Our First Week

In an attempt to catch up on blogging (over a month behind!), here are some photos from our first week in Houston.

After making the drive here, my parents stayed for a week to help us get settled.

We felt like tourist, doing all of the local sightseeing.

We had dinner at the Rainforest Cafe.  Houston has 3 locations!?

We shopped at a big outlet mall, and Walt enjoyed all of the rides.

Nothing like four grown adults standing around a merry go round to photograph one baby ; )

I love these photos.  Troy has never been shy about showing his affection for me.  Whether in a crowd of people, or just standing in line at the grocery store, he never holds back.

He's now the same with Walt, and it's precious.

He doesn't care how many people are watching....  he enjoys and loves his family with everything in him.

We enjoyed a visit to the boardwalk, where we had seafood on the bay....

....and again Walt enjoyed a few of the attractions.

Railroad by the sea....

We also spent a day on the water with a boat tour...

....and Walt's first trip to the ocean!

We also did lots of unpacking (and installing!),  ate lots of Tex Mex, and spent time at our pool...

....and then all too quickly...  the time came to say goodbye to Grandmom & Grandad.

Troy and I both keep waiting for this to get easier.

But being away from everything we know, and everyone we love is harder than we anticipated.

We're clinging to one another....  

..and what we know to be true.

Thanks for reading!

Love,

Kristin

Getting Here

I thought I should do a quick post about our trip here.  It's not every day that you move/drive across 4 states, and I want to remember it.

A photo from our last morning in Louisville...

Mimi came (at 6:30am!) to say goodbye and see us off....

Before the move, we had been living with Grandmom, Grandad and Aunt Kandice for 5 weeks.  Walt had his daily traditions that he would do with Kandice.  He loved to crawl/jump on her bed every evening before bedtime.  He loved to hide Louis the penguin from her.  It was a special time.

My strong (non emotional!) sister, who rarely lets anything upset her......  

broke my heart that morning.

And I of course know that Walt is oblivious to all of this.  He's too young to understand.  But by the look on his face....  you wonder if he too felt that there was something different about this last hug.

Saying goodbye to her was so very hard.

The weather was horrendous that morning.  It rained like I haven't seen it rain in a very long time.

But a few miles down I65, the rain stopped, and our journey was looking up.

The two day road trip there was actually very enjoyable.  Walt did beautifully (I'm still so proud of him!), we had zero traffic problems, and were able to just enjoy the time together.

My parents drove the moving truck, pulling Troy's car behind (bless their hearts), and Troy, Walt and I followed in my car.

We made several pit stops each day.  Though they only lasted long enough to stretch our legs, Walt loved them.  He would squeal with delight every time he saw his Grandmom, and usually fussed when we had to take him back.

We made it to the Arkansas/Texas border, and then stopped for the night...

Day two brought four more hours of travel....

...and sooner than I would have liked....   we arrived.

It arrived.

It, being a new adventure, a new chapter, a new bookmark in our story.

As we approached our new city, I remember feeling a lump in my throat.  

I took Troy's hand, and all he said was "I know."

He knew what I was feeling.  He was feeling it too.  A flood of different emotions.

I then looked in the rear view mirror, at my parents following close behind.  My heart was breaking for them too.

Life was about to look very different....

for all of us.