Texas Fun

We spent six weeks in Houston, reconnecting with friends, enjoying the glorious weather that is Texas winter, and visiting all our favorite places and restaurants. This is likely our last extended stay in Houston forever, and we are so thankful for all the wonderful friends that hosted us and made our last weeks memorable.

Thankfully, all of this happened before Covid-19 happened, so we were able to get out and enjoy parks, activities, libraries, etc. without worry. I couldn't find a preschool that would accept Emmeline on a part time basis, so instead she did swim lessons, soccer, and a science class at the children's museum. It was just enough to keep her busy, but still gave us lots of time for fun. We spent lots of time catching up with old friends, like Dalilis and Ransoms.

 

We started our time at the Ostrows, and the kids all had so much fun together. From forts and games to arts and crafts and outside time, we did it all! Since the kids are the same ages, there was a bit of bickering at times, but overall they all go along great, and it felt like one big party in the house!

 

Some of our outings included a trip to the zoo on a beautiful, cool morning, the new children's museum in the Woodlands, and the indoor playground at the Woodlands Church. We also took Emmeline to the indoor rock climbing wall, where she discovered a new passion and she scaled the BIG adult wall like it was no ones business!

 

Next, we moved to Kristy and Konrad's, which was probably the most ideal set up, we had the whole upstairs area, and the kids got along perfectly since they are all 2 years apart. Mila and Emmeline took to each other, and pretty much played on their own nonstop anytime Mila wasn't at school. They loved playing board games together, and Emmeline has become obsessed with games now. Maddox really took to Cora, and Cora thoroughly enjoyed someone paying her and only her attention! It wasn't uncommon that after dinner, the kids would all disappear until we had to drag them apart at bedtime! We enjoyed watching Maddox and Mila play soccer and eat lunch with them at school!

The girls also enjoyed their wonderful backyard filled with a playground and trampoline. Many hours were spent outside there!

  

 

The Woodlands really is set up perfectly for families, and given that the weather was so good, we made the most of it. We visited many parks, libraries, rode the trolley, and used our new bike trailer to get around. The trail system is awesome, and we were able to get anywhere we wanted by bike (sometimes just a little more work for me than others, ha!)

Our last week in Houston we went to stay in the Heights with Skee and Michelle. Despite almost everyone having pretty bad colds this week, we had a great time, and it was great to be able to spend an extended time with them. Hana loved seeing and playing with Cora and Emmeline every day, and we enjoyed exploring some areas of Houston we haven't spent as much time in. We rode the train at the zoo, discovered a cool part similar to Singapore ones, went to a kid-friendly brewery, and story time at the local library. And, Nick had his last day of work, woot!

We also had an impromptu, informal goodbye evening at the green space at Creekside, where we ordered pizzas from Crust and the kids just ran around in the green area for hours. It was a perfect way to say goodbye to so many friends. We will miss them all but know that we will see them again somewhere!