Settled and happy :-)

Okay Ruth - this is for you :-)

Sorry about not blogging for a while... We have been a little busy!

We had visitors in the form of my parents, brother and his girlfriend a few weeks back. It was SO lovely to have everyone here - even if for a short time. We still had our rental furniture - but we managed wonderfully. Of course, the day after my parents left - we got our container!!! WooHoo!

Our things came and it's always like Christmas... I was able to unpack and put away 90% of the things before B even got home from work. We were up and running and fully functional the next day. I missed my bed!

We have started to think about travel and have planned a trip to Paris the first week of April. I have a HUGE list of places that we would like to visit while we are here including Italy and the Amalfi coast, Turkey, London, Ireland, Spain, Greece, Germany (during Xmastime) and the list goes on...

Last weekend we discovered some walking trails that start just about 1/3 of a mile from our home. I haven't walked the whole thing, but I have heard that you can walk them all the way to the Sea which is about 3 miles from our place. I have been to walk along the beach, but haven't stayed too long as the wind is a little more than I can handle. Now that it is getting warmer and sunnier, I will go back and do that again.

Still going to the gym - not as much as I am used to, but I walk everywhere, so I don't worry about it too much.

I have met some wonderful women who have introduced me to the wonderful world of Sligro and the open markets. Sligro is a Costco or Sam's type of place that sells items in bulk. No more going to the store for laundry detergent once a week! I find it is not as inexpensive as Costco, but still as effective. Most things here are super expensive - you just learn to appreciate how cheap things are in the States.

I went to the open market with a neighbor of mine and I was in Heaven! The freshest fruits, vegetables, olive bars, fish and meat stalls, clothing (not my style), etc... all in one place! I had to buy a shopping trolley just to bring home all the things I bought. The prices are great and I can assure you that I will be going every week :-)

B is as busy as ever and has a month of craziness starting today which includes 2 trips to Houston, a trip to 3 cities in Asia, Poland, Italy and then our trip to Paris. Whew!

S is playing flag football and is really enjoying it so far - as long as the weather is decent. It's pretty darn painful to catch a football in the cold without gloves. He is enjoying school and picking up Dutch pretty easily. He has a birthday party this weekend at a place that has go-karts, lasertag, bungee soccer, and so on - he is so excited! He has a slumber party the next weekend. He's a busy little guy!

V is doing great with school and basketball. He is looking forward to traveling and has a list all his own of where he wants to go. He is getting older - it's getting harder and harder to get him to hang out with us, so I end up trying to come up with things we can all do together to lure him out of his cave.

In other news - we will be back in Houston in July - we are all looking forward to the slightly (eh hem) warmer weather. This southern belle needs a little more heat!

Til next time!

S