Weekend in Houston for Hurricane Harvey Relief

If you haven't heard of the incredible relief efforts put forth by The Church of Jesus Chris of Latter Day Saints every time there is a natural disaster, let me assure you, their efforts are large.  Members of our community were invited to Houston this past weekend to help clean up the devastation from Hurricane Harvey.  While there were about 30 people just from our neighborhood congregation, there were hundreds from throughout the state who all gave of their time to help out and there will be more weekends like this.  You can read about the organization, Mormon Helping Hands, to see about what they do around the entire world here.


So Jesus and I decided to go too!  Jesus has some generous family in Houston who we could stay with and even watch our kids while we worked.  The night before leaving however, we got our assignment that we would be gutting houses, removing destroyed furniture, pulling flooded installation from the walls, etc. and I realized it wasn't a good activity for a pregnant lady like myself.  So while Jesus did the manual labor, his aunt and I hit the grocery store to make sandwiches for the volunteers so I at least could do something.


When I asked Jesus about his experience and what he saw there, he summed it up with the word "destruction." He told me that you could see the water line against the walls in the homes to where the water would have reached his knees.  He told me about every destroyed couch that they carried to the curb for disposal being soaked and still full of water making it many times heavier than normal. 


Here are the photos of what we saw on the streets all over Houston, of people that lost so much and will now take so long to rebuild.  Jesus also told me of a great community spirit as the home owners still had strength to joke around about what they had gone through and at least had all of their neighbors in the same situation all working together.

We also arrived in Houston a day early so we took Jesus's aunt and uncle to NASA! It was his uncle's life-long dream and we had never been. The best word I have for touring here is "fascinating." Because of the hurricane, they cut admission prices in half, had free parking and proceeds from admission went to Hurricane Relief. 

A 747 carrying a space shuttle

Riding the tram for the tour to see Mission control, where they build and the actual buildings where employees and astronauts work.

Joaquin and I touching a moon rock

My little pilots

Mission control

Later in the weekend, Jesus's cousins, Karen and Uki, took us to their favorite spot for frozen custard in Houston and you can't pass that up.  Apple pie sundae anyone?  We are also so grateful to these two for letting us have their apartment for the weekend while they stayed with their parents.  Talk about a hook up!

My last little story from our weekend speaks to the "joy" of being a mom.  The day that Jesus went to help with the hurricane, was the day I finally decided to take KJ to the doctor.  She had been battling a cold for a few days but when she lost her voice, coughed like a seal all night and started wheezing, it was time to bring her in!  She has a virus and croup (the seal-like cough) so they gave her a steroid and a breathing treatment to get her wheezing to stop.  We had to stay at the doctor for two hours for observation to make sure it worked and it did!  We are home now and she's still sick but she seems much better.  Now Joaquin has begun that rough sounding cough and I hope this virus leaves our little family soon!  Both kids are happily tucked in their beds for the night and we will pray for a heathier week!  But first, look how cute she is during her little breathing treatment.





First week of school and Labor Day weekend!

Joaquin started school a couple weeks ago!  He's in Pre-K which I totally expected to be a few days a week but nope, we found a program that's Monday-Friday in a real full time elementary school!  Here's a pro mom tip for ya...Have you heard of Head Start?  Do you know about the pre-school programs that are all day but you have to qualify by low income or different requirements?  Turns out some districts have to keep their classes full in order to keep receiving funding even if you don't qualify.  The district I live in doesn't do this but Fort Worth does and that's just 20 minutes away!  I called Fort Worth ISD and spoke directly to the early childhood office and they said yes, this was indeed true.  I had to wait until a certain deadline passed for all those who qualified to register first and if there were still openings, anyone could get in!  Did I mention it's free?!  There were still openings so we did it.  Joaquin is a full time school student!  I was so nervous because I didn't expect him to leave me full time until next year for kindergarten and I didn't know if he would be sad our what it would be like.  Turns out he is the bravest, most mature little kid and has been loving it!  His teacher already said he is one of her leaders and I already saw him being line leader for their class last week.  Now my only hope is that he can always be a good kid throughout his school career but this is just pre-k and I know that's not reality.  It's possible though so I will keep encouraging his leadership skills the best I can!  At home behavior is another story but if he is behaving at school and loving it, I can handle his issues at home!  I'm just so happy he is loving it so far.

First day!

I've also been having a great experience with KJ, my two year old, at home by herself.  I feel like I am getting to know her personality even more now that we have one on one time.  I'm hearing her talk more and even have conversations with me.  I feel like we're bonding and while I was worried how much she'd miss her brother, she is seeming to enjoy this time with her mommy.  We only have a few months together until she gets a baby sibling so I'm soaking it up!

I've also started water aerobics three days a week.  This is the best thing I've ever done while pregnant!  I end up in quite a bit of back pain and even some leg pain while pregnant but since starting my class, my pain has greatly reduced!  I don't know if the water aerobics is causing this but it's the only real lifestyle change I've made.  My real back pain doesn't kick in until the third trimester so we will see if water aerobics helps keep it at bay.  In fact, I'm starting my third trimester today!

Took this last week some time and I already feel bigger!

Labor Day Weekend:  Earlier this year Jesus took a nice long week off work around Labor Day and we were planning an exciting family trip to Hawaii or New York or somewhere cool!  Then we got pregnant and decided Jesus could save some of those days off to be with new baby when he or she is born and we could save that money to pay our high deductible insurance and buy things for the baby so we cancelled our plans.  Turns out even though I have two kids, I have purged a lot from moving so much so we still have quite a bit to buy for the baby this time around. Our back up plan was a long weekend to San Antonio to stay in a hotel on the famous river walk.  Local, cheaper, less days off work and still a family vacation!  And then there was a devastating hurricane.  While San Antonio wasn't affected much, the day we were supposed to leave was the day everyone went into a gas frenzy and started saying there was no gas around Texas because some of the oil refineries in Houston had to close.  Now whether or not there really was a gas shortage didn't change the fact that stations around our home and around San Antonio had run out.  Stations that hadn't run out had jacked up their prices.  We didn't want to risk dealing with that on a road trip, not being from here and knowing what the weekend would hold, so we cancelled our plans again.  Then my lucky husband found a deal for a night at the Great Wolf Lodge for only $169.  If you've ever tried to book there, you know that if you see it for under $200, you should take it!

They have several Great Wolf Lodges throughout the country but this one is here just 45 minutes away from us.  It's a great waterpark/hotel with tons of kids activities and the perfect family spot for little ones.  Super convenient and fun!

No fear in the wave pool for these 2!

I love a hotel breakfast buffet and I love biscuits and gravy

Turning my little girl into a Princess!

In addition to our night at the Great Wolf lodge, we took it easy throughout the long weekend exploring Dallas and Fort Worth while enjoying some time off from our daily responsibilities at home/work/school.  It was a lovely long weekend with just enough activities to keep it exciting but not too much to keep us exhausted.  We've all fallen back into our routines today.

Lunch at one of our favorite sushi spots in Dallas...again!

Trying some new Asian dessert bakery

Chilling in our favorite Dallas neighborhood with all the Asian restaurants above

Excellent Puerto Rican place outside Dallas

Miniature train ride along Trinity River in Fort Worth

I'm the lucky one.

Grandma Jane does Fort Worth

Mom came to town and we hit the town. I just want to say how much my kids sure do love grandma! And the fact that they could play with her to give me a break was even better!

I don't actually live in Fort With, I live just South of it in a town called Burleson.  We began mom's vacation at Babe's Chicken House in our little Downton area.  This place seems to be famous around the DFW area and it's sister restaurant is Bubba Cook's Country in Dallas, where I'll never forget getting drive-thru biscuits and gravy! It was fun to see it's counter part here in the Fort Worth area.  It's all family style, with quirky chicken decor, and a true southern menu specializing in fried chicken.  You may have heard of Texas BBQ but did you know Texas also has a million fried chicken places?

The next day was the most exciting when we drove an hour to Waco to see Magnolia Market and the sights of HGTV's Fixer Upper.  It was my second time here and I just love this little place.  The bakery is amazing, it's surrounded by food trucks and has a huge open ground for running and playing with balls and outdoor games provided. The best part of this trip was meeting up with my mom's cousin who she hadn't seen in over 40 years.  She lives a few hours from me here in Texas.  Her dad (my great uncle) also came along and he's one fit and spirited 90 something year old!  I can only hope in stay in good health that long! These two family members were just the nicest and I'm so happy I got to know them better!

On Saturday, my baby girl turned 2 and that was the real reason for mom's visit! We threw an adorable Minnie Mouse birthday party with the help of these cookies from The Frosted Pearl bakery! 

Other highlights of mom's trip included pedicures, tacos and a visit to the Fort Worth Water Gardens.

Our final day was spent in my favorite place, so far, in all of Fort Worth, Sundance Square.  It's a beautiful square in the downtown lined with shops and restaurants with a large fountain show in the middle.  I'm still a city girl and sometimes I feel like I'm living in the country, even though it's more suburban than country in my neighborhood.  The country life is just so close!  But the city is also just 20 minutes away thankfully and worth going to every time!  Little known fact, Fort Worth has an incredibly clean downtown.  I don't know how they do it but it's noticeably different than other city's downtown Jesus or I have seen.  It's a beautiful city landscape, more modern than the country, but still has enough people wearing their boots and cowboy hats. It's like a perfect Texas mix and I love coming here!

Thanks for visiting us mom, and we can't wait to have you back!  But maybe I'll beat you by getting back to Minnesota first!