The Big 4-0

I am sure everyone would agree that a person's 40th birthday is a big occasion (especially if you are a woman), and it seems like there is usually a big trip involved in the celebration.  I have always had visions of relaxing somewhere quiet and warm.  You know, lazy days spent at a  Four Seasons somewhere with a beach and a really good spa. 

Well, I got a big trip alright - a trip to College Station, and it wasn't just warm it was hot.  Technically, I did get a trans-Atlantic trip.  It just happened to be a trip to Texas that the entire family was taking anyway, but I am not complaining.  Seriously, I had a great birthday, and I was able to spend it with the people I love most in the world.

We actually started my birthday celebration a day early when my family took me out to eat at an amazing steakhouse called The Republic.  I just couldn't get enough steak while we were home, so it was the perfect treat to celebrate my big day.  It also was special to enjoy that great meal with my parents, grandmother, brother and sister-in-law, and nephews (and of course Keith and the girls).

Very happy (and full) girls.

The whole family ready to eat (again).

The girls and Hayden looking good.

Chuck and Meme.

On my birthday, I had no choice but to start the day off with a quick run.  It was hot, but it was also very necessary after all of the food we had been eating.  After showering and while I was getting ready for the day, my family surprised me with their big "gift" to me.  Keith and the girls made t-shirts for my birthday, and they were sweet enough to make one for me.  Really, what more could I have asked for?

The front view of the birthday t-shirts.

The back view.

Seriously, I am a good sport.  My family insisted that we wear our shirts for the day, so we all went to eat lunch at Raising Cane's sporting our matching t-shirts.  The perfect sweet tea was the only thing that got me through that meal.

After lunch we got a visit from the Dallas contingency of the family.  My cousin couldn't make the trip because he had to work, but his sweet wife Lynne brought their three boys to visit us, my brother's family and my grandmother.  Luckily, Lynne had backup from my Aunt and Uncle.  It was so much fun getting to hang out with the whole crew, and it was quite a sight to see the house full of 5 little boys.  We missed my cousins, Michael and Laura, but it was great seeing Lynne, Charlie, Joey, Sam, Jean and Stormy.

Meme and the great-grand kids.

Hayden and Charlie.

Nana, me and Jean.

Sam, Lynne and Devin.

Carson, Sutton, Charlie and Sloane.

After the excitement of the Days' visit, we were all hungry again, so we headed to Chuy's for some Mexican food.  Really there is no better way to celebrate than with some chips, queso and margaritas.

I changed shirts, but my family didn't.

Me, Nana and Meme.



Chuck, Devin and Carson.

The kids' table.

Thanks to my sweet family for making my 40th birthday so much fun and so special.  After spending a year so far from home, getting to spend the day with all of you was the best present I could have received.

Texas Trip Home: College Station

We spent the third week of our Texas trip visiting my family in College Station.  My parents and grandmother live there, and my brother's family flew in from Washington D.C. to spend the week with us.  It was a pretty relaxing week full of food and fun.  Here are the highlights:

• Cooling off in Nana's cold house.
• Catching up with Meme (my grandmother).
• Eating my mom's Texas Trash (it is a home-made snack mix).
• Reading all my mom's old People and Real Simple magazines.
• Playing with Hayden, Carson and Ranger.
• Eating home-made chicken fried steak (my mom is an amazing cook).
• Getting doughnuts with Grampy.
• Swimming in the neighbor's pool. 
• Going to Grand Station and playing Lazer Tag, glow-in-the-dark putt-putt golf, and arcade games.
• Celebrating my 40th birthday (that will have to be a separate blog post).
• Getting a visit from Jean, Stormy, Lynne, Charlie, Joey and Sam Day (we missed you Dr. Michael!).
• Eating at Fuddruckers, Raising Cane's, and Rudy's.
• Playing the traditional family wiffleball game in the front yard.
• Seeing The Help at the movies with Meme.

Eating at Fuddrukers with Nana and Grampy.
Look at the size of the iced tea and Coke - you don't get that in England!

Dancing with Grampy and the Blues Brothers.

Trying to stay cool in the pool.

Hayden and Sloane on the computer.

Gearing up for Lazer Tag.

A mean game of air hockey with Hayden.

Chuck, Carson and Hayden playing ball.

The Malaise family wiffle ball game.

Enjoying some Bar-b-Que at Rudy's with Meme.

Grampy, me and Nana.



While we were in College Station, I turned 40 on August 11th.  I had too many pictures to include them in this blog post, so look for the Big 4-0 blog to follow.

Texas Trip Home: Austin

Our friends (ironically our old Emerald Falls neighbors who happen to be from Brighton) the Streeters graciously offered to let us stay with them while we were visiting Austin, so we headed to their house when we got to Austin on Monday.  Unfortunately, we got slowed down at the outlet mall on our way, and we were later getting into town than we planned.  This caused a problem for Tanya who had to answer 2-year old Tilly's "where are the big girls" question every hour. 

Luckily, we finally made it to Austin, and here are the highlights:

• Staying at the Streeter "resort" and getting to catch up with our good friends.  Seriously, Paul is a very talented builder, and their house is amazing and their hospitality can not be beat.  It was really hard to leave!
• Swimming with Tilly because it was the only way to stay cool in the heat.
• Getting to see family - Kirk, Jeanette, Kaeden and Kiera.
• Trying (and sadly failing) to fit in visits with all of our friends in Austin.
• Moving to Hotel Larson mid-week.  Thanks again Claire and Mary Lynne for giving up your beds.
• Running on the Lake Pointe trails.
• Finally getting to have a movie night with Megan.  I forgot how good popcorn, Jr. Mints and Pibb Extra taste.
• Getting to ride around in Megan's new convertible (how did I not get a picture of that sweet ride?).
• Going to the Cheetah Swim Party at the Turner's house.
• Sloane getting to go to Camp Champions with the Stecks to pick up Maddox and visit Walker.
• Sutton getting to have an Austin day with Anne Marie.
• Sutton and Sloane getting to have slumber parties with all of their best friends from home.
• Date night with the Larsons at PF Changs.
• Catching up on old episodes of Saturday Night Live that the Larsons taped.
• Visiting Lake Hills Church.
• Getting to have lunch with some of our old Life Group after church.
• Sweating in the record-breaking Texas heat (OK, that might have only been a highlight for me).

Tilly with the "Big Girls".

Me and Tanya. 
Just guess which one of us is the world record holding athlete.

The girls with their cousins Kiera and Kaeden.

Keith and his brother Kirk.

Mexican food with (part of) the Larson clan.

The Cheetah (Sloane's old soccer team) Swim Party.

Ladies' lunch with Kim, Megan and Natalie.

Tim and Keith (at least they didn't take their shirts off this time).

Sutton and Annemarie.

Sutton her betrothed Colton.

After church lunch with the Turners, Larsons and Ferrells.

The men.

The kids.

Me and Megan before we left Austin.
There were some tears that followed this goodbye.

Our trip to Austin was amazing, but it just went by too fast.  It was impossible to spend enough time with everyone we wanted to catch up with, but we did our best.  We might be living in England, but Austin and Texas will always be home!

Texas Trip Home: Galveston/Houston

It is hard to believe we have been home from our holiday in Texas for over two weeks, but it is not hard to believe I am just now blogging about it.  We have been really busy trying to find a new place to live here in Brighton, but that is another blog post.

We were home in Texas for three weeks, so I think the easiest way to cover our travels is to break my posts down into places visited and try to hit the highlights.  I am warning you now this is basically the documentation of all the food we ate on our travels.

Galveston/Houston:

• Flying into Houston late on July 26th because we missed our connection in Atlanta, but still being met by Gran, Grandad, Kyrie and Corey.
• Getting "stuck" in the airport parking garage.
• Heading straight to the Cameron's beach house in Galveston.
• Missing out on Tropical Storm Don as it went south and fizzled out.
• Kyrie and Corey taking the girls crabbing and to play putt-putt golf.
• Eating good seafood, Mario's pizza, Marble Slab ice cream and snow cones.
• Returning to Houston and going through all the stuff we left when we moved.
• Meeting the Winters for lunch at Ruggles on the Green.
• Missing Fiona when Keith and I ran by her house one morning (we were having a heat-stroke and needed some water).
• Kyrie taking the girls on a shopping spree at the Galleria and to work with her at J Crew.
• Attending Tallowood and visiting with Kara and Michael McDuffy.
• Meeting my cousin Mandy's new baby, Matthew, and visiting my cousins Mandy and Molly.
• Eating at Luby's, James Coney Island, Pappasito's, and Taste of Texas.

Enjoying the beach with Grandad.

Putt-Putt and snow cones.

A must-stop at Mario's Pizza in Galveston.

Celebrating my birthday early at Taste of Texas with Gran and Grandad.

We finally got some Tex-Mex.

Baby Matthew.

Visiting with my cousins, Molly and Mandy.

Target, how I have missed you my old friend!

Our first week in Galveston and Houston flew by, and we were already tired and full when we headed to Austin on Monday 1st August.

End of School Activities

It seems like the end of school isn't quite as crazy here in England as it can be at home (the British are much more sensible), but it has been busy.  So busy, in fact, I have once again fallen down on the job when it comes to the family blog.  Here is a brief update on what we have been up to the last few weeks.

• On 29th June, Sloane had Sports Day at her school.  Sports Day is similar to our Track and Field Day, but the best thing about Sports Day is it is run by the teachers.  It was in fact a very organized event.  Instead of competing by grades or classes, the kids compete by houses (it is very Harry Potter).  The kids all dressed in thier house colors and competed in a number of events.  Unfortunately, Sloane's house, the Unicorns, came in last, but I think she still had a fun day.

• On Saturday 2nd July, Sutton and I participated with a large group of ladies from One Church in Race for Life.  This 5K race for women raised money for cancer research, and it ended up being a beautiful day to be outside.  Our "team" decided to all wear angel wings and halos, and we had runners and walkers.

• The Fourth of July fell on a Monday this year, so the girls unfortunately had to go to school on our US holiday.  Sloane didn't mind because she had a school trip, but Sutton wasn't too happy.  To try to make the day more festive, Sutton and Sloane decorated cookies and cupcakes to take to thier friends at school. 

• The first week of July Keith and I both took our UK Driving Theory tests.  We both passed our tests, and we even got all of our multiple choice questions correct.  Over the next two weeks we took a couple of driving lessons, so we could try to figure out a way to pass the Practical Driving Test.  Obviously, we both knew how to drive, but the UK driving test is very hard (around a 40% passing rate) and we needed all the help we could get.  We were both really nervous to actually take the test, but last week, we both passed and now we have UK driver's licenses.

• Sutton had her Sports Day on 11th July, and she ran in a relay with some of her friends.  Her house, the Vikings, came in 3rd out of 5 houses.

FDM Fun Run

This morning we all participated in the FDM Charity 3K Fun Run in Brighton at Hove Lawns by the seafront.  FDM is Keith's company, and they sponsored fun runs in Brighton, London and Manchester to raise funds for The Prince's Trust.

It was a small, short run that we thought would be fun for the family, but some of us had more fun than others.  Sutton and Sloane were not really excited to get up and go run on a cool, wet day, but Lucy was really excited.  Sutton ended up twisting her ankle in the first 100 yards, so she sat out while Sloane, Keith and I "ran".

After the organized run was over, Sloane, Keith, Lucy and I walked along the seashore.  Keith and I felt like we needed a little more exercise, so we did some sprints up the rock beach.  Because it is steep and there is little traction, it was a really hard workout.

Lucy really wanted to run on the beach and check out the water, but she had to settle for walking on the paved walkway.  Dogs are not allowed on the part of the beach we were on between May-September. 

There weren't many people down at the beach today because the weather wasn't too nice.  It was cloudy and drizzly, and the temperature was just in the mid 60's.  We are hoping for a better day tomorrow.  The forecast is for highs in the low 80's - a real heat wave.  Hopefully, we will be able to return to the beach tomorrow to catch some rays!