Galveston Island

I've been trying to get to Galveston basically since we moved here. It was always raining or Sam had an unexpected training or someone was sick, etc etc.

We almost didn't get to go today, but our BBQ was rescheduled to Monday so we went for it!

We all just had the most wonderful time. The water was warm and wonderful and someone lent us their umbrella. We had our lunch and swam and played in the sand and Remy even took a nap! The only way it could've been better is if no one had gotten sunburned (I swear I reapplied our actual sunblock--not sunscreen-- 2-3 times but apparently that was insufficient, boo). We ended with a walk, then drove to Buc-ee's so Ros could see "the beaver place" and it was slightly more interesting than the first one we went to. Haha!

Anyway, this is mostly cause for a picture dump so I'll stop talking. Enjoy:

Nothing to Fear

Right now we are braving the 100+ degree weather to play at the playground at our apartment complex, and I'm musing on a stage of development in Rosalind that I never thought about before. I mean, I suppose I knew it would happen, but unlike walking, talking, jumping, etc, it's not one you really think about. Right now, Rosalind is learning about Fear.

She's lived most of her life fairly fearless, though she might get nervous and clam up if she's expected to talk to a stranger, and feel anxious if she's left alone with them.

As we've visited playgrounds like this one over time, I've noticed she wants to climb this bridge ladder thing, but always gets scared and steps off. I know she wants to climb it, but I know she's afraid she will fall. She doesn't trust her ability yet.

And really, that's what fear is, isn't it? Facing the unknown?

A few nights ago, Rosalind was bouncing around her room before she went to sleep, and all of a sudden we hear, with legitimate panic in her voice, "Mommy, Daddy! There's a statue in my room! It's scary to me!!" (I love her grammar, by the way).

Sam rushed in there and discovered that, as someone outside walked in front of the streetlight, they cast a humanoid shadow on Rosalind's bedroom wall, and it frightened her. So Sam explained about shadows being the light's footprint, showed her a few fun shadow puppets, and she calmed down and was able to go to sleep.

I was a little shocked at the incident, because she's never shown any sign of being afraid of anything like that before. But she calmed down once it was explained to her, once she learned what it was.

Back to that ladder bridge at the playground. The thing that has impressed me the most since she's started noticing that some things are scary, is that she's willing to face them. Once she knew what a shadow was, she thought it was cool. Once she warms up to strangers, she considers them friends. So as I'm writing this, I'm watching her play, and she's coming back to the ladder bridge thing and trying it again. She'll try it, go off and do something else, then come back and try it again. I just watched as she intently focused on getting up the ladder, and I wondered if I should call out and tell her she should wait til she's a little more dexterous because I'm worried she'll fall, and lo and behold, she made it to the top! She stood on the platform at the top and shouted, "Mom! I did it!" And I ran over and told her I'm so happy she tried and point out that she can do hard things. Then she did it again a few minutes later! And I sat there smiling, having this weird, proud revelation as a parent that all of a sudden my little girl is learning about fear, and just as quickly, she's learning to face it. And I am proud.

I know some scarier things will come up in the future that will be harder to deal with, but I hope that she will remember that she can face her fears and do hard things. Because that is an incredibly important thing to know.

An Outsider Adjusting

To recap: Back in March, Sam was hired on as a SpEd teacher at a charter school up in Bluffdale (Utah).  He was supposed to start in August, and was still working at Heritage.  In April, we started looking in earnest at buying a house up in that area.  We looked and looked and made an offer on two different places, and though we had loads of help from my aunt (a stellar realtor) and my old boss (the best loan guy), things just kept on not working out.  I started to worry (ok actually no, I've been worrying about this for eons) that even though we had trimmed our budget and reworked and reallocated over and over we would never truly be comfortable because we simply did not make enough money.  Sam's salary at the job he was starting in the fall was only a weensy bit more than his salary at Heritage, and I was working part time again for my old boss as a property manager for his rentals.  It felt a whole heck of a lot like "What more can we do??" It was quite frustrating.  Anyway, in the midst of all this turmoil, we had to prepare for the family wedding in Houston. 

Something happened on that trip that softened me to the idea that we could possibly live in Houston if we had to.  And then the idea of getting a job here NOW was planted.
  

Back in Utah, we still couldn't find a place to live.  Renting was looking impossible too.  Desperation.

And then, lo, one afternoon Sam got an email inviting him to the HISD job fair, and I knew it was his golden ticket.  So we slapped that puppy on a credit card and he flew down for the fair. 

Days of being so anxious we were all sick to our stomachs. Yay, life.  The second the job fair was over, Sam called me and announced he had a soft offer.

A few days later, it hardened like a Metapod and we were, in total disbelief, planning our move to Houston.  And as soon as we did that, EVERYTHING fell into place. Housing? Perfect. Salary? Way more. Moving truck? A miraculous deal.  Honestly, it could not have been more clear we were on the right path.  

So, here we are, in our (spacious!) 3 bedroom apartment.  We have floor-to-ceiling windows and a pool out our front door.  I'm sitting on our bed and I can hear the wind blowing our neighbor's wind chimes and the rain on the banana trees and palms.  But.  The whole time, up until this storm started a few days ago, it's been a heat index of 111 and it is intensely humid and I hate it.  The cicadas are a little creepy.  But we saw fireflies and a gecko and maybe an armadillo. This feels like an adventure...but is it sustainable for a new life?  This area is a totally new climate and a totally new culture for me.  I lived in Fallbrook for 18 years, Long Beach for 2 years, and Utah for 7 years. I've never known anything like Houston.  I never even visited until the wedding in May.  We came all of a sudden, and though I know we're supposed to be here, I'm still kind of in shock.

I am still a little heartsick and homesick for Southern California.  I know we will never live there (mostly because it's expensive and Sam dislikes California unnecessarily).  But in some ways, Houston seems like it might be a decent replacement. I just need time.

Here are some things I'm noticing:

 -Houston is not at all the stereotype of Texas, but that stereotype is hiding in there and resurfaces sometimes (Sam says it will get worse in February with the Rodeo).  Like the boots and cowboy hats thing.  Kind of sparse.  Houston is very ethnically diverse and seems a bit "young" demographically.

-The roads are a bit confusing.  We live in sort of a suburb but it's still the city, so you get everywhere by frontage roads mostly.  I'm learning it though, especially our neighborhood.

-There are some different street signs.  The "Hurricane Evacuation Route" one and the Flood Gauge ones freak me out a little.  Drowning is kind of my nightmare so all related natural disasters are also.

-People are friendly and welcoming and I like them, but there seems to be this underlying pride (I'm not talking about the freaky weird Texas pride everyone knows about) that it's kind of assumed that if you live here you love it.  It seems like you are required to forsake your past and your identity and become a Texan.  You guys, I will always feel more like a Californian.  I'm sorry.  It's my home and my dream to return.  But when I talk to people here they make it sound like now I need to forget that and be a Texan, and I just can't do that.  I don't want my kids growing up saying "y'all" and it feels so unnatural in my own mouth.  I am so so very glad to finally be out of Utah (7 years was longer than I intended), but I'm feeling a bit displaced.  Like an imposter.  Like I'm on vacation.  Like everyone else is a Texan but I'm just a homeless ex-Californian being carried around in my husband's suitcase.  I don't know, it's hard to describe.  I feel even more homeless because we came from Utah, but I'm not from there, and people assume I am, which is a little frustrating.  I usually try to word it so that they know we were only living there for a time.

-I can grow palm trees here!!  In fact I went out and bought three the first week we were here in the clearance plant section at Lowe's.  Let's see if I have the knack like my dear old dad.  Probably not, since I've always been better with animals than plants.

I feel bad trying to explain my situation to people. I like Houston, I really do. There are so many things I get excited about doing and trying and seeing and eating and sharing with my kids. I'm so happy we don't have to deal with winters of negative temperatures and ice buildup on our house windows and two feet of snow and everything else.  But it's going to take me time to adjust.  Like I said before, the culture and the climate and the weather are all completely new to me.  There is new terminology, new laws, new businesses, new brands in the store (they don't have C&H sugar here, but then, why would they?).  Everything is new.  The only people I know from before are Rachel and Josh and we don't see them much because we all have busy lives.  We have one car that Sam and I share during the week, so I don't get out much.  And when I want to do things that were routine before (going for walks, etc), we can't really because it's either too hot or too wet.  I'm greatly looking forward to when things become more normal for me and I stop feeling sad.  I know I'll get there. I already feel a bit better than I did a few weeks ago.  It helps to talk about it.  It helps to have alone time without the kids.  It helps to do normal things.  It helps to find ways to make me feel peaceful and normal and happy.  So I'm getting there.  And Sam is really loving his new job, and that makes me very happy.  So.  Welcome to Houston, Shannon.

PS Now taking bets on how long it will be before I say "y'all" without realizing it-- as long as I get to keep all the winnings.

Oh, and here are a bunch of pictures of new to me/funny Texas/Houston things I've been collecting for fun:

Marked evacuation routes.  Ah!

This is a sign outside the door to Sam's school.  Mostly I thought it was interesting to see the demographic of the area.

When we went to visit Sam's school

Our anole!  This guy actually hangs out on our balcony a lot.  He makes it feel very tropical

Texas-shaped everything

We should get these for our car so we don't blister on the steering wheel

This is why we blister on the steering wheel and can never go anywhere outside ever

I saw one as high as thirteen feet once.  Augh.

Just diversity things

"Bridge may ice in cold weather" Cute.

Road humps??!

Wagons...Southeast?

We started our move on Friday July 15, when we picked up and packed up our moving truck. We had help from Peter and Cami, who were in town briefly. It was very helpful to have them because literally everyone else was unavailable. That evening we got the car installed on the car transport and the next morning we set out!

Moving!

We drove all the way to Cortez, CO, with a rest stop break outside of Moab, UT. We planned to eat at Pepperhead (which is delicious and awesome and you should eat there any time you're in Cortez), but apparently they have bizarre business hours in small podunk towns, so they weren't open. We drove on to some place somewhere in New Mexico and ate at a diner there because we couldn't wait any longer. Then we continued on to Albuquerque, where we spent the night.

The next day, we had a shorter day. We drove to Carlsbad via Roswell. We had dinner at an amazing Texas BBQ place in Carlsbad called Danny's. It was so yummy and kind of the first complete meal we'd had the whole trip so it was very much appreciated.  We had originally planned to take it easy and see the Caverns the following day, but we (mostly me) were anxious about making the truck deadline, so we decided to hike the caves that evening instead. It meant we had to miss seeing the bats leaving the cave, which Sam dearly wanted to see, but I think the barbecue dinner was worth it. Sam really loved the caverns. He was very impressed and I am glad we made the detour.

Danny's

To the bat cave!

None of these are Rock of Ages, but they're still cleft for me.

The following morning, we took a guided tour of the King's Palace at the caverns. It was very cool. It's kind of funny because neither of us figured out how to take a picture in a cave that actually looked good until the end of the tour, right before we left for good. Ha!

Speleothems hither and thither

It's called Green Lake because Mr Greenlake found it first

After that, we drove straight through to San Antonio. We had dinner at BJ's (might be a new favorite with us), and then pressed on. Sam made it a point to stop at Buccee's so I could experience it, but I didn't see what the big deal was. It was pretty normal except that everything was branded with that joyful beaver. The bathrooms still had scraps of toilet paper on the floor and half-broken soap dispensers just like everywhere else. I will admit that it was a bit unusual that there was a deli counter of sorts there (at which people didn't seem to be wary of eating), but other than that, I was not impressed. I have been to way cooler truck stops. Sorry, Texas.

It's a beaver.  So they say.

Beavers are apparently the logo I think maybe?

We finally rolled into Houston around 2am. Rachel and Josh were kind enough to let us crash at their new house, even though I'm pretty sure they'd moved in like the day before. We had a very early day the next day, so we got like no sleep and then headed over to our new apartment complex to get checked in!

Trees!

Utah Bucket List

There were several things we wanted to do before we left Utah. We've known a long time we'd be leaving eventually, since neither of us loved it there. So we had compiled a list of things we wanted to do and see before we left. Once we knew we were leaving, we started knocking a few things off the list right away. We still have a bunch of stuff we still need to do in the future, but here's what we were able to do:

1. Fairly Land of the Uintas

This was about half an hour into the mountains from Sam's parents' house in Midway. We met up with Caity and her kids, painted a bunch of rocks we found, and carted them into the Uintas to find them a new home at the Fairy Land. It was so cool. There were all kinds of painted rocks, houses, decorations, etc. Some were really old, but most were recent, since someone blogged about it and it made it on Pinterest. It was pretty neat to wander around in the forest with the kids and look at all the fairy houses. We made our little fairy setup with the painted rocks (with "Wasden" in runes because fairies) and built a little teepee out of sticks and called it good. It was pretty fun.

Caity and her kidlets

Mystical

Searching the forest

Somebody else's house

2. Camping at Bryce Canyon

Sam and I never had the chance to camp by ourselves while we were living there, so we left the kids with my mom overnight and made the trip down to Bryce Canyon. We hiked around in the canyons and had a great time. It was wonderful to recharge with each other. We stopped at Cove Fort on the way home since Sam had never seen it and I was sick when I went as a kid and couldn't enjoy it.

I forgot the name of this river, but here you go

Hoodoos?  You do.

These are the only slot canyons in Utah not carved by flash flooding

3. Timpanogos Caves

Sam had never been up here, so we made a quick hike of it one evening when it was a little cooler in the day. We enjoyed the caves. We had a very small tour group with no kids and the ranger was very funny. Actually I feel like you have to be able to make all kinds of puns and lame jokes if you want to be a successful park ranger ;)

I really hate this picture because it's making our heads look like they're being pulled into a black hole

The Heart of Timpanogos weighs as much as a baby elephant

4. Bridal Veil Falls

I had never hiked up to the base of the falls. It was a quick hike but very steep and parts of the trail were eroding and it totally did not feel safe. But again, my anxiety is through the roof at the mo, so of course I felt like we were all going to die. But nobody did!

Hiking pals

5. The Cake I Promised Ian

Ian missed our wedding, so I always promised him I would remake our wedding cake (on a smaller scale of course) so he could have some. I made it for a family dinner and there were at least 17 things to celebrate at the time, so it was everybody's cake. It was rich chocolate cake with chocolate mousse & chopped (garden fresh!) strawberries for the filling, and a rich chocolate ganache for the frosting. So very yum. I will miss making desserts for our monthly family dinners.

Happy* cake

All things to celebrate

6. Prince Family Reunion

This wasn't really a bucket list item, but we did need to do it before we left. Adrien & I had volunteered to plan and carry it out this year. Overall it went pretty well, and as long as people had fun, it was a success!

Everybody loves Grandpa Prince

Enjoying the obstacle course