Our favorite of hers is a very pronounced "He-ey!" whenever someone does something she disapproves of. She still monkeys Cadence in everything and has a chronic case of the "me-toos". She's so cute when she wants a diaper change. She'll bend over and put her head on the ground, then flop her butt sideways and roll to her back and grin up at him. Thanks to her sister, she's also very much aware of bodily functions such as "pee", "poop" and "fart". And if she ever hears a fart sound, real or not, she will instantly run over to me and pull on the waistband of my pants to see if it was me. Cracks me up.
Anyway, kind of nervous how they'll handle the upcoming road trip and week or more of hotel stays. I'm optimistic, though. So long as they have plenty of freedom to run themselves ragged, they're pretty easy-going kids. We've split it up so we only have one really long day of driving and two 7-8 hour days.
Sunday, July 3, 2011
Countdowns
10 days until the packers come and pack everything we own into boxes, making this place uninhabitable and forcing us into a hotel for our final days in Bakersfield.
12 days until Harry Potter & The Deathly Hallows Part 2 (which I will be unable to see in theater, drat)
13 days until we check out of our hotel, load up our car and begin our trek to Houston
15 days until we reach Houston and officially become Texans.
16 days until we get the key to our new house!!! (Fancy link for those that haven't seen the picture yet)
66 days until my 26th birthday (might as well throw this one in here)
131 days until Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim is released (I'm only slightly geeking out over it... Really, only the teensiest little bit)
136 days until Megan's 2nd birthday.
137 days until Cadence's 3rd.
(While we're at it, I should backtrack and say 129 days until our 4th wedding anniversary. Guess what my anniversary present is... Refer to the 131 day countdown if you need the reminder. Or maybe we'll make that James's present and I can get myself something pretty.)
At least 8 months (242 days) until Wheel of Time's final book is released and I become a bad mom while I ignore my kids for the 48 hours it'll take to read it (I'd say 24 hours, but let's be realistic, I do have two kids to watch here and the book will probably be close to 1000 pages). You can totally expect a little banner countdown thing added to my blog once the final release date is announced (just like last time). Again, only slightly geeking out here.
And 9 months until... just kidding.
:-)
12 days until Harry Potter & The Deathly Hallows Part 2 (which I will be unable to see in theater, drat)
13 days until we check out of our hotel, load up our car and begin our trek to Houston
15 days until we reach Houston and officially become Texans.
16 days until we get the key to our new house!!! (Fancy link for those that haven't seen the picture yet)
66 days until my 26th birthday (might as well throw this one in here)
131 days until Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim is released (I'm only slightly geeking out over it... Really, only the teensiest little bit)
136 days until Megan's 2nd birthday.
137 days until Cadence's 3rd.
(While we're at it, I should backtrack and say 129 days until our 4th wedding anniversary. Guess what my anniversary present is... Refer to the 131 day countdown if you need the reminder. Or maybe we'll make that James's present and I can get myself something pretty.)
At least 8 months (242 days) until Wheel of Time's final book is released and I become a bad mom while I ignore my kids for the 48 hours it'll take to read it (I'd say 24 hours, but let's be realistic, I do have two kids to watch here and the book will probably be close to 1000 pages). You can totally expect a little banner countdown thing added to my blog once the final release date is announced (just like last time). Again, only slightly geeking out here.
And 9 months until... just kidding.
:-)
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