Back to School

Well, Matt and Sarah started their new schools this week. This was one of the milestones that made me the most nervous about uprooting my family and moving to Texas. It turns out that they both love their new schools!



Matt is starting middle school, which in itself is a big step. His school is fairly new (opened in 2004) and has all of the latest technology. He started band class and was assigned to play Trumpet. He likes all of his teachers and already made a few friends.



Sarah has started her new school, which really is a NEW school. This is the very first year it opened. She also likes her teacher, and loves not being in a portable any more. It's located right in the neighborhood that we hope to purchase/build a house in (if we ever sell ours in Florida).

It was a big relief that they both are happy and making friends. Next week, Emily starts her school at our new church. Hopefully things will go just as smooth.

Pictures from the move

I uploaded some of the pictures of the move to our Flickr account HERE. I will add to them as we take more.

-Bob

The Long and Winding (and bumpy) Road

We made it to Austin. It was an eventful trip. I flew back to Florida last Tuesday night and spent Wednesday doing last minute tasks such as oil changes, errands to Lowes, and some last minute packing and dismantling. Thursday morning was a rainy day when we picked up the moving truck. This thing was HUGE! It was quite a challenge learning to drive a 26' truck on Hillsborough Ave in the pouring rain. We spent the rest of the day dodging rain drops as we loaded the truck. We finished around 5pm. Friday morning was spent loading the van, and getting the house cleaned up. At around 4:30 p.m. Friday we departed. We stopped in Gainesville for some dinner at Boston Market and a fuel fill-up (the first of many). While I mostly drove the truck, both Christin and her mom took turns driving it. We could not have made it without her mom's help! We then drove through the night until we finally stopped at a Cracker Barrel in Baton Rouge at around 5:30 a.m. Saturday. We slept in the parking lot for about 2 hours and then had breakfast. Along the way, we ran into more rain, and heavy traffic especially going through Houston. We finally made it to the apartment in Austin at 5:30 p.m. (1200 miles and 26 hours after we left). The next day (Sunday) we unloaded the truck into our one car garage at the apartment complex, as well as a 10x10 off-site storage unit.

Stay tuned for more updates and some pictures once I upload them.

-Bob

The final lap

This week, I start the final lap of our adventure of moving to Texas. For over three months, I have only seen my family for a little more than three weeks. Christin has had to endure the troubles of packing the house by herself, keep the house clean for showings that never seem to yield any offers, in addition to keeping three kids busy during summer. This Tuesday, I fly back to Florida (I'm trying not to call it "home" anymore) to finish the packing, load everything on a big truck, and drive my family "home" to a small apartment in Texas. We still have a very long road ahead of us even after we arrive in Austin, but to me this is the final lap of the family being separated. No matter what gets thrown our way, we will be Ok because we will be together.

Our plan is to drive through the night none stop. It will be exhausting, but the kids will be sleeping through most of it and we will be getting the hard part over as soon as possible. There will be time to rest later. Please keep us in your prayers as we make this late night trek across the country.

-Bob

Back in one piece

I finally got my car back from the body shop. By the end of it, there was over $6K in repairs needed! I am grateful that the damage was not fatal for me or my car. As you can see, it's good as new (except maybe a little shinier in places).

Texas Sky

The sky last night was very unusual. I had to take a picture of it!

Austin Visit

I haven't posted in a while because I was busy enjoying time with Christie and the kids. They came out here last week for a visit. We ate at some good restaurants, did some outlet mall shopping, and also went swimming a whole bunch! We went to a huge water park about an hour south of here named Schlitterbahn. It's 65 acres of pools and tubing on the Comal river.

We also did some "work". We decided to hold off going under contract to build our house because of some change in policy regarding deposits. We still hope to build on the lot we picked, but may wait to do that. In the mean time, we (by "we" I mean Christie) found a better apartment in the school zone we wanted, near where we want to buy a house. It will make things much easier. The kids are excited about coming, which was one of the mail goals of the trip.

On August 12, I fly back to Florida for the last time as a Floridian. I will be helping in the final stages of packing, and the family will be driving to Austin to stay.