Adios Texas!

After gobs of chores to get the house and cars ready for us to be gone for 5 months, it was time to start saying our good byes.

The kids found a few of their friends. We went to the water park one last time. An early birthday dinner with Sloan's best friend. Abu took each of the kids out solo so she could get them a few fun items at Target and to eat a last stack of pancakes. Yanira had a going away party with her She Dares Collective ladies. We enjoyed a last swim with Grandpa Al and Grandma Shalyn.

My Mom and her husband Poppo were lifesavers the night before our flight helping us pack up 9 suitcases (and a mountain bike!). They were back at 7AM the next morning to drive us to Love Field in two SUVs(!) full of people and luggage. It was so kind of them.

As we had always expected, there were big tears that morning as the kids cuddled our loyal dog Pixel one last time. She's going to stay behind to look out for Abuela Sandra. :-) 

Mateo was especially sad to leave his dog. Mama made three Pixel pillows for us, and they arrived just in time for the kids to hold them on the plane. 

Just before our family entered security we stopped at a bench to be intentional about this big moment in our lives. We thanked each other for the love we share, and celebrated ourselves for being brave and doing hard things.💖

This was our last official moment in Texas.

As we got on the plane Mateo reminded us of a cute game Papa created years ago when Mateo was maybe 4. And he’s kept it going with his sister. We talk about the jet bridge as if it were a full human arm. “Ugh! We’re stuck in the arm pit! Gross! …Now we’re in the elbow!! …We made it to the wrist!!” GOOD TIMES. It was a nice reminder that there will be lots of joy together. 

This motivated Papa during a layover in Tampa to make the kids an awesome scavenger hunt...

We were on our way to the Caribbean!

The culture lessons began on the plane. Oh right! The people of Puerto Rico clap for the pilot when the plane lands. It's just one of a million Puerto Rican things where you have to be there to really store in your heart. 👏👏👏👏👏

We made it to our airbnb (which Yanira picked perfectly) and were blessed with rock star parking. Mama and Papa knew it was time for bed when we had our only argument that whole day. It was about the very unimportant issue: How will we temporarily place our luggage in the living room as we bring it all inside? 🙃

With 1,000 stressful BIG details to iron out, like getting the kids enrolled in school, finding a furnished apartment, getting our work lives established... the most logical thing to do that first Thursday morning in PR was to hit the beach! More updates to come. We made it.