Back Online

The Internet guy just left, so I'm back in business. I've got awake babies, the cable guy here working, and a million boxes to unpack so I'll update tonight after I get the kids in bed. And by the way, this snow situation is unbelievable to a Texas girl like me!

#5

Jason, JR, and I have lived in 5 houses in 7 years. That's 5 houses. I'm not counting apartments/other people's homes/hotel rooms we've occupied between major moves. I know Jason and I are always doing something "crazy", but 5 houses in 7 years is crazy even for us!
House #1- August 2001-December 2003- Katy, Texas
I have better pictures of this house (and us, ugh!) but this is the only one I had on my computer. Look at little week old JR. If he only knew how we'd drag him all over the world...


House #2-January 2004-January 2006-Beijing, China
Jason picked out this house without me. It was so big that we could never get it warm in the winter. The water was actually frozen in the toilet bowl the first time I went there. During the winter we only lived upstairs except to run down and eat in the kitchen (and then we would wear our coats). But I loved the location of this house, we were the last on the street (so no cars) and only a few steps from the clubhouse.


House #3-February 2006-November 2006 -Beijing, China
We moved just around the corner from our first Beijing house and only lived there a short time, but we loved that house more than any other house we have ever had. It was smaller (and warmer) than our first one and was a perfect floor plan. We have so many fun memories from that house!


House #4- April 2007-December 2008-Houston, Texas
The babies first house! A perfect yard for birthday parties; a terrible yard for hurricanes!


House #5-January 2009-? Durango, Colorado
Well, First time I've lived in a house where the ground is covered in 5 feet of snow!

Durango Move IN Day

So after the fiasco about the driver worrying his truck would get stuck, guess what happened this morning? Yep, it did. It started snowing this morning and of course, he got stuck trying to make it down the street to our house. Here are just a few of my observations about the whole truck situation:
1. If the driver had left Houston when he was supposed to we would have gotten our things yesterday (when they were promised) on a beautiful, sunny day.
2. I'm not an 18-wheeler driver, but if I was heading to Durango, Colorado I would bring more than 1 (that's right, ONE) tire chain.
3. 18-wheeler drivers are REALLY good at backing up.
While the truck was stuck it was blocking the whole street plus one of our neighbors' driveways. What a great way to start off as the new family on the street. We might as well have put up a sign in our yard saying: "Hey, sorry to block the whole street. And guess what? We also don't eat organic, we don't drive a hybrid, and we voted for McCain!" Actually, everybody was really great about the whole thing. They all told stories about getting stuck when they moved in, and were quick to introduce themselves and come say 'hello'...maybe Duragno isn't so different from Houston after all.
Even with the snow and getting stuck, the day turned out just fine. The truck driver went and bought 2 more tire chains (3 chains for 18 wheels?) but it worked and he was soon unstuck...let the unloading begin!

Durango Move Day 4

Jason talked to the guy driving our 18 -wheeler full of stuff today and he said he's nervous about getting stuck. The main roads are clear, but the road in front of our house is covered with a thin layer of packed snow. It hasn't snowed here in a week, so Jason informed him that if he doesn't think these conditions are good, he might as well wait until March. (Insert full Jason Ingersoll sarcasm into that last sentence.)

Hunter isn't sure what to think about the snow. Although he's had no problems whatsoever making himself at home in the hotel. We bought him a little dog coat today (all the dogs here are wearing them), so here he is enjoying both hotel luxury and Durango doggy fashion.

It was a beautiful day today and we were able to spend most of the day without a coat (the locals were walking around in shorts). But as soon as it gets dark, the temperature really drops. The babies are really good sports about being so bundled up!

Durango Move Day 3

We had a super fun time New Year's eve with Jay and Sheryl, and JR had tons of fun with their kids. We pulled out this morning and headed toward Durango. We stoped in Roswell, NM for lunch where I took some great alien pictures. I also had some great pictures of JR and the Parker kids, but while downloading my pictures from the camera, I had some technical difficulties and lost all of them. Hummmm, technical difficulties, or alien powers? Roswell certainly plays up their alien "heritage", which I found quite amusing. After pit stops and a dinner stop we pulled into Durango about 8:30 PM mountain time. We are staying at the Double Tree awaiting our things. Everybody is asleep but me, so I think that's my cue to head for bed too!

Durango Move Day 2

We pulled into Midland on Tuesday night about 7:30. Midland isn't on most people's site-seeing short list, but it was on mine. My excitement about going to this one ranks right up there just under the Great Wall...Check out the smile on my face!

Midland has done a great job restoring the home to just the way it was in the 1950's. It's a very small house, but they have a tour guide that takes you through and gives lots of details and history. Leave it to JR to have the comment of the day. While we were touring he asked everybody: Is he still the president now?

Me/Jason: Yes! President Bush is still the President.

JR: But I thought Oklahoma was President?

Me/Jason: What? Oklahoma?

JR: Yes, I thought Oklahoma was the President now.

Me: Oh! Do you mean Obama?

Laughter all around

Later on in the tour...

Tour Guide: President Bush is the 3rd left handed President in a row, and we will continue to have a left handed President since Oklahoma is also left handed.

Durango Move Day 1

The house was emptied and the truck was loaded by 7:00 P.M. Monday night. We pulled out and headed for the Lost Pines Resort in Bastrop. We got there about 9:15 and left at 1:00 the next day so I don't have lots of details, but from the few hours I was there I can highly recommend it. They had a huge Christmas tree in the lobby and I took this super cute picture of the kids. I took it while Jason was packing up the car. 2 ladies were reading books by the fireplace and obviously we were way more entertaining than their books since they sat there and laughed at me trying to take this picture. I just can't imagine what they found so amusing...

Picture attempt #1: JR drops Kyle. Reed is surveying how many things he can grab off the tree.

Picture attempt #2: Kyle crawls away, Reed still busy picking out which ornament he is about to rip off the tree. Picture is blurry since I was in mid leap to catch Kyle, I then had to go wrestle a Christmas ornament out of Reed's hand.

Picture attempt #3- Reed has now escaped, nowhere to be seen in camera view. Kyle is selecting his Christmas ornament to snatch off the tree. JR is laughing that Reed has crawled off.

Picture attempt #4- JR has them both trapped, but Kyle is still wanting to pull off an ornament, or the whole tree on top of him...either would be fine.

Picture attempt #5- Everybody looking at the camera! That's a wrap!

Movin On Out

We are hoping we'll be all loaded up by tomorrow afternoon. We are spending the night in Bastrop tomorrow night and then heading over to Midland to spend a few days with our friends, Jay and Sheryl. Weather permitting we plan to be in Durango by the 1st, and weather permitting we have been promised our stuff "by the 5th". It was earlier promised to us "by the 2nd", but as of today they changed their story. You can imagine how excited we were about that little change. I will keep you updated best I can, not sure what my internet situation will be for awhile, so keep checking back...

Somewhat Roughing It

I'm low on stories to entertain you with today. We're semi roughing it around here since we have 1 TV, no washer/dryer, and no fridge. Our necessities are in a big pile in the kitchen floor. It would be great if we could leave today, but this moving situation almost feels like we're back in Communist China since it seems everybody has a different job, and can ONLY do THEIR job. The guys yesterday packed, but didn't pack any furniture, take things out of drawers, or touch anything in the attic. Today's crew crated our flat screen, unhooked the waterline from the fridge, and unhooked the washer/dryer. No crews work on Sunday, so tomorrow we'll be hanging out until the Monday crew comes and packs up the rest of our stuff and loads everything on the truck. I will say this has been our easiest move so far. When packing for China I had to make 3 piles:
1. things going into storage (things I wouldn't see for 3 years)
2. things going to China (that I wouldn't see for a month)
3. a month's worth of necessities that we could pack and take with us
Moving back to Houston I had 2 piles:
1. things going to Houston (that I wouldn't see for 6 months since our house wasn't finished)
2. things going to Houston that I would need in the next 6 months that I could pack
The Durango move pales in comparison:
1. pull a weeks worth of clothes and the bottles for the babies
So easy it's almost scary!