Hotel and Car

This is the beginning of a great series of posts (and I might add a much anticipated series based on the hoard of requests we've gotten to put these pictures on here). These posts will be in connection with the previous posts Christy put on here about our Interviewing/Housing trip to Texas.

As a starting point, I thought it would be appropriate to talk a little about where we spent a good majority of our time: the rental car and hotel room.

Here is a picture of our beautiful rental car. We didn't give him a name while we were there, but while writing this post, I wish we would have. He was a trooper. He took us over 800 miles total driving (going back and forth to different areas of Houston) and he got us through a flood. If I were going to give him a name it would be blu (even though he is green).

This is a view out of our window. We were so excited to see palm trees and all of the green of the Houston area (which you'll see more of in later posts). I have to say that this was one of the best (cheap) hotels that I have ever stayed in. Being in a hotel for a full week is never an easy thing for a family, but they did just about everything they could to accommodate our needs and make the stay good for us. (just a little example of this: I called the day before we went down there to see if they would have a crib available while we'd be there. At the time, they told us that they only had one crib and that it was already in use and would be until part way through our stay. I asked if there was anything that could be done and the receptionist said that he'd see what they could do. When we got there the next day, they had gone out and bought a new crib just for Gabs.)

One thing that Gabs missed on the trip was her little pink chair. In lieu of her favorite spot, she had to come up with a comfy place to take a break. Throughout a lot of the week, Gabbie could be found lounging (well theoretically lounging; she would also be bouncing around playing) on the pillows of our bed.

Another thing that we liked about our room was that it was very conducive to our work needs. With the exeption of a fast enough internet connection for video (we had to do most of our classes using just voice calls) the room was very acommodating for a little "office." Toward the end of the week, it became a little taxing that we had to teach in the same room that we slept and did other things (especially because we teach in the late evenings and early morning), but I don't know of a hotel that you can go to (in our price range) where you have a separate room to use for business.

We also liked that there was a little cabinet (pictured on the left) that had a fridge and microwave. We were able to save a lot of money by being able to get food at the grocery store rather than eating out all the time.

This (above) is one of my favorite pictures from the trip. Can you tell that Christy wasn't too disappointed that her video didn't work when she was teaching?

This (again above) is another on of my favorite pictures from the trip. To understand why it is my favorite I have to tell you the story behind it:

When you stay in a hotel for a week, you start to get to know some of the hotel staff. The front desk receptionists were always happy to see us in the morning, and all of the staff came to love Gabbie. They all told us that they thought Gabbie came straight out of a story book. One day, Friday I think, we came home to find that not only had they cleaned up our room and made our beds, but they also took the time to make Gabbie's bed. They fluffed her pillow, folded her blankie, and put her little pooh bear (one of Gabs' favorites at the moment) on her pillow.

Christy and I thought it was so sweet of the ladies. I could just see the little lady getting so much joy out of doing it for Gabs. It was so thoughtful.

I feel a little like I'm part of a Brian Reagan comedy sketch right now (grape is favorite, but cherry is other favorite, grape is most favorite though, unless they have cherry). This really is another favorite picture though. Without much explanation, we didn't have a table or high chair in our room. This is how gabs ate a lot of her food this week. (Are we terrible parents?)

Partway through the week, Gabbie decided that she wanted to wear her Easter dress. She was so proud of herself that she got it over her arms all by herself. Our little girl is getting very independent lately.

Another favorite. How, as a parent, can you not love the look of your sleeping child. I think she is so beautiful in this picture. A lot of driving is very taxing on little girls.



And last but not least: Gabs made sure that noone forgot to brush their teeth this week. (As you can guess, Gabs likes to be in charge as much as possible.)