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Passports Not Hallpasses

Family of Four Traveling the World, Exploring New Countries and Learning a Lot Along the Way

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Texas

A December to Remember

December was mostly filled with remodeling the bathroom. It was by all standards a family affair.

Keali running the jackhammer.

If we weren’t demo’ing, cutting, sheetrocking, or at Home Depot, we were sure to be found shopping for or picking up tile and fixtures. We had the benefit of working with an amazing interior designer (Linda Elston) who made the process easier and funnier. Even so, the house was filled with dust, and Scott and I were living in the guest room upstairs. It wasn’t always fun.

We were also happy to be able to see some of our friends after returning to Houston.

Like all Decembers, perhaps one of the best parts of the month was the “advent calendars”. Several years ago, we decided to give the kids little gifts (candy, joke, socks, etc) every day leading up to Christmas. This year was the first one that Keali decided to get in on it. Daily, she presented us with homemade art, notes, or jokes. This one was my favorite. It shows how much her sense of humor has developed over the last couple of years.

Advent note from Keali.

And of course, Christmas was a fun holiday for us. The kids both got new bikes in anticipation of the upcoming trip (and because they hadn’t had new bikes in five years).

Christmas morning.

The rest of their Christmas consisted of “experiences”.

Keali’s biggest and most favorite of course was a trail ride.

Sadly, December brought the loss of one of the family members. Sweet little Puzzles died after a long, healthy, and fun-filled life. She was a fantastic little hamster who was loved dearly by Keali (and Maja while we were gone).

Keali held Puzzles for almost two hours as she died peacefully.

I’m sure someone will tell me it is gruesome to post a picture of Puzzles. And perhaps that is true. But Puzzles was a great pet, and Keali deserves to have the memory of her honored as part of our adventures. Puzzles was an adventure for us all too.

We closed out December looking forward to our new adventures in January.

Keeping Busy to Keep Sane

We landed back on October 26 after a beautiful nine months on the road. When we returned from living in London, I was extremely depressed. As such, I expected to be in the same boat after coming back from the travels. To minimize that, we planned ahead by planning as many things to do as possible. From an amazing Halloween party at the neighbor’s house to sword casting in the front yard to homeschool classes at the museum and a little of everything in between, we ran from event to event with homeschool in between.

Keali and Scott worked the haunted house at the Halloween party.

Never too old to collect candy.

The dead babydoll looking cute, I mean, scary.

We stayed busy. And we stayed happy. We were still missing our travels and new friends, but we did it all with a smile.

Making swords in the driveway.

What could possibly go wrong with the kids having these?!

November was the month that we solidified our next move. We decided to update the master bathroom and sell the house. We all were ready to move on from Houston, so it seemed like this was the best possible time to do it.

In order to take advantage of year end sales and taxes, we decided to go ahead and buy our next “home”.

Home, sweet home!

Next up: Get the house ready to sell.

Houston is done

Well, we closed out the Houston trip successfully. Sunday was a great time. It started early with Berryhill’s meeting up with Gina and drinking a cold beer. For the record 9:30am Houston time is 3:30pm London time, so it was clearly beer-thirty. After a great visit with G-money, we went to the Texans game. Without question, it was one of the best games we have been to. Down to the wire, we stayed until the end, on feet, yelling and cheering. SO FUN!


Capitol Grill was the perfect ending. I do miss a good Texas steak!

Monday we were able to get our fangs cleaned at the (greatest ever) dentist. Then we tested our newly cleaned teeth on sushi at Fish. Of course overeating was in order since it would be our last meal in Houston. Again, Scott’s frequent travels paid off and we flew back to London in first class – truly the best way to fly internationally.

A huge shout out to John Kim for his generosity in letting us camp at his house. We are so lucky to have such great friends and we miss them dearly. As great as London is, it is without our friends…

Honorable mention:
Scott’s godson Braden who is now over 6 feet tall!

Braden’s daddy Paul

We ran into the Barrow family leaving the game – such cute kids!

Houston for the weekend


Scott and I returned to Houston this weekend for a work function for his job. We are only in day 2 of 3, but so far we have had a very busy, fun time. Our friend John Kim has graciously provided the comfort of his (beautifully redecorated) home as our base.

Last night we went to the Firm’s Christmas party. It was so fun seeing so many friends, most of whom I hadn’t seen in over a year. Especially fun was seeing JP Smith, who is recovering from a burn. While the injury was a serious one and has caused a great deal of pain and even a week in the hospital, the fact that a grown man was cleaning a grill with gasoline provides me a little giggle. Boys. Young or old, they see no danger…

Some of the things I have realized being back:
Houston is hot even in December and even a couple of weeks prior to Christmas. Yesterday was 75 degrees. The air conditioner needs to be on in the house to sleep comfortably. Imagine what August will be like!

There are restaurants everywhere here. All guarantee to expand your waistline so that you fit in nicely with the rest of the Americans.

It is a strange sensation after living overseas for over a year to be able to hop into the car and actually know where you are going without turning on the GPS sat nav.

We have only lived in London for 6 months, but already, Scott and I found ourselves going to the wrong side of the car and even driving on the wrong side of the road.

It is simply amazing how cheap things are here. From real estate to meals to clothing, cheap cheap cheap! I… must… not… shop… anymore…

I didn’t realize how much I missed college football until we watched a few minutes of it yesterday. It is intriguing how something so simple can be so entertaining.

And unfortunately three days is not long enough to see enough of our friends. But we have still a day and a half left so we will busily cram in as many visits as we can (between the Texans football game, miscellaneous health check ups, and a few cocktails).

I miss the kids (who are in London), but I cannot imagine dragging them on the 10.5 hour flight and adding their jet lag to mine. Without question, they will only make that trip when we move back.

Now, off to play with our dear friend G-money!