Do we have a house yet?

The journey continues for us in our adventures in house hunting.  Last week we found a house we really loved, so we made an offer, and they accepted.  We are now further in the process than we’ve been before, and the house we want offer on is now listed as “Option Pending,” on the Houston real estate website.  Option Pending basically means we have a ten day period to pursue the house and to get an inspection.  Now we need to secure the whole mortgage thing, and pray that closing procedures go as planned, and nothing is wrong with the house.  

Closing date is set for August 30th, which is a month from today!  We thought about waiting to look for a house until HGTV was in town and we could be on one of their shows like “Property Virgins” or “My First Home,” but they weren’t going to be in the Houston area for a while.  ; )  We’ve been watching HGTV too much this summer, but its been very informative, and we got a lot of great ideas for the house.  We’ll keep you posted as this chapter in our life unfolds.

Day at the Circus

The circus is such a fun place.  There are so many people to watch and interesting smells to take in.  I made the mistake of not eating breakfast before going to the circus, so the smell of cotton candy and popcorn made me feel like I was starving.  John went to the concession stand and brought back these drippy, greasy, soggy nachos.  Well when your hungry, it makes food taste so much better than it sometimes really is because i ate up the nachos like they were a gourmet meal.  

We watched elephants twirl, tigers roar, dogs dance, and acrobats fly.  Click here to see pictures of the day.  

Hooks Game with Corrie's Parents

We love going to minor league baseball games.  It’s not that expensive to go to games, and we have gotten to experience the game with many of our friends over the years.  Tonight we had the opportunity to take Corrie’s parents to a Corpus Christi Hooks baseball game.  They’ve never actually been to a Hooks game, so that was even more special.

Tonight was dollar dog night, which means you get hotdogs and soda for a dollar each.  Usually we would only eat two hotdogs for dinner at most, but there is just something about dollar dog night and being at a baseball game that makes us feel like we should eat at least three hotdogs, and drink two sodas each.  

The Hooks won the game, which is always good.  Click here to see photos from the game.  

Day of Geocaching with Jon and Joy

We set our early on Saturday morning to head to Port Aransas for some geocaching fun.  John had so much fun getting to hang out with another geocacher, because usually he has to go out by himself or with Selah and Corrie.  Todays group included John, Corrie, Jon, and Joy.  Jon is the friend who introduced John to geocaching last June.  

The days plans included caching in Port Aransas, Aransas Pass and Portland.  Lunch was at Robert’s Point Park near the ferry with some other geocachers who were hosting the “Port Aransas Beach Bash, 2008.”  John was excited to see quite a few Houston geocachers that had made the trip down to south Texas.  

After a long day of roaming around looking for caches it was nice to relax at a Corpus Christi Hooks baseball game.  We sat in the outfield in the rocking-chair seats and watched the Hooks beat the Frisco Rough Riders.  Fun times. 

Going to these minor league games makes me miss living in CC.  We know in Houston we have the Astros, but going to an Astros game is so much more work than going to a Hooks game.  The drive is not an easy one, you have to fight Houston traffic to and from the game, which scares Corrie to death.  But for now, the Houston area is where God seems to want us.  

Family Time on Lake Conroe

John’s mom, Aunt Meredith, and cousins Alex and Tyler came out to play on the lake near the end of our house sitting experience.  We had so much fun with them.  John got to show off his master grilling skills that he acquired this summer by cooking both lunch and dinner for the family.  Tyler had a blast riding the wave runner with John, trying to convince him to go as fast as possible.  With Corrie, Tyler got to experience falling off the wave runner, twice.  It made for quite a story to tell when they got back, and they were so proud.  

John spent a lot of time inside working on grad school with his mom and aunt.  They are all enrolled in Lamar University academic partnership working on their masters. Currently they are taking a technology in education class, and John is a little bit more tech savvy than they are so he was doing his best to try and help them set up their blogs and wiki spaces that were required by the class.  While they were all inside, Corrie played in the pool with Alex and Tyler.  

Click here to see photos from the day.  

Hanging out with the boys on Lake Conroe

Some of John’s friends came up for the weekend to hang out and play on the lake.  We took turns riding the wave-runner, and fulfilling our need for speed.  Since it was the 4th of July weekend, the lake was pretty crowded which means lots more waves, and a bumpier ride.  The boys thrived on the extra wakes and speeded their way over them flying through the air and sometimes flying off the wave-runner.  Corrie is a bit more timid on the wave-runner, only hitting speeds of 25 to 30 miles per hour, while the guys all seemed to enjoy hitting speeds of 43 miles per hour.  

It’s such a joy getting to hang out with these guys.  They’ve always been such good friends to John and so genuine to me.  We look forward to the days ahead when our families can hang out and enjoy fun filled days much like this one.  

Click here to see photos.  

Celebrating our freedom at Lake Conroe

We were blessed to have our friends Will and Abby come out to the lake house we are house sitting and celebrate the 4th of July with us.  We had a wonderful day of lounging by the pool, cooking on the grill, riding the wave-runner, and watching the fireworks.  

The boys cooked fajitas on the grill, and Abby made spanish rice.  We ate dinner outside while watching the sunset, and enjoyed some good conversation.  There were fireworks all over the lake horizon throughout the night.  John and Will shot off some fireworks while Abby and I tried to stay as far away as possible and out of the path of fire.

Click here to see photos.