We left early in the morning on Tuesday, April 11th. We flew in and went to a friends' house to pick up a borrowed pack n play and to visit with their kids who are about the same ages as our girls. We ate dinner at Jason's Deli, came back to our house and got the kids to bed and went to sleep.
For those that don't know what's going on...we have a house we kept in Texas thinking we would be going back this summer, but now we are getting ready to sell it since we will be moving somewhere else in California.
Wednesday...in the morning while Claire was napping, I took Olivia to the neighborhood park and after that, our old realtor came by for us to interview. Since we are going through the company relocation, we have to interview 3 realtors. A painter came by to give us an estimate to paint the nursery and we had window washers/power washers come clean the windows and outside of the house. After eating Chick Fil-A lunch, we went to a friend''s house so the kids could play. They have a ...ummm...very different parenting style than us. I walk in and her 3 year old son is riding a bike in the house. I didn't see any outdoor toys outside so maybe they use the outdoor toys inside??? Also, they have a couple of those Little Tikes playhouses in the play room and the mom watched as her 3 year old climbed on the roof and jumped off onto a kid's couch. I was stunned to say the least! Am I that overprotective? I didn't allow Olivia to climb up there for fear of breaking bones. Is this something other moms would allow? Please tell me if I'm being overprotective. Meanwhile, my husband interviewed another realtor. Then for dinner we met a friend of mine and her family at Rainforest Cafe, the kids had fun.
Thursday morning, we went to our neighbors to visit and she lent us a basket of toys. Then a friend of mine came by to pick up Olivia and I to go to the outlet mall to shop and for lunch, we ate at Johnny Rockets. Claire was supposed to nap, but my husband got her up thinking she napped and she didn't. He met with the 3rd realtor then met us at the mall for lunch. I got to buy 3 pair of new shoes! And I bought Olivia 2 dresses and the girls matching nighties and I bought Claire some cute sandals. Grandma and Grandpa (my husband's parents) drove down from Dallas to watch the girls and help us get the house ready to go on the market. Then my husband went to a Bachelor party and a friend of mine is picked me up to go to the Bachelorette party.
I was looking forward to the Bachelorette party because they were having dinner at Pappasito's....yummm, I was really wanting some good fajitas, chips and salsa and margarita's. I only managed to drink 1 margarita, it was called a wave. It was a frozen margarita with sangria swirled in. Afterward, we were forced to go to La Bare, a strip club. My ride (fortunately) had to get home early so we only stayed about 1/2 an hour...thank God! It was so gross, I can't even describe it. The whole place felt dirty. Well, I guess that's what the Bride wanted to do.
Friday we were going to drive to Brenham to get pictures taken in the bluebonnets (state flower of Texas)...it's a rite of passage for all Texans. Then we were going to go on a tour at the Blue Bell creamery...the best ice cream in the country. Well, we scrapped that plan because the bluebonnets were pretty much gone, which I was sad about. My friend says the best time for pictures is about the 3rd week of March. April 14th was just too late, we just missed the boat.
So we just did things around the house and we all went to lunch at Double Dave's pizza, they have great pizza and the girls were quiet while eating and watching Dora on their tv. Later in the afternoon, my husband and I went to a rehearsal for the wedding, he is the Best Man. They planned to have the wedding in the Rose Garden at Hermann Park in Houston, it was a really nice setting. Afterward, they had the rehearsal dinner at P.F. Chang's. There was so much food! It was family style and they kept bringing more out. It was nice that Grandma and Grandpa watched the girls while we did all this, it was so much easier not having to chase them around and worry about feeding them!
Saturday, the 15th, we all went to eat at the breakfast buffet at Luby's where the girls ate for free. It really wasn't too bad. I remember going to Luby's on Sundays after church with my own grandmother, I just loved to go! They used to give out coloring books with pictures of Texas landmarks. It's cafeteria style so it's nice for kids, but, you know, the food isn't high quality.
After breakfast, we had an Easter egg hunt in the backyard. It was beautiful weather and Olivia loved finding all the eggs. Claire found 1 egg, sat down, and turned it over and over in her hands trying to figure out how to open it. We helped her open it, she was just happy with the one egg, but Olivia shared the eggs she found with Claire, too.
I then put Claire down for a nap at 11am so she would be rested for the wedding at 3:30pm, we had to be there at 2:30pm though. I went to do some shopping, but I think someone got Claire up too soon and she didn't nap. We dressed the girls and left the house about 1:30pm.
I brought lots of things for the girls in my backpack, toys, workbooks, snacks to keep them happy during the wedding. It was hot, but bearable, at least there was a breeze. Olivia liked seeing all the 'brides'...I had to explain there was only 1 Bride and the others were her friends. After the ceremony when the bridesmaids and groomsmen had to walk down the aisle, Olivia turned to me and said "Mommy, Daddy just got married to that lady!" Isn't that too funny! I told her Daddy is already married to Mommy, he was just walking with the lady.
The couple that got married have a girl about 2 months younger than Claire. Olivia loved playing with her and said she was her friend. She got upset when they took her away to take pictures with everyone.
After the ceremony, they had the reception at Maggiano's. They had planned an appetizer buffet, open bar and sit down family style dinner. They also had a DJ. It was a very nice reception. The Bride's cake was beautiful and delicious. The Groom's cake was very interesting, it was chocolate and in the shape of a mountain with a road going up. On top, the Bride found a cake topper that had a bride and groom on bicycles. It was also very tasty. They are really into cycling, the Groom has even taken a tour of parts of the Tour de France while on vacation.
After the cake cutting and the toasts (and my husband gave a phenomenal toast to the couple), they presented a slideshow with pictures of them growing up. That was pretty funny, everyone would say, oh, that's the 70's, oh, look at that 80's hair, etc. Then they had the traditional dances of the Bride and Groom, then everyone was invited to dance. Olivia loved to get out there and dance and ended up dancing with one of Daddy's friends. At this point, Claire started laying down on the floor, she was soooo tired! It was time to go home! They crashed in the car.
The next day was Easter, so we went to our old church. I saw a couple of moms from our neighborhood at church, too. It was kind of weird going back, it seemed so big, it's about twice as big as our church in California. The service was also alot more formal than our church in California. Afterward, we met my mother and brother for brunch at a local hotel. It was pretty good, they had an Easter bunny roaming around and they had a small petting zoo outside. Olivia even got to hold a bunny and Claire pet some goats. Towards the end, Claire had a complete meltdown, the lack of naps and deprived sleep finally got to her. I was trying to hold her while she was writhing and screaming and while I was trying to pay for the brunch. Needless to say, they both took naps in the car.
While they took naps, I went to visit a friend of mine at The Women's Hospital. She was on bedrest in the hospital since December and she finally had her baby the day before Easter. She lost twins last year just before Easter, so I am so happy they get to take a baby home this time. She had a difficult recovery and the baby, he had fluid in his lungs so he was in the level II NICU for a couple of days. He is so cute and I am so thrilled for them!
After I visited with them for a little while, I went back to our house as we planned to go to dinner to celebrate my father-in-law's birthday. We went to Babin's seafood restaurant. It's a cajun style restaurant. They always have the freshest seafood, too, I think it's a great restaurant.
Now this is the point where I have had just too much food, I think we should call this trip..."The Tast of Texas" trip because it seems like all we did was eat. Btw, there really is a restaurant in Houston called "The Taste of Texas". I kind of got sick after eating at Babin's.
Of course that didn't stop us!
Monday on the 17th, Grandma and Grandpa loaded up their van with a few things we had left in our house and drove back to Dallas that morning. My husband, the girls and I loaded up the rental car and headed to our hotel near the Galleria. We stayed at the Bradford Suites. It was a really great hotel. We had the bedroom and bathroom in one side that could be closed off, the other had the kitchen, desk, pullout couch and we borrowed a crib from the hotel. The girls could sleep in one room and we had a room for ourselves. In the afternoon, I took Olivia to the Houston Museum of Natural History/Science so Claire could take a nap. We had a great time, she really enjoyed the newer hands on activities down stairs. I don't remember the museum having that when we lived there.
Monday night, we had yet another dinner with friends at Pappadeaux's. It worked out well since there were 12 of us total with kids, they put us in their wine room. It secluded the rest of the restaurant from the noisy kids! It's another cajun seafood restaurant. I got something lighter this time. I split the Greek salad and the mixed seafood skewers with someone else. Oh, I forgot, we did get dessert, some kind of chocolate mousse cake, it was really good, but I split that with my husband.
Tuesday, we had to head to the house and hang out there because we had a painter coming to paint Olivia's old nursery. I'll post before and after pictures whenever I get my pictures on our computer. After Claire took a nap, I took the girls to the local outlet mall for more shopping and for lunch. After spending some time there, I headed back to the house. They both fell asleep, but of course, Olivia woke up the minute I got her out of her car seat. At least Claire took a nap. After the painter finished late in the afternoon, we packed up what was left and said goodbye to the first house we built together. It was the house where Olivia took her first steps and made her first friends...can you tell I'm getting a little weepy?! As my husband says, it's just one of many houses that we will live in.
On the way to the hotel, we ended up at Pappasito's for dinner...I just couldn't get enought of their food! I ended up ordering a kid's meal for myself which worked out perfectly, it was Taco al Carboon. and the girls shared the kids' quesadillas.
Wednesday, my husband got a ride to his company's office from the hotel transportation after he packed up the car. The girls and I stayed in the room for a bit longer for Claire to take a morning nap. Then we checked out of the hotel and headed for the Children's Museum. They had a blast. We played outside in the water, looked at the Global Shoes and Access Ability exhibits. Then we went to the tot spot (for toddlers). Then we had some lunch in their cafe. Afterwards, they did some face painting and we headed over to the market to pretend shop and then to the Mexican village. After all that we went back to the tot spot so Claire could have fun, too. Claire was especially having a fun time in this section because everything was just her size. Olivia made a little friend so she was happy too...until...it was time to say goodbye. She had a complete meltdown, I took them to the restroom and she was screaming, crying, with tears pouring down her face making the face paint run down her face and onto her shirt. It was time to go. I managed to get her to go potty and forced her into the stroller.
We headed over to pick up my husband from his company's office and then we went to visit a friend of his and headed to the airport. We arrived at the airport really early so we could take our time and then get something to eat before boarding our flight. We finally arrived back in California about midnight...whew, that was some whirlwind trip, huh?!
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