So much has happened in the past two weeks! We made it to Dallas! It was a two day road trip in two cars with
two kids and a dog but we did it. We only had to stop twice per day with one
time being for everyone to eat and the other time to feed the baby.
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| Biscuit on the luggage cart |
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| Who doesn't love childhood hotel pool memories? |
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| This only lasted so long until we needed the pack n play. |
Once arriving in Dallas, we stayed with Jesus’s cousin and
his family in McKinney. They are the
best for letting us stay with them and Joaquin had the greatest time playing
with their kids. McKinney is a beautiful
suburb of Dallas with brick homes, cute neighborhoods, community pools and every
store and restaurant you need. During our stay there we began furniture
shopping, apartment hunting, getting new insurance, changing our address,
applying for Texas licenses, etc etc…
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| Hutchins BBQ in McKinney voted best 2014 |
Over Thanksgiving, we drove another five hours to
Alexandria, Louisiana to stay with Jesus’ sister and her family for the
holiday. We went to a friend of theirs
for a Puerto Rican/Dominican/American Thanksgiving dinner and then of went shopping. Shopping however was cut
short by the shooting that occurred at the local mall (really?!). Oh Alexandria, what can I say about you and your small town lifestyle? Let me put it like this, my brother in law
says he is fine living there because it has everything he typically does in a
day: goes to work, plays tennis, goes home.
There’s a JC Penny to buy clothes and a movie theatre. He can go on road trips to places like
Houston or New Orleans on the weekends.
He has a point, it is sufficient but sufficient is the only word I’ll
use to describe it. I personally just
prefer a little more action.
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| My niece and nephew and my babies photo shoot! |
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| Black Friday/Thanksgiving shopping |
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| Thanksgiving dinner |
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| Super cool Alexandria safari where Joaquin had no fear of the animals. |
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| I was a little more hesitant. |
After Thanksgiving break, we returned to Dallas and moved in
our apartment. If I want action, I’m getting it as we are in the heart of the
city. Just 15 minutes from downtown and
close to tons of stores, restaurants and two beautiful malls.
I haven’t started working yet because transferring my out of
state teaching license has been a very extensive process (ugh it’s getting
stressful!) but thankfully Jesus is still working remotely.
I will say that we are definitely in the south and it’s been
fun pointing out all the little culture shocks.
1.
While in Kansas City on our road trip here, they
served biscuits and gravy in the hotel continental breakfast!
2.
The place I got my fingerprints for my new job
was also a place that taught conceal and carry classes with a lovely sign
saying “Prayer is a great way to met the Lord but trespassing is faster.”
3.
Everything really is bigger in Texas! Big freeways, big populations, big furniture
stores, biggest indoor Christmas tree, you name it!
4.
I don’t remember what state I was in during my
travels but I saw the biggest Baptist church!
It looked like a mall…well it used to
be a mall and now was one ginormous church!
5.
The word Y’all is not a stereotype. It’s real and everyone says it. I wonder if it will ever become second nature
for me.
6.
The word M’am is also second nature and it’s
almost like it’s rude if you don’t say it.
I used to hate when people called me M’am in MN because it made me feel
old but not here. Here I just think it’s
so polite because that’s the intention.
7.
Speaking of polite…people are so nice here! People wave you on in traffic and four way
stops. People hold doors, say hello, and
are in general so helpful! I won’t bore
you with my specific examples. I’m from the
land of “Minnesota nice” and yet here the kindness is still so obvious to me!
8.
I ate at a fast food fried chicken place and
they served me fried okra, a yeast roll and the spicy seasoning on the chicken
was good enough to make my nose run! Thank goodness my apartment has a gym!
9.
And of course BBQ and Tex-Mex here have not
disappointed.
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| You can take the girl out of Minnesota but you can't take Minnesota out of the girl. Skating rink in the mall and the country's tallest indoor Christmas tree. |
What a whirlwind and what an adventure we have begun. It’s
been an adjustment for Joaquin and it broke my heart every day the first week
when he said he wanted to go home and play with grandma Jane but now when we
are out, he says he wants to go back to our apartment so I think he’s finally
learning that we’re staying. My anxiety
is starting to kick in with also realizing we are staying and it’s not vacation
anymore. I really think we are going to
love it here and we get more excited each day we drive around and see new
things but of course I’ll get homesick and will need to adjust. While it does give me some anxiety, my
excitement and all the things we love about Dallas already are winning out…
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| Moving is exhausting. Finally a family moment crashing on our couch! |
Awesome!
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