Summer in the US!!

Oh my gracious...what an awesome summer!!! We had SO much fun in America! It was so wonderful to see all our family and friends! It went way too quick, so unfortunately we did not get to see everyone, but we saw a lot of people and had a ton of fun!! And it just felt SO good to be in America! We are really very happy here in Malaysia, but I kinda forgot just how good the US is:) It never felt so good to drive on 290...seriously. And I10...oh mercy. My big SUV in nice, normal sized lanes. Then there's HEB. I was so quick to volunteer to go to the grocery store! I would just walk up and down every aisle, just because I could:) And the tex mex and the Bar-B-Q and Panera Bread...man I have I missed Panera Bread!  The best part of course though was seeing family and friends!
I can't put into words how awesome it was to go home to America! We are so happy here in Malaysia and really doing well, but stepping off that plane and seeing my mom felt so unbelievably good. We were in the US for 5 weeks and it was full of playing!!! The kids had a blast! We went back and forth from my parent's house and Brent's parent's house. We also spent a few nights in Round Rock and a day in College Station. There were lots of playdates, ladies nights, sleepovers and tons of eating!! The time just went way to fast though and unfortunately we did not get to see everyone. We enjoyed every minute though and can't wait until next time!
So, I will admit I was a little nervous about flying to the other side of the world with 3 kids by myself, but they did amazing!! Flying business definitely helped:)

The free socks were a huge hit! Not to mention the orange juice in fancy glasses, sleeping masks, and a huge selection of Disney movies! The flight attendants were all very sweet and also brought all the kids a bunch of free chocolate:) My kids now love to fly! There were a couple of other families around us on our first flight to Amsterdam, but the second flight on to Houston was all business men. I am sure they were pretty disappointed when we sat down, but they all high fived the kids and thanked them for being so good when we landed. Definitely a proud mama moment!!

When we got off the plane, which pretty much ran through the airport to get our luggage and get through customs! Even sweet Ella ran!!! We were so excited to see MeeMaw, MiMi, Lauren and Meagan waiting for us!! There were lots of hugs and lots of squeals!!! The kids couldn't wait to get to MeeMaw's house and see Jack too! Boy, have we missed Jack!!

We had a big family dinner with all the grandparents at my parent's house with some yummy brisket! It was perfect! It was almost like we had never left:) The kids were off playing with their cousins and pulling out toys!
And Ella finally got to have MoonPies!! The verdict...she loved them!

 The next day we headed to College Station to meet our new cousin, Kyle! Oh my gracious...he is SO precious!!! The girls were so excited to see him and hold him. Jake was a little hesitant at first, but he quickly fell in love and kept wanting another turn:) We were also extremely excited to

 see Uncle Ron and Aunt Melody!!








We were super excited to see the rest of our cousins the first weekend we were there when we went to Round Rock! My sister and Brent's sister only live about 10 minutes from each other and go to the same church, so we had a great time getting to hang out and play with everyone!! They had VBS that week, so it was prefect timing!!

Reunited and oh SO loud!!!

And sweet Miss Ashley!!

Eating candy at Aunt Brittney's!!

Fixing MeeMaw up!

Ashley took us to a really cool park!!

We even got to dig!

We loved playing on Ashley's new swing set too!!

Fun with bubbles!! Thanks Aunt Andrea!

So, apparently this is where my blog decided to delete everything else I had written. I will be honest...I did cry. But, after a couple weeks of pouting, I have decided to get over it and try again;)

Anyway...the rest of our weeks in America we spent going back and forth between my parent's house and Brent's parent's house. Thank you so much MeeMaw, PaPaw, MiMi and Pops for letting us crash y'all's houses with tons of suitcases and sleepy kiddos! We absolutely loved every minute we got to spend with y'all!!! 

We also loved getting to see friends! Man, we have great friends!! I have missed you guys so much and I loved getting to sit across the table from you guys, go to your houses, swim with you and mostly getting to hear what's been going on:) The kids were so excited to see their friends too!! They loved the playdates and sleepovers and came home already planning playdates and sleepovers for next summer:) Unfortunately, I did not get pictures of everyone we got to see.

And of course, we got to spend lots more time with family!! The kids couldn't get enough of their cousins! We honestly would see them when they were hungry, hurt and when it was time for bed. Other than that, they were off entertaining each other!! Oh the laughing!

We spent a lot of time in the pool! What else are you going to do in Houston during summer??:) Everyone talks about the heat in Malaysia...doesn't come close;)

Noah's Ark was definitely on the list of "Must Do's"! This place is too much fun!! Everyone had a great time on the slides, diving
 board and just swimming around! Even MeeMaw got in on the diving board fun!!!

We made sure to take advantage of some good eating! Bahama Bucks got our business a few times:) And of course we had to go to Freebirds and Rudy's, Papasitos and don't forget Shipleys!

We headed to Brenham one day and enjoyed the BlueBell Factory! The tour was great!! It was really cool seeing all the machines and hearing about how they make everything. Brent was so excited because he got to see them make his favorite, Mint Chocolate Chip! We also got to walk thru a freezer at the end...brrr!!!! The best part though??? The free ice cream scoop at the end! And let me tell you, they give a huge free scoop!!

We had a great time at Main Event with Gran!!

And Buddy Daddy was an awesome audience for all of Lily's Knock Knock jokes!!

We also got to spend a day at the Children's Museum with MiMi, Aunt Andrea and Ashley! That place is so much fun!! There is so much to see and do! I don't think we will ever get it all done in one day:) Lily was super excited because we ran into Ms. Perez, her 1st grade teacher from Katy, while we were there! Totally made Lily's day!!!

  

We were super excited that Tyler, my oldest nephew, and his sweet girlfriend, Allison, got to come to Houston for a weekend! All of my parent's 10 grandkids were there, so we took advantage of it and got some pictures!

One of the highlights for our summer was definitely getting to be a part of Uncle Jeremy and Aunt Laura's wedding!!! The girls were so excited to be flower girls!! And Jake really wasn't sure what a ring bearer was, but he ended up loving it!! Thank you so much Laura and Jeremy for letting us all be a part of y'all's big day! The wedding was so perfect and beautiful and Laura, you were gorgeous!! We all had so much fun! Get ready for pictures!!

 

Pops and MiMi with all their grandkids!

              

                                                                Lily wanted to be like Aunt Laura and Uncle Jeremy;)

So, as much as I was looking forward to the wedding all summer, I knew when it was over we would be heading back just a couple of days later. It was really hard to leave. We just had so much fun and we weren't ready to stop! We are truly blessed with an awesome, awesome family and it is not easy being so far away from them. I am really glad we planned the trip to Paris on the way back (I will post about that next). That made leaving a little bit easier:) I am also so grateful that we had a home and friends to return to. KL really is a great place to live! The kids are so happy here with their school and friends and I have met some many sweet moms thru the school and condo. We are happy;)

We miss you, Jack!