Easter....think we missed that!

We seem to have been very busy over the last week, and although we seem to be slowly settling into life here, it doesn't feel like we've actually achieved much....although the fact that I'm not so scared of driving anymore and can get to and from the supermarket without the use of Mrs Satnav is an achievement in itself!!

We went to look at some schools last week for the girls to go to. The first was a really lovely small elementary school within a reasonable distance of the area we want to live in, the teachers were lovely, the school seemed lovely and Fearne loved it and most importantly she can start immediately ;-).

The second was the British School of Houston, which goes up to 18 years old, the school seemed great, great facilities, interesting style of teaching, she can start next week, but its miles away and would involve me driving at least 50 minutes in each direction. Its not in a particularly nice area of Houston so there's not really any scope for living nearby. Most of the children who go there live in the really expensive areas of the city and catch the school buses. There is the option for the girls to go by bus but a) we think they're too young to go on a bus and b) it would be a very long day from 7.30am to 4.30pm!!

The third school is in a similar area to the first school, goes up to 18 years old, has a really good reputation, but they can't take Fearne until August.....and that means I would have to occupy her for the next 4 months and she wouldn't get to start making some new friends. She's already very bored and driving me up the wall so in reality if they definitely don't have a space for her this is not an option!!

Aside from being stressed about schools, we have been having some more fun over the Easter weekend!

We started Saturday off with a trip to the Waffle House at the end of our road for breakfast. This might sound like a wonderfully traditional and maybe homely establishment, but in really it is more like an American version of Little Chef. However the waffles were huge and the copious amounts of maple syrup they were doused in meant Chris and I were feeling particularly unhealthy by 9.30 in the morning. I still can't get over the fact that Fearne ate all of hers, I was completely stuffed, so where she managed to fit it is beyond me.

So we headed off to Brazos Bend State Park and had a walk round a small lake which hosts wild alligators and turtles!! It felt rather surreal walking alongside a lake and spotting alligators sunning themselves on the surface. There was lots of other wildlife but I honestly have no idea what it was, apart from the herons and dragonflies.

Martha is still full of cold and trying to acclimatize so i ended up carrying her in Henry's sling! By the end of the loop, having carried Martha for an hour in 30 degree heat I felt my waffle for breakfast was fully justified!

(http://www.tpwd.state.tx.us/spdest/findadest/parks/brazos_bend/)

If you look closely there is another bigger one underneath the jetty, its head is just visible.

The baby one!

We finished off the day with a swim in the pool and a BBQ with Jillian and Mark. Fearne seems to have a new found confidence in the pool, and although we haven't yet got her swimming without her swim vest she now loves jumping in and going underwater!

On Easter Sunday, we drove down to Galveston with the intention of spending some time on the beach, however it was sooo windy, we didn't think the children would cope very well, particularly Henry who stills gasps in the slightest breeze. However Chris spent the entire time we were there salivating over the waves and wind and wishing his windsurfing equipment was not on a ship but already here with us. I think we'd better find a house pretty quickly just so we can unpack the windsurfing gear....and so Chris can abandon me for weekends!! hmmmm

We drove home via a place called Kemah looking for a slightly less windy beach, however in the end we opted for a short walk around the boardwalk and funfair rides. Martha chose to go on the train and Fearne opted for the carousel.

As for our usual Easter egg hunt, we accidentally on purpose forgot to do anything. I bought some small eggs with me from the UK and I've saved them for a few indoor hunts this week, when the girls start going stir crazy! I missed our usual Lake District Easter holiday with my family but I won't forget my first Easter here nevertheless.

Houston Zoo and big smiles

We spent Chris' last day before he had to start work by taking the children to Houston Zoo which is close to downtown. I managed to drive us there and only missed one exit off the highway, which to be honest is nothing short of a miracle given the car dodging that goes on between all the drivers.

The zoo itself, is fantastic, lots of animals, birds and reptiles, plus loads of extra children's activities along the way and a huge kids play area. If it hadn't been so hot we would have spent longer there, but both girls were wilting in the sun. I'd definitely like to go back but I might wait till a cooler month or till we've acclimatised more....if that ever happens!

I've now had two days on my own, the first was really tough and we exhausted all toys and activities that we bought with us from the UK by the middle of the afternoon. Its simply too hot to go outside for very long, and by the middle of the afternoon our balcony area is in direct sunlight as is the park which isn't ideal when they need to burn off some energy. Fearne has been off pre-school for 2 weeks and should have gone back yesterday if we were still in Scotland......and oh my god do I need her to go back! As lovely as she is, poor Martha is being bossed and pushed around by her big sister all day long.

Today however has been great, a friend who we have previously met through another friend in Banchory, came to our rescue and drove us to a nearby soft play centre. The play centre was nothing like we've ever been to before. It's a huge warehouse building, filled with all kinds of inflatable bouncy castles, slides, mazes etc. The girls had a great time and spent quite a bit of time climbing up an almost vertical inflatable wall/ladder and then coming down a 10 metre drop slide....which scared me more than them.

After a couple of hours play, they were both starving so we decided to go for lunch somewhere. Now Houston is not known for its healthy food, and finding something to eat that is not junk food or a chain takeaway is something of a challenge. I have never seen so many Whataburger, Denny's, Taco Bell, Macdonalds and Mexican restaurants all in one place. However, we hit gold and found an amazing Mediterranean grill restaurant with loads of different salads. The girls loved the fresh pitta breads, houmous and plates of melon and pineapple. So all in all it was a hit with adults and children, which is quite a rare occurance!

Throughout all of this Henry was a sweetie, and just slept, waking for the occasional feed. He's been giving us lots of smiles over the last week but no matter how hard I tried I just couldn't catch it on camera. However I finally managed to catch one after his bath earlier although its not as clear a picture as I would like it's the best I can get for now.

And finally just to end my really good day, I finally managed to fit in taking the girls for a dip in the pool after tea. It was lovely just to cool down after such a hot day. As I type this I'm listening to the weather forecast here, apparently there were highs of 93 degrees in Houston today which is the highest for this time of year since 1987!....oh and now they've just announced it's only 6 weeks till hurricane season starts, eek!!!

Settling into Houston

As the title says, we arrived here in Houston on Wednesday afternoon. The flight itself was great, the children were fantastic, Henry slept most of the way and the girls kept themselves occupied with stickers and watching television. Actually getting onto the flight at Aberdeen and Amsterdam however was an absolute nightmare. As it turns out now KLM failed to issue Henry a ticket properly and so we almost missed both flights. In the end we had to buy Henry another ticket so we could get on the flight.

Our temporary accommodation is great in that its plenty big enough and right outside the backdoor is the kids play area and beyond that the swimming pool. However location-wise its sort of in no mans land, its a gated community just off an 18 lane highway!! There is nothing nearby and to be quite honest it feels quite isolated....but it is only temporary and I must keep reminding myself of that! We drove around some more residential areas yesterday and past one of the schools we are considering for Fearne and those areas had a much nicer feel about them.

We have so much to organise that its difficult to know where to start, so far our priorities have been a kettle, a mobile phone for me, a bouncy chair for Henry, an ipod dock and a water table for the girls....oh and the obligatory trip to ikea for toy storage! But amongst that we have managed to fit in a trip to the downtown aquarium and yesterday we drove down to the coast and visited the beach at Galveston Island.

I've also been quite brave and had a go at driving, that might seem strange considering I'm quite used to driving in the UK, but Houston drivers are quite honestly insane. So far we have learnt that indicating is pointless, that just tells the other drivers to speed up and not let you in and cutting in front of each other and weaving dangerously in and out of traffic is the only way to get anywhere. Today my challenge to myself is to go to the supermarket on my own, thankfully SatNav can always get me home!

Chris starts work tomorrow, so I'll be stranded here until we get another car, but since I don't really fancy going far on my own with 3 children, I'm honestly not too bothered. Just need to decide what to do with the girls this week while we are at home and make sure we have plenty of supplies today.....plain paper, crayons, stickers and lots of cold drinks to keep cool.

The first of many goodbyes...

As the title says we've had the first of many goodbyes today. It was Fearne's last day at preschool and so she's said goodbye to all her little friends and teachers who she has grown to know very well over the past 18 months. I'm not sure that she fully comprehends that she won't be going back as she was telling me in the car on the way home that she's going to take lots of photos in America and take them into preschool to show all the teachers.

It's not just the sadness of saying goodbye to friends, its also the sadness of knowing she won't start school with them, I won't be standing at the school gate with all the other mums on that first day and Martha won't get the chance to go to preschool here, she would have thoroughly loved it and they her.

We'll be back though, and maybe Henry will get the chance to go to preschool here and have as much fun as Fearne has and make just as many really good friends.

Chris is away this weekend in Devon, he's gone to say goodbye to lots of really close University friends. I wish I was there seeing them too, it would have been lovely, but he promises he's really not having THAT MUCH fun....surfing, cream teas,.....hmph!