.I would be out of place if I did not say thank you publicly to my mother/father in law for all they have done for us. Between taking us into their home, taking another baby into the house, making delicious meals, watching brooklynn at home and at baseball games, letting us tag along to baseball games, introducing brooklynn to all the delicious food she just loves now, putting Andrew to work and allowing us to have a bit of income, and the list goes on and on. We loved our time spent there, and again so thankful for everything they do for us.
.also my sister, Ronnie. I have always been close to my sister, but I feel we have grown even closer to one another, and I seriously love it. We got together at least once a week, and would laugh and have so much fun together. When the time comes for her to have kids, she will parent just like me... I don't know how many times we would be out and say the same thing to brooklynn or discipline her the same way. its really funny to watch how much we act the same... we both got teary eyed saying good-bye, i have enjoyed getting so close to her.
.as for the road trip. it was surprisingly really really nice. andrew and i talked a lot, and didnt argue ONCE the entire time. (those who know us, know this is a miracle and get accomplishment). brooklynn was SO good. she would cry towards the end of our trip when it was time to put her back in her carseat...but thats understandable! she LOVED watching movies on the DVD player...needless to say that thing was a lifesaver! my mother in law let us take her pilot....and i was thrilled. i LOVE that car, and because we had extra space i was able to bring the swing for baby #2 to sleep in (yes, we still dont have a name yet... it was one of our many discussions on the road). we saw a lot of desert on our trip...so the drive was not like driving to washington....but it was still pretty in its own way. andrew LOVED when we crossed over the texas border and the speed limit jumped to 80 MPH. its not around here (the city) but for some of our trip it was.
.day one of the trip... little miss sleepin.
.day two of the trip...little miss did the most sleep this day.
.view of all our CRAP in the back of the pilot...thank goodness for being able to take this.
.this is what she looks like when she watches a movie. cuddle up with her blanket. adorable.
.my father in law booked us hotels for both nights friday night in new mexico, and saturday night here in texas until we figured out our living situations. what a lifesaver! this was brooklynn's first experience in a hotel room overnight.. and LOVED it. she ran around and got into EVERYTHING. her sleep schedule is SO off from being at grandma's and baseball games, and driving... we are working on a new schedule of one nap a day, and early down. its a work in progress.
.so we finally got here, and thought we knew where we were going to stay... but i did not want to book anything online until i saw it. our last experience was bad...long story short, we thought we knew where we were going to stay... checked out on of the hotels in UT and found out that it was NASTY! they only had double beds, there was no such thing as non smoking... it was sick and there was no way in HAIL that i was putting my family in that. anyways... so we went to what we thought we were going to be at and found out the same thing... DUMP! i was so upset because it was next to USAA where andrew would be working.. and it was cheap. it was suppose to be their deluxe... but it was nothing close to a deluxe. a deluxe of fifth. so at this point i was SO upset and thought we would have to just stay there because of the price and how close it was.
.andrew and i decided we would just drive around USAA and go into hotels and get quotes. 99 a night, 79 a night... umm!?!? we are not made of money!...so we just continues searching....we were getting no where. i prayed we would find somewhere that was not ghetto for Brooklynn and i, and still within our budget. we went out to dinner just to take a break. one of the closest places to our hotel that our father in law booked for us was applebees. so off we went. there was this hotel next to it that looked SO fancy. and we thought lets just try it out.
.because this is on the internet and i dont know who all totally reads my blog... i am not going to say the name of the hotel. but we walked in, and i thought yea right. there is NO WAY we are going to be able to get this place. but we tried anyways. we walked up to this sweet girl and mentioned we were looking to stay AT LEAST 72 nights, and that he was working for USAA. she told us to hold on a second and went to talk to her manager. she came back with 6200 written on the piece of paper. yep, thats what we thought... 6,200 for the total stay. no it was 62 a night. this was ALOT of money, and ALOT more than we wanted to spend.
.we found out that it was 62 a night for their king room. she showed us and it was really nice. the first room was the living room with tv and pull out couch. than it walked into another section that was the bathroom. than it walked into our bedroom with a king bed. had fridge and microwave and we figured it would work out. than i mentoned i had another on the way and she said, oh my goodness you need the king suite with kitchen. when i asked how much that would be per night she said she would give it to us for the same price. they also had FREE HOT breakfast in the morning and FREE dinner in the evening. that means i would only be in charge of lunches. easy!
.we told her we had to think about it, and check out the other location the following morning that was a WALK to usaa. we talked about it and slept on it and went to the following location the next morning. the manager there said he could only match the price for the king room... and it would be 69 a night for the king suite with kitchen. the drive was the only thing holding us back from booking the other hotel. we thought and prayed and thought and prayed and ended up staying with the king suite with kitchen. we figured we would stay here for the first month and if the drive is just too much for andrew we will move to the closer location our second month.
.so here is the view from the window in the family room...behind booklynn is where you walk in.... the other door connects to the space next to use if we had family here and wanted to connect out rooms.
.family room tv. brooklynn's clothes are in those two drawers with her basket of toys we brought.
.another view of the family room....i got to bring MY SWING cause we brought the honda pilot and had room.
.kitchen. small... but since i only make lunches it totally works. sink, fridge, microwave, and one burner, granite countertops.
.our room (and brooklynn's) this is the view from the family room... has a door which we love so we can close out our room if we want, or i do when brooklynn is taking a nap. brooklynn's pack n play is on my side of the bed.
.another view of our room.
.so this is the hallway that also comes out of our room into the bathroom area...so two ways to get to the bathroom... through out room, or through the family room/kitchen area. again has another door into our room so we can shut it if we want.
.bathroom. yippee!
.vanity right outside the bathroom door.
.we love it. andrew was worried about me not having a car, but we talked to the hotel and they have a shuttle that will take you 3 miles for free around the hotel. 3 miles may not sound like that much... but i have walmart, a theatre, THE MALL, and another strip mall all within 1 mile! yahoo! Brooklynn and i also have a pool that we have used everyday since we have been here and we LOVE it. so glad things worked out for us. they have room service EVERY DAY...they come make your bed, change your towels, vacuum, take out garbage... i am gonna forget what it's like to cook and clean when we leave this place and i am in REAL reality!
well enough writing.. it was more for me to remember later, but also update friends and family too. i have a doctor apt tomorrow. i have not been for 2 months. we are just praying that this doctor will work with our family and our needs. i really need to be iduced for the sake of andrew's work and my mom being here to watch b. so i guess blog update on that tomorrow or wednesday. as for now. here are some pictures that we have been up to.
(we pass by these boots every time we go a bit down the freeway and back to our hotel. they are RIDICULOUSLY huge)
Everyone talks about the riverwalk, we went yesterday for our family outing for memorial day and it was BEAUTIFUL. i wore the WRONG shoes and i failed because our camera died... so these are from the internet... but we plan to go again with the camera and possibly during the night because its suppose to be even more pretty!.
.riverwalk.
.riverwalk boat tours... we hope to do one before we go.
.riverwalk.
.this is brooklynn showing us where her eyes are... she closes them.. its hilarious. need to get video so you guys dont think she is just crazy.
.walking with daddy to the pool.
.little ruffel butt.
.do you see the excitement on this child's face?/? she LOVES the pool and will scream and kick her feet. its adorable.
.pure excitement.
.she LOVES when her daddy throws her in the air... seriously this kid is going to LOVE amusement parks... she has no fear...ignore andrew's pastey white body... this is only 1 day of being in san antonio.
.it looks like andrew is mad and trying to drowned her... but this is another one of her favorite things that daddy does... he spins her fast enough that it creates an air pocket and goes around her head... she gets so excited over this.
.more.
.brooklynn thinks its the most funniest thing to push her daddy under water.
.she pushes his head under water.....
.and laughs about it.
.this is my FAVORITE swimsuit that grandma got for her...i LOVE it on her...need to get a better picture... but this girl wont stand still for long enough...
.thanks for the swimsuit grandma... it really brings out my blue eyes.
alright i think thats enough... i am even wearing brooklynn out....
.day one- fell asleep on the floor on her own.
.day two- fell asleep on the floor on her own.
.day three- fell asleep on the floor on her own.
.thats what we have been up to....until next time.
