Update

Yea! We did not have to leave home after all. Fortunately for us, but unfortunately for Louisiana residents, Gustav looks like it won't be an issue for our area. I can't describe the relief of being able to stay home and not stress about potentially giving birth in a strange city, in a strange hospital, with an unknown doctor. It does make me aware of the families in our same circumstance who are having to evacuate. They are most definately in our prayers.

Edouard

So Mick took off work yesterday amid all the hype of Tropical Storm Edouardo possibly turning into a hurricane and aiming right for us. This is our first experience with this kind of weather and the excitement of all the preparations and uncertainty.

Mick spent well over eight hours in the sweltering 100+ degree heat and humidity finishing up our hurricane shutters and helping some neighbors to do theirs. It was a long and laborious day and when all was said in done, we sat entombed in our home, awaiting what has turned out to be a pretty lame rain storm.

Don't get me wrong, we are soooooo grateful for some cooler weather and for the fact that we won't have to water the lawn for the next week, but we are dreading having to unscrew all 376 pins to remove the shutters in the upcoming days. It was a good run through, though, as we now know that we have enough panels, pins, and bolts to secure the whole house in the event of a real hurricane.

Independence Day

Happy 4th of July! We had quite the plan to enjoy our holiday by our brand new community pool, but a huge rain storm had other ideas for us. Instead, we had a low-key afternoon and then went to a yummy cook-out at my sister's in-laws house. Thankfully the rain stopped in time to have a really enjoyable evening. After dinner, we headed home to roast s'mores and watch fireworks, which we could see clearly from our front yard. We set off a few fireworks of our own, but were totally put to shame by the ones our neighbors had. Fun this year, but I'm not sure how much we'll appreciate the close-proximity booms with a sleeping baby at home in '09!

San Antonio

Mick and I headed out to San Antonio this last weekend to visit our friends who recently moved there from California and to have a get-away before Cash gets here. What a treat to get to visit with Tania, Tobias and Elliot here in Texas! We are no longer the lone California rangers in the Lone-Star State.

We spent most of Saturday walking around the Riverwalk and visiting the Alamo. Although it was quite warm, we broke up the day by heading into the A/C whenever possible and resting at the hotel when needed. It was so handy to be staying in a hotel with direct access to the Riverwalk, especially with a pregnant lady and 5-month old in tow.

Father's Day

Here are some pictures from Father's Day. We had a pretty mellow day; we went swimming, fiddled around the house, and bar-b-qued in the evening. I think Mick really enjoyed being able to choose what we did without any complaining (or, as I call it, "discussion") from me. His favorite phrase for the day was, "I reserve the right to change my mind because it's Father's Day." Although it's been fun for both of us to celebrate these holidays, we're well aware that this is the freebee year. Next year, we will have truly earned the titles...and we can't wait!



Also, Mick has been busily "hurricane-proofing" our house. The builder provided us with hurricane shutters, but we are responsible for drilling the pins into the exterior of the home so that the shutters can be afixed to the windows. We had been quoted anywhere between $750 and $1000 for someone else to do the job, but capable as he is, my husband decided he would take on the task. Plus he got to buy new tools. What is better than that? Since we have somewhere around 31 windows/doors that need to be covered, with many of them requiring over 12 pins each, this is quite the project. He has pretty much finished the downstairs, which thankfully holds the majority of windows. Hopefully, the storms will hold off until it's all finished!

Our first visitors!

We've officially broken in the guest room. Our friends Scott, Kim, Madison and Savannah (otherwise known as our son's future wife) came out last week to visit while Scott attended a conference. Kim and I took Madison to the Houston Zoo on Thursday. The zoo itself was really enjoyable, but the heat and humidity found the two pregnant ladies wanting to hide out in the only air conditioning around - the bathroom. We spent the next couple of days laying low just trying to recover!

On Saturday evening, we all went down to the Kemah boardwalk to ride some rides and have dinner. They have live music on the weekends and this time it was something called Zydeco, which is like Cajun bluegrass. Right up our alley! Madison was sooo cute dancing to the music and I just couldn't resist joining in. It was really nice to have friends here as we are still very much in the process of making connections here.

A few hours after the Blands left, Mick's mom, Eileen, and her husband Roger arrived for a visit on their way across country. They brought along their dog Gidget who is due to deliver puppies any minute now. We've been watching her like a ticking time bomb. It's really funny because the whole thing weirds me out. We can see the puppies move in her belly and although I can watch my son do the same thing in my stomach, it totally freaks me out to see it on her. I know I'll have to go through this at the end of summer, but I just don't like to think about that part!



We went to the NASA Space Center on Monday and got to tour the NASA campus. We saw the old mission control room that they used when they landed on the moon, as well as the astronaut training facility. We even saw the new lunar rover that they will take up to the moon in 2020. It was really and interesting trip. It made me want to be an astronaut!

Today we headed down to Galveston Island to see the Titanic Exhibit at Moody Gardens. It was pretty neat to be able to see actual artifacts from the wreckage. We each received a boarding pass with the name and information of a real passenger from the ship at the beginning of the tour, and when you reach the end you get to find out whether or not you survived. Unfortunately, Eileen and Roger didn't make it, but my lady and her two sons did live. Whew!

Soooo tired of apartment living

We are winding down to our last nights at the apartments since we closed on our new house this morning (Yea!). It couldn't come soon enough either. The apartments themselves are decent enough but we experienced some interesting things last night that made us all the more anxious to leave.

First we took Bella out for a walk and were greeted by a cockroach crawling from the neighbor's apartment. Yuck! If there's one bug that Mick cannot stand, that would be it. It was pretty amusing - and loud - to see how Mick tried to kill it. It think we got it, but those suckers hold on to the last minute.

Then we were pleasantly walking around the parking lot when we couldn't help but notice that a ground floor bedroom window had its blinds partially up and a pair of feet sticking near the window. When Mick casually mentioned this to me, we realized that those feet were actually attached to a hairy, naked man whose bum was out for all the world to see! Of course, I found this hilarious and had to call my sister right away to share the story. I mean, come on! Close your blinds, man!

Anyway, as I mentioned, we did close and are officially homeowners once again. Tomorrow is a crazy day with something like 6 or 7 different deliveries/vendors scheduled throughout the day. I'm tired just thinking about it. I'll try to snap some pics and get them posted this weekend. Now, I just hope our new neighbors aren't exhibitionists...

Happy Easter!

Why do you look for the living among the dead? He is not here; He has risen! Luke 24:5-6

We had the pleasure in partaking in some Pena family fun this weekend as we celebrated Easter. We went to Reagan's in-law's for their annual Easter egg hunt and confetti battle. Holder and his cousin Lauren had a blast running around searching for the hidden eggs and everyone enjoyed smashing the confetti-filled eggs all over one another. Mick and I understand that we got off pretty easy and when Oscar is here next year, we should be prepared to have them smashed inside our clothing and down our pants. Ah, something to look forward to...

Last Wednesday evening we attended a very moving service at the church we've been going to that was heavily focused on Jesus' crucifixion. That heaviness has left us anxious to celebrate the miracle of His resurrection and salvation tomorrow. We hope you enjoy your Easter holiday!

Things we've discovered

1. The clouds move ridiculously fast out here. It doesn't matter if it's stormy or windy or calm - they speed across the sky like I've never seen before.

2. Good traffic control is hard to find. Apparently this area has a real shortage of traffic engineers because the lights are exceptionally long and it's clear that the population increased too rapidly for the roadways to keep up. It is a much slower pace.

3. The weather is best categorized as "schizophrenic." Each day can vary so much, from sunny and warm to cloudy and windy to torrential rain storm and all combinations of the above.

4. The transition hasn't been as difficult as I thought it might be. What a blessing this has been! Anyone who knows me is probably aware that change is not my strong suit. In fact it's more of a duck-and-cover-until-I-stop-freaking-out kind of experience. Thankfully, God has lots of grace for us in this move.

5. I now know intimately the bathroom habits of my dog. When you control the only opportunities to "go potty," you quickly find out how many times she does her business and worry when she hasn't done it enough. I hope this is preparation for the baby, because otherwise it's just sad.

6. The people here really are very nice. Now, I never really felt like Californians were rude, but this puts a whole new meaning on helpful. The Department of Transportation has a customer service number, and they don't seem irritated that you've called it. What a concept!

7. If there was any question of whether this part of Texas was part of the Bible-belt, there isn't now. It seems as if every other billboard has an ad for a church or a slogan such as "Got Jesus?" I'm enjoying the onslaught of wholesome stimuli for a change.

8. We like it here. It's not as though we thought we wouldn't like it, but we were afraid that we might not. Oak Park is a hard act to follow, but we are enjoying the things that League City has to offer and trying not to compare too much.