Finally, We Explored!

Houston is HUGE. There is so much to do with kids that I can’t help but LOVE this Texas-sized city. The first place we visited was the renowned Children’s Museum, and it is worthy of its notoriety! We spent HOURS there and Bo still cried when we left. He was truly enamored by all the stuff to explore.

Thanks to Uncle J and Auntie Suzanne, we can go there anytime we want with our gifted membership!!! I wish I had some better pics, but Bo gets so crazy with excitement there that the camera phone stays in the stroller.

The second spot we explored was the Houston Zoo. We loved it so much we bought an annual membership, and we go there a few times a week. The best part is that it’s right behind Rice University, so I can run there with the stroller and get in a workout as well! Win-win for the Argenal’s during these long nap-less days for Bo.

Elephant bath-time is one of our favorite events. The elephants seem to love it and occasionally they let lucky kiddos scrub them down. We are still waiting for Bo’s invite.

Houston Zoo is the home to a lot of endangered animals, and they have amazing signage telling the rescue stories of a lot of the animals there. I must admit, it’s shocking and a little heart-wrenching to learn about the vast decline of so many wild and exotic animals. : (

The rarest animal in the Houston Zoo is Blanco, the white Alligator; he is only 1 of 14 in existence in the world!

The zoo might just have one of the the coolest cafés in Houston; they serve healthy food choices and you get to munch on lunch next to Giraffes, a crazy Ostrich, and a few spirited Zebras. WAY COOL for kids!

LOVE THIS PIC!

House-Bound Blues!

After 1 week of my nonstop, dawn-dusk unpacking and cleaning in our new Texas abode, Bo is sending me not-so-subliminal messages:

MOM, YOU ARE CRAZY! PUT DOWN THAT BOX AND LOOK AT MY PLEADING FACE…

Ace on the other hand is still pretty satisfied for the day if he has a ball and food.

I’m so not good at stopping in the middle of unpacking and letting boxes be. I feel so unsettled at night if I know I can barely walk into the kitchen in the morning without falling over boxes. But I have two kid-lets now that surely need some fresh air. AND considering that I see a mirror when I look at this comic below, I surely need to get out as well:

So, I promise, Bo, we will EXPLORE!

Tomorrow.

BABY STEPS!

On August 24th, this one-year-old started steppin’!!!!

It was exactly 3, beautiful, wobbly lil’ steps before the big crash, but it was awesome! The whole FAM got to see it. BEST.NIGHT.EVER.

Congrats, my lil’ chunk of love. We are so proud of you.

Like New

The moving truck picked up almost everything Bo loves with his heart and soul (TOYS, of course) on August 4th.

The reunion on August 22nd was epic.

It was like Christmas morning all over again; they were ripping through the open toy chest and screaming and giggling. HILARIOUS! 

Shockingly enough, I got a WHOPPING 20 minutes of free-time to start unpacking, before they got bored and decided the bubble-wrap on all the dishes was more fun. Gotta love BOYS.

Goodbye, Residence Inn!

The moving company called to say they’d be a day earlier than the 23rd, a.k.a only 8 days late now. WOO HOO!

In my attempted run today, Ace got quite fired up. So Bo reached over and started rubbing his neck (yes, at first I thought he was trying to choke him). I asked him what he was doing and he said, “I’m giving Acer a massage, Momma, cause he’s stressed.”

Obviously, we are ALL looking forward to seeing EVERYTHING we own again, and sleeping in our own beds. And Bo has been listening too closely to Momma and Daddy discuss our recent stresses.

So later that night, I had to sneak in a few pics of these loving lil’ vagabond brothers in their last night of almost a month of not sleeping in their own beds.

Tomorrow, kiddos, our new life, in our new house, in our new city…truly begins!

The Big Move

Foreword:
I am generally a very optimistic person. I was most likely born this way, since it’s the only way my super-impulsiveness can express itself, and most importantly, a great accessory (aka coping mechanism) when you are married to a College Coach.

The day after my sister’s wedding we moved to a beautiful, little district in Houston, Texas called West University Place. Exciting, yes! Terribly emotional and a tad scary? YES and YES! But everything seemed to be going as planned:

We got the keys…

The house was ready for move-in and Bo was BEYOND ecstatic to have a room again…

but, Ladies and Gents, optimism can only get you so far when your moving truck is delayed…for…wait for it….9 #$$#%$# days. 9 days. N-I-N-E.

Am I being overdramatic?

Yes, OF COURSE, I AM. But nine MORE days in a tiny hotel room with an infant and a toddler in Houston…in the middle of August? Please note, we had already been living out of a suitcase since August 4th (yes, WEEKS). Oh, AND my husband who gives me a much needed break each day, was leaving on a Coaches’ retreat…PUT. A. FORK. IN. ME.

Nonetheless, us transients survived. And I apologized (after a few days) for retreating into un-optimistic-Hannah-ville (scary place, do not enter), because three little things changed EVERYTHING:

#1: King Suite at the Residence Inn.

SPACE, SPACE, SPACE. This new suite with a bedroom meant that I would no longer have to hide in the bathroom binge-blogging for 3 hours a day while my children napped.

#2 West U Colonial Park Pool:

Ok, this may be the coolest “pool” EVER, and it’s just a short walk from our house. Optimism meter pointing up.

#3. A Reality Check Road-trip

I can’t unpack (where’s that da%n truck?), and I love exploring new places, so we met Daddy in Galveston on the last day of his retreat. Both kids slept during the drive, which meant I had time to think about how incredibly awful my life is…which means I fully realized how incredibly LAME I AM for thinking my life is hard.

Secondly, I realized my full-time job is to be the best parent I can to my little futures of the world, and I wasn’t pulling my weight. Optimistically speaking, we essentially have tons of free time to PLAY and EXPLORE while we wait for that darn truck. And we did.

Now, what to do for the next week? : )

Love + Family = WEDDING BLISS!

Our last weekend in California before the big move ended in one of my favorite cities: SAN DIEGO! The best part? The Turner Family, lots of old friends, and extended relatives were all in town for Molly (my sis) and Mike’s big “I Do’s.”

The wedding extravaganza started off with a beautiful rehearsal dinner at Charthouse in Cardiff…which thanks to Grandma Noreen, meant Gus and I got a special date-night sans kiddos.

The blissful newlyweds–to-be with the birthday boy, Luke (my darling nephew).

Afterwards, a few of us embraced the evening’s record-temps and played on the beach!

WEDDING DAY!!!

Seriously STUNNING!

TRULY, TRULY, the most beautiful bride and groom San Diego has ever seen!!!

Gus was absolutely AMAZING, and I felt so proud that he accepted the great honor to marry them during a super stress-full time in our lives.  He put so much time and effort into making it special and it showed. His performance was as close to perfectly genuine as one can be. It was an extremely personal ceremony; Turner sisters were all in TEARS!!!

The ranch-themed wedding was perfect for the EXCEPTIONALLY warm country night and an under-the-stars first dance.

And here’s a fabulous pic of the last dance…heehee.

Molls and Mike: you are the most gorgeous, most loving and compassionate, selfless couples I know. Mike, you are the LUCKIEST man alive. Molls, TG you could see beyond the dragon shirt. He’s a KEEPER.