July 4th Bike Parade

We have been busy for the last week helping Heather move into the new house - Kyle was in Corpus Christi on business - forgot how crazy it can be! The first of the week was spent assembling shelving and dressers for closets; changing light fixtures and meeting all the vendors that need to hook up something!
The container of all their household belongings that they stored here in Houston while they were in Kuala Lumpur arrived on Friday at 8:30am and left around 5:00pm! Three guys kept bringing in more and more stuff until we were practically drowning in boxes - then one of them came in and said "I'm leaving to get the other truck!" I finally asked if they were sure they weren't bringing in someone else's stuff because we didn't even recognize some items! Of course, many items that were saved went straight to the garage sale box - or, I should say boxes! Tonight is their first night in their new home.
The girls were so good while we were busy - they play together very well. The subdivision had a July 4th parade, led by a fire truck, today - from the soccer field to the pool for lunch and swimming. They were so excited - they decorated their bikes, their helmets and themselves in hopes of winning a prize! Samantha told me "I'm going to be pretty hard to beat!" and she and Emily did win! They got a $25 gift certificate for Toys R Us to share. Kyle said they weren't all that excited until he told them it was "like 80 ringgits"- then they were practically jumping out of their skin!

Inks Lake State Park

Guess who paddled?

Sea Eagle captains!

Helping Grandpa navigate thru the park

Emily's big catch

Samantha's big catch

We took Samantha and Emily camping at Inks Lake last week. It is a beautiful state park in the Texas Hill Country where we spent many fun times when our girls were growing up. We weren't sure if these little "city slickers" were going to enjoy the great outdoors or not but OMG, they had so much fun! Roger and I experienced so many "de ja vu" moments - Samantha is like Heather and Emily more like Megan - it took us back in time.
They felt really naughty when we told them about "camping rules" - you don't have to take a shower every day unless you bathe in the lake; you have to go swimming at least twice a day and maybe more and wear your bathing suit all day; you have to eat outside and you can use your fingers; you have to eat ice cream once a day no cheating; you can stay up past bedtime to roast marshmallows; farting and burping are OK outside!
We got the kayak out and went paddling to Devils Waterhole - a cove in the lake - where older kids jump off a high cliff - Chicken Rock -  into the water. Emily would have been up there if we let her climb! We found a sand bar, that Roger remembered, and jumped out to swim in the middle of the lake - they had their life jackets on! - but it was still very adventuresome!
Their favorite thing to do was - you won't believe this! -  fishing! We bought them some fishing poles - Barbie and Tinkerbell and the handles lit up! - definitely girlie - and they were catching sunfish like crazy! They even handled the worms! They proclaimed themselves the "fishing champions!" Couldn't wait to get home and tell Mommy and Daddy they want to go fishing in the lake by their new house!

New Bikes

We've spent the week in Houston as the kids struggle with jet lag and re-acclimate to the USA. The girls spent the night with us last night - about fell asleep on their dinner plates - went to bed at 6:30pm and slept until 5:30am!

We are busy "Americanizing" them! They have never been to a DQ! They loved the ice cream but Samantha still begged for sushi at HEB! We registered Samantha for second grade at the local school and they got new bicycles. They are amazed they haven't seen any scooters like in KL!

Home at Last!

 



After 4 years, almost to the day, Kyle, Heather, Samantha and Emily arrived back in the United States yesterday! It took 2 cars to get all of us and their luggage to their temporary apartment!

Heather says "After a taxi, a train, a 13 hour plane ride, a bus, another train, a 10 hour plane ride we finally made it home 33 hours later! Thankfully, so did our 12 bags!!"

We are so glad to see them and know they are only a car ride away!