Pool Time

It's not easy to find a rental in Houston in July with a pool but I scoured websites for hours and finally found a house available for 12 days.  We made the most of every one of those days and thankfully only had rain once.  Ben created several custom floats and gave me a sun shade one day.

Alex perfecting sitting upside down under the water.

We all enjoyed the tiny frogs that used the frog escape float...so cute! and so much better than fishing dead frogs out of the pool.

We had to return to Katy for doctor appointments and the kids were happy to see their friends again.

We also drove by the first apartment Matt and I shared back in 2002.

We spent many happy hours playing and relaxing in the pool.  It was really a great yard with plenty of shade later in the afternoon.

The boys got massive tacos, because who doesn't love tacos?  Taco wars were a favorite activity.

The hottest week of the summer so far, so we couldn't have been happier to be poolside!

The best part was that Stacey and her kids were coming for our second week there and I couldn't think of any better way to celebrate than with a cookie cake!

They loved making whirlpools in the hot tub...

He doesn't like it, but I love this picture of Ben.  He looks so grown up to me.

Piggy back rides for Carter!

These crazy boys would game together all morning and then play all afternoon.  

Stacey and I decided this was really the best way we could have spent time together this summer.  Low-key, kids nearby even when it was adult swim, no germs!

Grammy and Grumpy joined the party one afternoon with.....drum roll....another cookie cake!!  I think we have an addiction.  With four boys, it was gone by the next day.

We had fajitas delivered and couldn't have asked for anything more.

Not everyone got tan over the course of the week, but we all had a wonderful time together.

We wrapped up our last night playing Jackbox together and laughing for hours.  But, as all good things do, our time came to an end because the house was leased to someone else and we had to move to our next house.  This time the goodbyes were real and they were a lot harder.  But our hearts were full of happy memories and good times together.

Happy Birthday, Alex!

Alex was really hoping to get to spend his birthday with Reid this year so he was extra excited to wake up at their house.  We had Chick-fila on the 4th because his birthday fell on a Sunday this year, so he basically had cake for breakfast.  Seems like a win-win.  We facetimed with Matt so he could join us for candles and birthday spankings. (originally, we had planned all the flights so Matt wouldn't miss another birthday but covid changed all that, of course)

Alex enjoyed opening his gifts and getting some birthday money.

He wasn't excited that we had to leave on his birthday but it was the only was to get the reservation on the house with the pool and I felt like it would be worth it.  He got to ride in the front seat and choose all the stops.  We had lunch from Waffle house and even added our own chocolate chips because they were out.  Alex decided that 12-year olds should be able to spend 4 hours in the car without ipads so he talked and napped the whole way!

We stopped by Grammy and Grumpy's on the way to the next house because they had an important cookie cake for him.

We also realized that Alex won't be the shortest one in the family pretty soon!

We checked into our next AirBnB in Champions and it was a pretty depressing afternoon.  I hated that for Alex's birthday, but we were sad to have said goodbye to the Frenches and bummed to adjust to another new house.  We hauled in all of our stuff, moped for a little while, then ordered some pizza and went for our first swim and things felt better.

Happy 12th birthday, Alex!  I know it didn't all go the way you would have chosen, but you were a real trooper and made it work.  Can't wait to see where this year takes you and we look forward to all the laughs you have in store for us and the new ways you will grow and learn.  We love you!!

Road Trip to Dallas

Our lease ended on our townhouse so it was time to move on again.  I found a house with a pool but it wasn't available for almost a week, so we packed up everything and headed to Aunt Stacey's house.

It's amazing how much we accumulated in two months!

It was SO good to see the cousins and have some time together with family that wasn't high risk!  Hugs all around!  Their neighborhood pool was by reservation only so we were happy to get some normal activities with distance from other families.

We went to a little creek in Sherman, TX where fossilized shark teeth have been deposited and had a fantastic morning exploring and sifting for teeth.

The kids spent time searching and then spent the rest of the morning swimming and climbing.

Ben was excited to introduce Carter to his Nascar game and Carter was all too happy to drive into all the other cars.

On July 3rd, we enjoyed their gorgeous neighborhood lagoon and went early enough to avoid any crowds.  (Alex was having a great time but hated the sun in his eyes) 

The neighborhood had held all their activities the weekend before, which was fine with us because we didn't need to be around other people.  We grilled burgers and played with water balloons and watched fireworks from upstairs in the air-conditioning.

Every day is a party when you get these four together!

So Long, Wisdom Teeth

We were very surprised when the dentist told us that Ben's wisdom teeth need to be removed.  They were actually keeping his 12-year molars from fully erupting because there wasn't enough room for everything.  We visited the orthodontist that same day and he agreed the removal as soon as possible was a good plan because he can't get his second round of braces until his molars are all in place.  To add complication to everything, our lease was ending in two weeks and we were going to be on the move for most of July.

Thankfully, we were able to get a consultation that same week with a reputable oral surgeon in the Woodlands and Ben was up bright and early the following week to have all four wisdom teeth removed at 7:30am.  He was nervous but thankful to just get it over with.

Everything went well and I got two of his trophies while he was in recovery.  The other two had to be removed in pieces.  I remembered how much I hated the entire process when I was in high school and I was dreading the next few days for him.

No funny videos of this guy on the way home because he was so sad!  The nurse told me some people react that way to anesthesia.  Ben was despondent that he couldn't talk for days and really upset that I was having trouble understanding him with all the gauze in his mouth.  It didn't help when I giggled at some of his words and called him an angry chewbacca!  He gave me all the details that he'd discussed with the doctor and asked me three times if I'd gotten his prescription mouthwash yet.  The 6-mile drive home was pretty entertaining.

I got him all settled on the couch, changed the gauze every hour for the rest of the day, and made him plenty of ensure milk shakes.  He did great.

Day 2 was rough.  He wanted ice on his cheeks all day so we kept rotating ice packs through the freezer to keep him comfortable and his was miserable since he couldn't chew anything.  My poor baby!  My heart was hurting for him.

Day 3 was much better and he continued to improve every day after that.  We had some smiles and got to see his new chipmunk cheeks.

He also learned that he could eat IndoMie noodles so I just kept them coming!  I didn't miss the irony that I had to find an Asian grocery store to stock up on an Indonesian staple that we always have on hand in Jakarta.

Solid food helped a lot but he had to get through more swelling before it got better.  Ben watched every season of Scrubs and camped out on the couch for a week but thankfully everything went really well and he had no complications.

June Adventures

Sadly, Matt had to return to Jakarta after a few days in Houston.  I made sure he didn't go home emptyhanded!! (but sadly, our deep freeze there died a few weeks later and we lost all the sausage and bacon...an absolute expat tragedy)

The kids each did an online computer camp and we found other activities to keep us entertained.  Biking to Dairy Queen for blizzards was always worth it! The drive thru is not just for cars anymore.

Ben worked on his soldering skills and started building a radio.

We took advantage of the weeks with lovely weather and low covid cases to have some fun outdoors. Texas Treeventures was pretty amazing - three levels of a pretty intense ropes course.

I was actually a little nervous when I found out I had to do it as well because I'd never attempted anything like it, but it was terrific fun and only terrifying in a few places.

We got daily visits from our buddy, Baldy.

The kids discovered they love Monty Python and the Holy Grail.

We had lots of doctor, dentist, and orthodontist appointments.  There was plenty of brotherly love in the car going to and from all the offices.

We stopped by our old neighborhood so the kids could see some old friends (no pictures allowed from mom) and enjoyed seeing our old house looking nice.

After weeks of trying, Earl the squirrel finally made it onto the window feeder but I didn't see how he got there and no one ever made it again! 

We still had dinner/breakfast with Matt every day and he virtually helped Alex set up the new computer he got a little early for his birthday.