Last weekend Elsy, the kids, and Elsy’s parents took a trip to Houston to visit some of Elsy’s family.

On the way there we stopped and took some pictures of Texas’s state flower – the Blue Bonnet.

The Blue Bonnets were all over the place just growing wild on the side of the road. It really reminded me of the Poppies in California.

Speaking of Poppies, I upload a whole bunch of pictures in a new category named “nature”.

This new category has pictures of the Texas Blue Bonnets, California Poppies, Yosemite National Park, and the Northern California Coast.

Most of these pictures were taken some time ago but I just got around to uploading them.

Enjoy!

Technorati : Blue Bonnets, California Coast, California Poppies, Texas Blue Bonnets, Yosemite, Yosemite National Park

I have added a new section to the photos section – Pictures of Round Rock.

The photo here is one of many farms in north Round Rock. This particular one is less then 5 miles from our house.

Now I do not want you to think that we live in the sticks or anything, it’s just we live on the outskirts of town. In fact the land that our house is built on used to be farm land.

I will be taking and uploading more pictures once the weather clears up.

Well there has been a lot of progress on the house over the last week.

In 1 day the house went from studs to being completely drywalled. Within 3 days they completely mudded the walls and textured them.

Our neighbors house which is 1 day ahead of ours is having all the trim put in place so that means that ours should be going in within the next day or so.

Also, they have put all the tile floors in the kitchen, closets, and bathrooms and they have done the tile in the shower in the main bath room.

Finally, we have had the wiring for surround sound installed for ceiling speakers. OK, I have to confess, I snuck in the night before they put the drywall up and ran the wire myself. I did do it myself because -

1. They would not let us do anything custom to the house because of the package and price that we got
2. Even if they would have let me pay someone, why would I want to pay someone hundreds of dollars when it cost me $20 (the cost of the speaker cable)

Anyway, things are cruising along on the house so I looks like we will have it at the beginning of May (before Dan Jr. comes – Yeah!)

I thought that I did not miss anything from California.

I was wrong.

Back in California I would regularly have Chinese food when on my lunch break during the week. During my exploring here is Texas I was unable to find a good Chinese fast food place. It is not that there were several and that they were bad. There just weren’t any.

Until today.

I found a Panda Express in the opposite direction of were I usually go for lunch. I usually am not a big “Oh this food tastes so good” person but… The food tasted so good!

So, there you have it. I think now I can say fully –I do not miss California.

I just uploaded some pictures that I took when I was first in Texas of Lake Travis. Lake Travis is the biggest lake in the Austin area (in Texas also I think) and made by the Colorado River.

These pictures are taken from the north part of the lake in a community known as Lago Vista. This area is only about a half hour from our house.

Last weekend we went to the southern shore of Lake Travis and where able to go into the Mansfield Field Park which has camping, hiking, swimming, day use, and a boat ramp. Elsy and I have decided that we definitely want to get another boat when the kids get older.

Unfortunately I forgot my camera so I do not have any pictures right now. Don’t worry though, that is only the first of many trips to the lake.

Well they have been steadily working on the house over the last 2 weeks.

During that time we have gone from framing and windows to a roof, electricity, and insulation. They should be starting on the drywall this week.

Also, they have levelled and grated the lot so we have a better idea of how it is going to look when it is done.

There are more pictures in the photos page.

Well after being almost a week late, the furniture has arrived. A word to the wise, if you are going to hire a company to do your moving make sure you -

• Have someone actually come out to your house to give you an estimate.
  • Elsy and I are not movers and do not know how much truck space our house takes up. We ended up needing double the space which cost double the money.
• Get a firm date of delivery.
  • We were told 2-5 days (not business days). On the contract it stated 7-14 business days (which they held to when the furniture did not arrive on Monday).
• Know the distance to your front door at your new house.
  • Our “contract” only covered 75 feet when it was 75 steps to our front door
• Make sure the truck can get to your front door.
  • The moving guys where throwing around renting a “delivery vehicle” to go from the truck to our apartment if they could not get in the complex.
• Get service from a moving company, not a broker.
  • The people we purchased service from were brokers so they had to call the real moving company to find out where our stuff was.

Hind sight is 20/20. I would have just rented the Uhaul and done it myself if I had know it would have been so expensive and such a hassle.

Oh well, we were all so happy to see our beds that all the issues with the moving company washed away (especially Mikey when he saw OUR bed – I wish he would have been that happy with HIS bed). Anyway, the next few days will be for unpacking and settling.

They are really moving along quickly on our house.

The framing that you see went up in 1 day. It is truly amazing.

Unfortunately I have gotten in 2 accidents that have not been my fault within 1 week of each other.

The first one was when I was just sitting still waiting to turn left. The guy behind me was not paying attention and bumped into me. Fortunately he was only doing about 5 MPH do it did not do too much damage (just a few chips in the paint on the rear bumper).

The second accident was 6 days later. I was following behind a car when it pulled to the right shoulder and then decided to try a u-turn right when I was on the side of it. I had to swerve all the way into the media (thank God there wasn’t a curb) but they still hit me.

The second one was a shock. Before the first accident I had never been hit before (I have hit a car or 2, but that is a different story) so being in 2 accidents in less then a week was just simply unbelievable.

Oh, the worst part was that I wasn’t even in my car for both accidents, I was in Elsy’s! The good news is that the Toyota Camry is pretty solid being beat up like that.

It is being repaired at the same shop for both accidents and we should get it back at the end of this week.

Well after 2 days on the road Elsy, the kids, Elsy’s parents and I made it to Round Rock. The weather was supposed to be pretty bad but we only got a little bit of rain in El Paso and some sprinkles in Austin. Everywhere else was cloudy but dry.

Although we are here, we have found out that the movers will not be here until Thursday or Friday. They originally where supposed to be here on Monday. Oh well, it gives us some time to rest before having to get all the furniture situated.

Elsy, Mikey, and Genesis all really missed me and missed them a lot also during the 2 weeks that they were in California and I was here in Texas. Mikey wore me out yesterday chasing me around the house and wrestling with me. I get a break today by being at work!

More fun to come as the movers get here and we begin to settle in. We will keep you updated.