The Great Migration to Texas

For those who don't know, we made a recent move to Lake Jackson, Texas over the past couple weeks. Jeremy accepted a tenure-track teaching position at Brazosport College teaching English. He was confirmed on August 8th and by the 24th we were all here.

It was very hard to say goodbye to our friends and family and go.

From our last playgroup:

Our last concert in the quad at OSU:

Last trip to Wacky Bounce:

Last time swimming with friends:

After Jeremy left with the moving van, I got the apartment cleaned and we spent a few days at his Aunt Ronda's house with Grandma Jurgens:

Maeby LOVED watching movies with our cousin Amanda (and I think Amanda enjoyed the company too)

Mostly she loved going on the daily outings with Katie and Ronda, especially when we went to the Portland Zoo:

Nana (my mom) flew to Portland from North Carolina and the next day she, the girls and I flew to Texas where she spent about 10 days helping us get unpacked, moved in and organized.

We're slowly getting used to being in such a different part of the country. We miss the Pacific Northwest and hope to return in the not too distant future. Its hard to not be able to go to the park because its either too hot or there are alligators (yes, really. Jeremy has seen a few already) not to mention the fire ants and various poisonous snakes. We're slowly meeting people and trying to make friends. So far its been a difficult adjustment but we're making it. It is quite green a pretty here though and its fun that the coast is only 20 minutes away where we can see dolphins swimming and find lots of cool looking seashells. We LOVE having a pool in our apartment complex and have been in it most days. We'll post more pictures of where we live soon.

Camping

We camped up north of Green Peter for one night with Jeremy's whole family. This was Georgie's 1st camping trip.

we were right on a river and Maeby couldn't have been happier!

It was a nice last family trip before leaving Oregon.

Wildlife Safari W/ Jurgens Cousins

The last time we visited the safari, Maeby got to meet the resident elephants, George and Alice, whom she promptly renamed "George and Anna" for . . . whatever reason. Anna is easier to say than Alice, perhaps? Who knows?

Anyway, in Mae-speak, that comes out as "Georgie-Anna", and we liked the name so much we decided to give it to Mae's little sister. Georgianna is pictured here with the "Anna" part of her namesake (it's actually Alice, but whatever) in the background.

Benton County Fair

Maeby has been looking forward to returning to the Benton county fair since the moment we left last year. Every time we drive by the fairgrounds she asks about it (also - the circus.) Well, yesterday, her long wait was over.

We stopped by the animal pens first, to ease Maeby into what was sure to be a long day, before all the craziness of rides, rodeo, and cotton candy took over.

Her favorite ride this year was probably the cars. She rode it about ten times, giving the operator her golden smile each time he buckled her in.

We ran into Isaac, and the two palled around for quite some time, going on rides together and having a blast.

Holding hands. So darling.

Grandma holding Georgie, who slept through 8 of the 9 hours we spent at the fair (the other hour was spent eating.)

Maeby and Mama at the rodeo. Mae didn't get a nap, so she started crashing big-time once she finally sat down.

Then . . . Lilly arrived, and she got her second wind back. These two are absolutely combustible together. Hilarious and high on life.

Mae and Lilly got to participate in the stick-horse race, probably the highlight of the day.

Our daughter came in last place, but only because she was the only kid to wait until they said "go!" before taking off.

Logan and Mia were also at the Rodeo, and we had the immense pleasure of sitting with them. They're a wonderful calming influence on our live-wire child, and superb friends all around.

I didn't get a ton of pics of actual rodeo action; I was too busy photographing all the adorable children sitting with me, but I am rather fond of this shot.

A few videos:

Maeby and Lilly: rodeo? What? There's a rodeo going on behind us?

Stick-horse racing:

In all, it was a fantastic day. We rode dozens of rides, ate cotton candy and roasted corn on the cob, and in general made the most of life. Mae fell asleep at about 10:00, an hour before the fair closed, and the moment we got her home and woke her up to put her PJs on, she blurted out "Where are the rides? I want the rides!"

She's already counting the days until next year.