Christmas 2010

Just a few pictures of the fun morning!

Moved to Helotes Texas

We've moved! We now live at 9711 Diamond Cliff Dr. Helotes, TX. When we moved to Texas we didn't have a place to stay and were in a hotel until we found a place. We only had 8 days that Southwest Research would pay for the nice hotel and it was Thanksgiving. We needed to find a rental fast! We had plans to meet up with a Realtor the day after we arrived so we could find a place that day in order for our background checks to go through before Thanksgiving but at the continental breakfast both Raelyn and Ella threw-up everywhere. Welcome to Texas. Sorry people who were sitting next to us! We didn't really have a choice. We had to get a rental that day so even though they threw up a time or two more each, we prayed and put them in the car. We looked at several rentals but since I didn't know the area we stayed in the Helotes area. All were pretty expensive but we found one that was the cheapest and looked like the floor plan would work for our family. Since the kids were outside sick in the car we just ran through the house quickly. We didn't try faucets, the garage door, or look in cupboards. Our mistake!
When we moved in the day before Thanksgiving and opened cupboards we realized the place was filthy. There was all sorts of trash in the cupboards. They had someone clean the surfaces so it didn't look bad but when you opened the cupboards your hand stuck them because all of the sticky messes! Yuck! We spent the whole first day cleaning not unpacking! I was 7+ months pregnant with Bryce and was exhausted when we finally started unpacking that night at midnight. We had movers pack up all our belongings in Florida and they had touched all of our clean dishes so before putting them away I decided to run them through the dishwasher. When we opened the dishwasher up we found it with a few inches of standing water and filthy. Covered in green mold! YUCK! At this point my feet were killing me and the landlord was off for the 5 day holiday weekend. They had closed down at noon the day we moved in. Larry and I looked at each other and decided to just start the dishwasher empty to see if it would clean itself. We then sat down and put our weary feet up. About 3 minutes later Larry hears water running and we run into the kitchen only to find nasty green water pouring out of the dishwasher onto the kitchen floor and into all of our kitchen boxes! AAAAAUGH! We stayed up until 2 a.m., first finding the boxes with towels, then cleaning up the water and lastly emptying the wet boxes. Pregnant, I was soooo tired. I finally got into the shower at 2:30 but when I went to hang up my towel the towel rack fell to the ground with my clean towel. :(. No, worries there is another towel rack in the other part of the bathroom. I hung it up there and jumped in the shower. After showering I went to retrieve my towel and the upwards force on the rack made it topple to the ground! Really! By this time we were laughing to keep ourselves from crying. There is an 80's movie called the Money Pit. A couple buy this beautiful house and it ends up falling apart and costing them a fortune. We realized that we had moved in to the money pit!! Glad it wasn't our money pit! In the first week of moving in, the garage door collapsed on itself twice, we found that the cold water didn't work in the kids bathroom, there was a whole in the kids shower letting water into the wall behind it, and squirrels lived in the attic. Oh, I was glad we didn't own that house and glad it was a short term rental! But, what a rough beginning to moving into a new town.

Nov. 6-7th 2010 Trip back East.

On the 6th we met up with my brother Aaron, My sister Liann, and her friend Bryce in D.C. We went on the Metro- a much more enjoyable experience in DC- and went to the Air and Science Musuem. After which, we had lunch and then started back towards home. We stoped the next day in Savanah, Georgia before making it home on the night of the 7th.

Nov. 4-5, 2010 New York

On the next day of our trip we decided to drive (I decided and Larry obliged) into the city to chek out the Metropotin Museum of Modern Art. My faovirite was seeing the Pacasos, Monets, Van Gogh, and Pollacks. Being in the same room with such amazing pieces of art was cool. The Larry loved the armor section. The kids loved the armor as well but also loved the ancient Egypt area, but were most excited about getting home early to play with thier cousins.

On our last day of New York we toured the Natural History Museum and saw Dum-Dum from Night at the Museum. He's famous there and we had to wait in line to get a picture with him. My favorite was the HUGE blue whale. When I taught first grade I taught about how big Blue Whales are but until you actually see the size it's hard to even imagine. From there we fought NY trafic and made it back to Washington DC.

Nov. 2 - 3, 2010,New York

The kids were anxious to go to New York to see their cousins. We made it to the Lindbergs on Tuesday night and kept them up way too late for a school night!

On Wednesday we decided to go to the Bronx Zoo and Time Square. The plan was to drive to the Bronx Zoo and park by the east entrance. We were going to check out the north section of the zoo while walking from the east side of the zoo to the west side where the subway station is. From there we were going to take the subway to Time Square, check out Time Square and take the subway back to the zoo. We were going to take a quick look at the south side of the zoo while walking back to our car of the east side.

All started out as planned. We parked at the zoo and saw the apes and other creatures in the Bronx zoo. We made it to the subway station and on the way Larry found out what train to take. It was either the 2 or the 5- I didn't pay much attention because I was feeding kids lunch. I had never been on the subway before so I had no clue what he was even talking about. Larry served in the New York North Mission and was a subway station pro. As we were walking to the station, I realized that the Bronx is a rough area. I felt a little nervous. I was glad Larry was there and that I was not alone.

When we got to the station my pregnant feet were already getting a little tired and I could tell Raelyn and Ella were tired as well so instead of taking the stairs I stepped a few feet away from Larry and went up the escalator. When I got up I found that Larry, Megan and Caden had already gotten on the train. I bent down to scoop up Raelyn and grabbed Ella by the hand but when I looked up again the train doors were already closing. I was too late. My face must have registered the horror that I was feeling because the man next to Larry was laughing.

OK, so here I was in the Bronx alone with no clue what to do. We had forgotten the charger so my cell phone was out of batteries, but that wouldn't have helped much anyways because Larry just got a new cell phone and I couldn't remember his phone number and I didn't have my sister, Jana's, phone number memorized either. What should I do? Which train did he take? Where is Time Square? I realize that there is no way that I would be able to go to the same part of Time Square as Larry to find him there. Will he come back to get me? While my mind is racing to try to think of what to do, Ella starts crying and asks, "Will we ever see Daddy again?" I answered, "Of, course we'll see him again!" But, finished in my head, "I have no clue how but we will." I try to explain my situation to the nicest looking person there and ask if she has a cell phone I could use for just a minute. I think I remember some of Larry's cell number. She doesn't speak English. No one offers to help. I'm trying to formulate a plan when Ella starts to sing, "My Family Can Be Together Forever." She sings away while I come up with this pathetic plan. I'm going to take whatever train comes next. If Larry is not at the next stop waiting for me I'm going to turn around and come back. I'll walk to the van and wait for him there if I don't see him before then. I try to comfort the girls while not loosing it myself. The #2 train comes- I hope it is the one Larry toke and get on. Sure enough he's at the next stop!!! Yea! We make it to Time Square together! Now, I'm stuck to him like glue! While walking around Caden turns to me and asks, "Do they have an eagle on their money too?" He thinks we are in a different country. I smiled because it feels pretty dang foreign to me too! We looked around the Toys R' Us and walk around a little before heading back to the subway station. This time it's getting pretty close to rush hour and the subway is packed. Larry gets on and I'm determined not to leave anyone behind (including myself). I shove Caden on and push myself into the crowd but I'm just too dang huge with my preggo belly and a backpack on. The door kept closing on me. I finally wiggle my way out of the backpack and the door closes. Phew, we are all on, although Raelyn is somewhere under my belly where I can't see her. I can feel her. :) When the crowds start to thin I start to get worried that the zoo may close before we get there. It's after 4:30 and the zoo closes at 5:00- or is it 5:30. I get out the map only to realize that as of November 1st the zoo went to winter hours and closes at 4:00. Oh, dang! The zoo is closed! The station that we got on at the zoo is half way up the west side of the zoo. We figure that if we get off on the stop just south of the zoo we will save ourselves some walking. Instead of walking south, then east, then north again on the other side of the closed zoo to our car, we will walk just east and north, saving our tired feet. We are trying to figure this all out when we get to the stop we think we need. We go ahead and get out. We start walking but get turned around and have no clue where the zoo is. I'm tired and am determined to call the first cab that I see. There are no cabs in the Bronx- at least none in this area. We are all exhausted and it's getting dark. We asked a man for directions and he explained that we are still several miles from the zoo, but points out the bus station. When the bus comes we asked the driver if he goes to the zoo. He says it's closed. Thanks. We explained that we still had to get there and he says he does. We almost get off early but a kind woman stops us. By the time we get to the zoo it's late. We see that the first parking lot is already closed. Even though Larry has a bum knee, I'm pregnant and we have four kids in tow we start to run. All of the zoo parking lots we pass are either being locked or are already locked up. Aaaahhhh. We are going to be stuck here! We finally get to the right parking lot and it is miraculously still unlocked but the security guard stops us. When we point to our van and tell her that is our ride home she lets Larry run and get it. She then explains how lucky we are. She tried to lock the gate but someone had closed the lock on the open gate and she didn't have a key for it. She was waiting for the key. It came just as we were getting in our car. Heavenly Father was watching out for us! We made it home safely!

Looking at the Gorrillas in the Bronx Zoo.

All of us on the subway together. Yea!

Time Square Nov. 3, 2010

Washington D.C. (Day 2)

On Tuesday we spent the morning looking around the Washington memorial and Lincoln memorial.

The Lincoln Memorial was my favorite. While there you can't help but feel the spirit of Abraham Lincoln and be greatful for this great nation we live in!

On our way out of town we stopped by the Postal Museum. That was another favorite. It was fun to see the history and all of the postage stamps. We even bought a package of stamps to start our own collection.

Washington DC

Aunt Liann fed us a wonderful dinner and we were able to hang out with her and Uncle Aaron on Sunday night. It was great of them to sacrafice thier Halloween night to hang out with us. Monday, Nov. 1st we spent the day in D.C. We first went to the Natural History Museum where they had real baleen to feel.

Megan was chosen to demonstrate how to touch the baleen. Then we all got to feel it.

We saw lots of neat statues and the White House. Unfortunatly, since it was a last minute trip we were not able to go inside. Seeing where the President lives was cool!