The house hunting trip seemed to come very suddenly. Sam accepted the offer on November 10th and we flew to Houston on November 16th. We realized that it needed to happen quickly because it was going to be Thanksgiving and then Christmas and nothing can happen with scheduling the packing or moving until a destination address is known. So we booked our flights and away we went.
My friend Olivia was the first person I told we were moving. I cannot remember exactly how the conversation went but I think it was something like this...
Emily: Can you watch my kids for a week?
Olivia: Sure. Why?
Emily: Because we are moving to Houston and we need to go there to find a place to live.
Both: Sobbing.
Olivia is an amazing friend. I knew it before, but her willingness to wipe my child's bum confirmed it. We dropped off Alex and Edison to the Hiatt's on Sunday afternoon with a suitcase of clothes, hastily typed instructions, and some hugs.
Then we went and sat at the airport for a few hours because our flight was delayed. This was Declan's first flight but we were racking our brains because we could not remember. Our poor third child.
Because our flight out of Williston was delayed, we had to sprint through the Denver airport to make our connection. Declan was sad on the second plane and we tried to get him to go to sleep but he wanted to cry in the bathroom instead. Once we ate dinner (at 9pm), he got a second wind. Then we could not get him to go to sleep at all. He was a party animal.
Declan finally fell asleep once we were on the shuttle to the rental car place. He was sitting up, looking around, then he put down his head on Sam's arm and didn't lift it again. It was midnight. We got to our hotel room at 1am and Declan slept in his clothes.
Monday morning, Declan was excited to check out the hotel room. He was a little timid approaching the windows at first.
Because we had initially planned on buying a house and then considered renting, we were set up with two realtors. The realtor who was helping us find a rental was booked until Wednesday. And when we got to Houston, we let the other realtor know we had decided not to buy and didn't want her to show us houses at all. So then we were stuck with a lot of free time before Wednesday.
On Monday, we drove around to see the outside of all of the houses we were considering and talked to any neighbors we could find outside. Then we wandered furniture stores.
On Tuesday, we walked around Ikea for a long, long time and ended up spending $2 on little toys for Alex and Edison. That night, we went to The Melting Pot for dinner. We had never been before but we considered going once when we were newlyweds in Denver. It was too expensive so we did not end up going. It was nice to have SLB pay for it.
We went to a Honda dealership to test drive an Odyssey. It was love at first sight.
We also went to check out some gyms near the different houses we were looking at.
On Wednesday, we met up with our realtor really early and spent a few hours driving around looking at the inside of the houses. Based on our drive earlier in the week, we had pretty much decided on one house. It had everything going for it: good neighborhood, schools, gyms, stores, etc. I was walking through the house making a video so I could plan how to arrange furniture when Sam called me out to see the backyard. Yikes. The microwave was outside. It had some weird chicken thing going on. We were all very baffled looking at the backyard. All of the weirdness ended up being a deal breaker and we did not choose that one.
That was a really long day. We were relieved to get back to our hotel room for bath time.
On Thursday morning, we met up with the homeowner's realtor for the house we liked the most and gave her our application. We realized we had two days left and nothing to do so we went and got pedicures. This was Sam's first time and it took some convincing.
We ate lunch in Chinatown. Declan was acting really tired so we ate fast and then drove to Sugar Land to see Interstellar.
After the movie, we drove to Rosenberg to see our old house on Emilee Court. The house was vacant. It was having some driveway problems and there were eviction papers folded into the handle of the door, but it was our old home and it was so fun to see it. It inspired me to email our old landlord to tell him how great he was and how much we loved living there. He casually mentioned that the house was back on the market. If only it were 20 miles closer to Sam's work.
Sam located the holes he drilled into the house for the hose hanger. We got Sonic on the drive home and fed a milkshake to Declan. He was pleased.
Sam had to do some work on Friday morning.
We went into SLB to see a few people Sam would be working with, but it was a Friday so the office seemed pretty empty.
We went to some gyms closer to the house we planned to move into.
We were so sick of eating out (the horror!) so we went to Jamba Juice for dinner.
We had to wake up early on Saturday to get to the airport.
We had a nonstop flight back to Williston and Declan did not think that Mommy should take a nap on the airplane.
I feel really bad that we were on a legitimate vacation while Olivia was parenting my kids for a week. We had already booked the tickets when we decided to rent instead of buy and this trip only needed to be two days long. Olivia is a saint. She acted like my kids were part of her family and they had the best time.
I had to create a receipt for Olivia's services and it seems so insufficient. She loved my kids and that counts for more than we could pay her.
Alex and Edison formed a tight bond with Kyan, Tucker, and Jaxon. It was hard to say goodbye.
My friend Olivia was the first person I told we were moving. I cannot remember exactly how the conversation went but I think it was something like this...
Emily: Can you watch my kids for a week?
Olivia: Sure. Why?
Emily: Because we are moving to Houston and we need to go there to find a place to live.
Both: Sobbing.
Olivia is an amazing friend. I knew it before, but her willingness to wipe my child's bum confirmed it. We dropped off Alex and Edison to the Hiatt's on Sunday afternoon with a suitcase of clothes, hastily typed instructions, and some hugs.
Then we went and sat at the airport for a few hours because our flight was delayed. This was Declan's first flight but we were racking our brains because we could not remember. Our poor third child.
Because our flight out of Williston was delayed, we had to sprint through the Denver airport to make our connection. Declan was sad on the second plane and we tried to get him to go to sleep but he wanted to cry in the bathroom instead. Once we ate dinner (at 9pm), he got a second wind. Then we could not get him to go to sleep at all. He was a party animal.
Declan finally fell asleep once we were on the shuttle to the rental car place. He was sitting up, looking around, then he put down his head on Sam's arm and didn't lift it again. It was midnight. We got to our hotel room at 1am and Declan slept in his clothes.
Monday morning, Declan was excited to check out the hotel room. He was a little timid approaching the windows at first.
Because we had initially planned on buying a house and then considered renting, we were set up with two realtors. The realtor who was helping us find a rental was booked until Wednesday. And when we got to Houston, we let the other realtor know we had decided not to buy and didn't want her to show us houses at all. So then we were stuck with a lot of free time before Wednesday.
On Monday, we drove around to see the outside of all of the houses we were considering and talked to any neighbors we could find outside. Then we wandered furniture stores.
On Tuesday, we walked around Ikea for a long, long time and ended up spending $2 on little toys for Alex and Edison. That night, we went to The Melting Pot for dinner. We had never been before but we considered going once when we were newlyweds in Denver. It was too expensive so we did not end up going. It was nice to have SLB pay for it.
We went to a Honda dealership to test drive an Odyssey. It was love at first sight.
We also went to check out some gyms near the different houses we were looking at.
On Wednesday, we met up with our realtor really early and spent a few hours driving around looking at the inside of the houses. Based on our drive earlier in the week, we had pretty much decided on one house. It had everything going for it: good neighborhood, schools, gyms, stores, etc. I was walking through the house making a video so I could plan how to arrange furniture when Sam called me out to see the backyard. Yikes. The microwave was outside. It had some weird chicken thing going on. We were all very baffled looking at the backyard. All of the weirdness ended up being a deal breaker and we did not choose that one.
That was a really long day. We were relieved to get back to our hotel room for bath time.
On Thursday morning, we met up with the homeowner's realtor for the house we liked the most and gave her our application. We realized we had two days left and nothing to do so we went and got pedicures. This was Sam's first time and it took some convincing.
We ate lunch in Chinatown. Declan was acting really tired so we ate fast and then drove to Sugar Land to see Interstellar.
After the movie, we drove to Rosenberg to see our old house on Emilee Court. The house was vacant. It was having some driveway problems and there were eviction papers folded into the handle of the door, but it was our old home and it was so fun to see it. It inspired me to email our old landlord to tell him how great he was and how much we loved living there. He casually mentioned that the house was back on the market. If only it were 20 miles closer to Sam's work.
Sam located the holes he drilled into the house for the hose hanger. We got Sonic on the drive home and fed a milkshake to Declan. He was pleased.
Sam had to do some work on Friday morning.
We went into SLB to see a few people Sam would be working with, but it was a Friday so the office seemed pretty empty.
We went to some gyms closer to the house we planned to move into.
We were so sick of eating out (the horror!) so we went to Jamba Juice for dinner.
We had to wake up early on Saturday to get to the airport.
We had a nonstop flight back to Williston and Declan did not think that Mommy should take a nap on the airplane.
I feel really bad that we were on a legitimate vacation while Olivia was parenting my kids for a week. We had already booked the tickets when we decided to rent instead of buy and this trip only needed to be two days long. Olivia is a saint. She acted like my kids were part of her family and they had the best time.
I had to create a receipt for Olivia's services and it seems so insufficient. She loved my kids and that counts for more than we could pay her.
Alex and Edison formed a tight bond with Kyan, Tucker, and Jaxon. It was hard to say goodbye.
1 comment:
1. The phone call went exactly like that. 2. I was glad Declan got a fun alone trip with you guys. 3. I was happy to take your kids and I would do it again in a heart beat, though I remember feeling grateful I only have three kids by the end of the week! ;) 4. I LOVE AND MISS YOU GUYS!!
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