France

We took our long awaited trip!  By the time it got here I was so happy to finally not need to plan, and just do it..we knew stuff would go wrong but it was part of the adventure.

We spent 10 days in France, and split our time between Paris, Verdun and Bayeux. 

I am so glad I didn't talk Kevin out of any of our destinations, while it was a lot of travel in between the cities, each were really different and since we'd partly chosen France for the historian perspective we really needed to hit all three.   I know it will be years before we go overseas again, but I'm already contemplating ways to incorporate Verdun into a future trip since we were there only 1 night we know there is a lot to see and do.

I want to do a recap, both for myself and for if friends want ideas of what we did, I just haven't made the time.....I did put our photos together -- that was my goal before heading back to work.

We had an amazing time, and have stories and memories for years to come.

This weekend we get to give our niece and nephew their gifts, we missed both of their birthdays so promised to bring them something back...and they are really the only ones we shopped for!

I keep meaning to write a post, instead..a hybrid list/post:

• I'm living vicariously through our puppy.....I get a taste of what it's like to go through life being really cute...she has literally stopped traffic!
• We saw Hamilton!  and it was even better than I'd thought it could be.  I'd given up hope of seeing it, but as we're getting ready for bed we get a call from K's cousin saying he had tickets he couldn't use for the next night, did we want to buy them?  K was like, we can think on it and let him know - and I was like, call him back now..we want them!    It made for a whirlwind few days (I was also about to head out of town), but so worth it!    My husband is not big on musicals, but one on history is right up his alley -- he even references the musical in his class!
• We are getting excited for a long awaited trip!

Washington on the Brazos

Kevin sponsors a Historical Society at his college, and they have started doing field trips to historic sites in the area.    I wasn't able to join them for their trip to the Battleship, but was able to join them for the trip this weekend to Washington on the Brazos.   I'm not sure how, as a native Texan, I've never made the trip before, but neither of us had!  

I didn't even realize the significance of the site -- its where the Declaration of Independence for Texas (from Mexico) was written and signed.   We were able to see a reconstruction of the building where it happened -- and we were even there the time of year that it had happened.  I am glad the temperature wasn't in the 30s when we were there like it was in 1836.  The town is gone, but we were able to walk the site and see where the ferry crossing (across the Brazos River) was -- the drawings of the ferry look like not much more than a flat bottom boat, a rope and a pulley.
  

We also saw the house where the last President of Texas lived - smaller and more rustic than you'd expect for a president!   Surrounding the house we were able to see living history exhibits with people to explain and answer questions - seeing cooking and plowing how they were done at that time was humbling..I didn't get to see it demonstrated, but just the tools for laundry on display make me want to give my washer and dryer a big hug!

It was also quite a treat to get to meet some of Kevin's students and really see him in his element.  We toured the site and then all had lunch together in Navasota before going into our separate cars to head home.

Spring Breakin'

Kevin is on spring break (and NOT at a conference like last year so he can actually get some R&R).  I took the week off from work so we could both be off (loving no alarm clock!) and we did a quick beach trip.   It was our first time to Crystal Beach and we loved it!

Kevin found a great rental beach house, close to the water and close to places to eat - I wanted a no cook vacation and we did it, we had breakfasts at the beach house and a picnic lunch on the beach but had dinner out both days,.

It was definitely a first for me to be at the beach and need a jacket - I was torn between stay in the shade to prevent sunburn and get in the sun to warm up!    Even chilly it was great to be on the sand and near the water, very relaxing...and we'd boarded the dogs so I got to sleep in a little, my furry alarm clock wakes me at 7 never fail at home...

Sadie

February...already?    I am glad to leave January behind but find it hard to believe one month of the new year is already behind us.

January can be summed up for us in one phrase - SECOND DOG!

We have been talking about getting an additional dog for a while, and decided that the time was right now that we are not only moved but settled into our new house.   We knew we wanted to get a female dog and that we needed one that is submissive to get along with our grumpy, only child dog Smokey.

We did some research on breeds, looked at lots of rescue groups and just couldn't decide what to do.  I looked at a local rescue group's adoptables that a friend of mine works with and while looking at grown dogs (what we were planning to get), I showed a photo of a puppy to Kevin and we were like why not a puppy?   Once we decided on an animal our process moved pretty fast -- we met her, including Smokey and adopted her within a weekend!

She is 3 months old, and we are not sure what breed she is but she's a sweetheart.  trust me, she's also a challenge - she's a biter, and can get up on the table if we don't watch it.  but we are loving having this little one (Smokey won't admit it but he likes her too).   

We named her Sadie.

We brought her home on MLK day, probably not the smartest idea to get her on a Monday night right before Kevin's semester starts.    But we unexpectedly got to be at home with her for the next 2 full days due to very cold, icy conditions.    The second semester in a row delayed due to weather (its becoming tradition), but it actually helped us to get some time with her and a couple of days to try to figure out our new routine with 2 dogs (3 weeks in we are still figuring it out)