Days 64 – 66

I should be going to bed.  But Matthew found a Bourne movie on TV and so I’m going to try and make this quick, because we’re super tired and we have a long, busy day tomorrow, and it’s been three days, ya’ll!

When I left you last, we were headed out of Mississippi after a quick overnight.  We drove west through AR for the entire day, just stopping for a leisurely lunch.  We made it across the border into Texas and drove to Marshall for the night.  After such a long day of traveling, we really felt like lazy parents and reasoned that the kids needed a break and a chance to get their way.  So, the hotel had a lovely outdoor pool, with a rock waterfall, and we all took a dip.  Since it was still in the 90’s, even after dark (it felt like Congo!), and we were loving being in the water and just relaxing.  But, yeeeeaaaaaah, the kids didn’t get to bed until 10:30pm.  Oops.  Parent fail.

The next morning we hit the road with two tired, cranky kiddos and made it to Onalaska, TX, where a dear friend of Matthew’s family lives.  I hadn’t had the chance to meet her yet, and we were thrilled to be able to spend a couple of hours with her.  It was a great break from the road and a good chance to reconnect.

We picked up and finished the drive into Houston by dinnertime, though not missing out on Houston’s fantastic rush hour traffic!  We stopped at our host’s house and hung out for a bit before departing to another friend’s for dinner.  Our hosts and this couple, who we joined for dinner, are friends of ours that we met five years ago.  Matthew and I went on a pre-kid cruise back in the days of two incomes and no kids and a boost in the Alaska yearly payout.  We were ready to start a family and thought we’d go out of that lifestyle with a great vacation.  14 days through the Panama Canal was amazing, but we really enjoyed each nightly dinner with two great couples from Houston.  So, it was fun to have yet another dinner together again after five years, though we’ve multiplied a bit since then.

However, it meant another night where the kids didn’t get to bed until quite late – this time, 11pm!

This morning we had a leisurely morning, Amelia even got a quick nap in, before we headed out with our hosts to the Houston Children’s Museum.  They had such a great time exploring, climbing, and experimenting with all the museum had to offer!

We ran back by our host’s house with just enough time to grab our materials and head outside of town for another presentation to a small group of adopting families.  It was a super fun dinner, complete with fancy cupcakes (yes, first – gotta keep the kiddos happy while we explain ourselves and MAF’s work in DRC!) followed by pizza and swimming in their pool!  The family that hosted this event is truly one of the most amazing families I’ve ever met: they have adopted six kids and they are all six and under!

Again, we were enjoying ourselves too much to be responsible, and so the kids just got to bed at 11pm…woo hoo!

Tomorrow morning we will hit the road north toward Dallas for the weekend.  The get together with other adopting families is tomorrow night, so we have to move quickly to get there on time!  Busy busy…