I can’t believe I haven’t written for a month! After my last post, Andy and I enjoyed a two-day trip to Galveston to drop off Wesley and have a quick getaway before returning to the chaos of life and moving. It was really nice to be able to retrace our roots. I’m grateful to my in-laws for making this quick retreat possible. We ate at our favorite restaurants: Papadeaux’s for lunch, trip to Ikea, then a movie (Disclosure Day, weird but interesting), and then dinner at Ginger Thai (as good as I remember it). After dinner, we drove to Galveston, checked in and relaxed for the evening. The next day, we had breakfast at the hotel, went for a pedicure (Andy read his book), and met some friends for lunch: Geri and Hiromi. We ate at Shrimp and Stuff (deep fried seafood–a local favorite). I really loved catching up with them and hearing about our former ward and how everyone was doing. We love our new ward and Georgia, but Houston and Mission Bend ward will always hold a dear spot in my heart.
After lunch, we took a nap (this trip was as much about getting away as it was resting from the crazy summer we’ve had). For dinner we went to a place called The Spot. It was delicious. Andy got the alligator flatbread pizza and I got a salmon salad. After that, we headed to a ghost tour. It was a little creepy, but mostly a cool way to learn about history (although, I’ve learned it’s good to fact check the guides, because sometimes their facts are a bit off or embellished to add to the mystery of their stories. We learned about the industrial ammonium nitrate explosion in 1947. 581 people died from the explosion. It is said that the explosion could be felt all the way to Austin, Texas (215 miles away). We learned about “the great storm” in 1900 where more than 10,000 people lost their lives, making the cleanup nearly impossible. In fact, during Hurricane Ike many of the bones from the great storm were found on the beach and underneath ripped up trees. As one who’s been through two severe hurricanes (one with major wind damage, one with major flooding), I can almost imagine the horror these residents felt, and yet, with all the modern commodities (though many weren’t available during the second hurricane we faced), I know we didn’t suffer nearly as much as those during “the great storm.”
Wednesday morning, we tried out a local bakery that had the best croissants. I ordered a couple and shared one with Andy and one with my mother-in-law when we got back. One was a spicy spinach artichoke dip, a chocolate filled one (to die for), and a tomato, basil, goat cheese danish (amazing). I wished we had eaten there both breakfasts, because the first day was just free a la cart hotel food and this was such a treat.
Back at the farm, we played hard, worked hard. I helped around the house and loved on the horses. The kids helped with the chickens and goats and mowing. Harvey took care of the kitties, of course. After a lot of fun swimming, boating, and hanging out, we headed back to Georgia and jumped back into the up river swim of moving. Shortly after we got back, a plumbing problem we thought was fixed resurfaced (literally). Poop would pour out of the drain hole in the bathtub and shower. No amount of plunging would fix it and I ended up calling a plumber. $4000+ later and 8 holes in our walls, they found the problem and left, but not till after a weekend of waiting for them to come back to fix the problem and a flood from the washer during the wait. We ended up having some water leak down to Harvey’s room, so the ceiling will need to be repainted, but at least he didn’t have his new carpet yet. During all of this, Andy was busy ripping up tile in Harvey and Maverick’s rooms. I was busy hauling and moving stuff from the Palisade house (with a lot of help from Andy and my in-laws who lovingly drove back with their truck and helped us get almost all of the rest of the stuff at the Palisade house). Unpacking, sorting, donating, cleaning up, etc. We are worn out. After my in-laws left, I went to cook something in the oven and it literally caught fire. Luckily, turning it off stopped the fire. I waited for Andy to get home to see if it could be fixed. It could not. A new oven later and we’re back in business… We expected some expenses when we moved, but these were a surprise. We’ll be fine though because Andy’s been working like crazy. Poor guy. This past weekend, I painted Harvey’s room and Maverick’s and then Monday we got carpet. We set up their rooms just in the nick of time for school to start Tuesday. The kids are riding the bus (Max rides his bike). This saves me a ton of time so I’ve been able to get a lot done this week since they’ve been at school. I cleaned up the dust from all the tile removal with a mop and a rag, unpacked a ton of boxes this week, sorted through some more, and painted my office/art room. We still have more we want to do, but I’m starting to feel more settled in. The palisade house is nearly empty (we just have the attic and some stuff in the garage). Then it’s just a matter of cleaning it up and repairing a few things and we can rent it out. Since the carpet was installed, we’ve still be plenty busy, but the pace has slowed down a bit, which means I’ve been able to take some time to do yoga, go on a walk around our new neighborhood and hit a weightlifting class. The kids had a bunch of friends over this weekend (I’ve been saying, “next week” almost the whole summer, so I decided I better do it even with holes in our walls and boxes decorating our rooms, before it’s too cold to swim and people are too busy with sports to come.
Having all the kids over was a little bit of work, but it wasn’t too crazy since there is plenty for the kids to do here. It makes it easier to host playdates when I don’t feel like the kids are in my space as much.
Harvey’s new room! He loves it, but is trying to overcome fears of sleeping alone (something he’s never had to do before) 
Mav’s new room! 
Harvey found out that if I’m busy enough and Andy’s on night shift, I’ll let him sleep on Andy’s side as long as he goes to bed and lets me get back to what I was working on. 
Beverly seems to like her new school and is already making new friends. 
Max likes his new school, but misses his friends. He never talks about any friends besides Tripp and Charlie, so if he means more than those two, I’ll never know. 
Harvey loves his new school and teacher, but he may be a bit confused because he said one kid from his old school is at this school, but not his class, but I’m pretty sure he’s not… but the schools have the exact same layout, so he may think he’s still going to the same school! 
I love baking and cooking in my new kitchen. I’ve made two sourdough loaves this week. The first turned out OK, the second was great! 
There is so much cooking space in this kitchen. This morning I was putting together a crockpot dinner, getting a sourdough bread ready to bake, and making discard pancakes. It was a little chaotic, but not because of the space–mostly because my kids kept asking me questions while I had three recipes running through my head. 
There are boardwalks throughout the neighborhood and the vegetation along the walks is gorgeous! 
And the wild life! We see deer every evening around 4 o’clock eating in our neighbor’s yard. We also have a resident owl in our yard. 
Bev’s made a new friend, but Afton is still her bestie.