Living Small in Texas

I will soon get to the mountain of pictures and stories from our Christmas in Lawrence and New Year's in Lee Summit.  But, for now, I want to write about our spontaneous trip to Texas.  San Antonio to be exact.

10 days ago, Eric was suppose to fly out of KC to return to his domestic deployment in San Antonio.  I dropped him off at the airport and wondered when I would see him again.  As the snow started to fall a little more heavily, the thought occurred to me that it could be much sooner than we could have imagined.  By the time I got back to Katie and Robert's, he was texting with Robert and seemed to be all set to take off...until he wasn't.  Then he was...then he wasn't.  There was about 30 minutes at one point where we thought he had finally been able to take off...until we learned that he hadn't and his flight was officially cancelled.  After talking to his superior officer about extending his leave, he called and asked if I would be up for coming to San Antonio for a few days.  Why not?  With homeschooling, we can do that just about anywhere and it was a simple matter to reschedule appointments.  So, a few days later we headed down I35 to move into Eric's tiny apartment for a brief stay.

And it is tiny.  It is perhaps 300 square feet.  But, the thing is, when you want to make a situation work, you make the situation work.  The first night, I moved a few items around to make room for the kids' clothes.  The next morning I reorganized the kitchen cabinets to make room for some essentials (peanut butter and bread, mainly).  And now we are living pretty comfortably.  As Cary Elwes would say, I wouldn't want to make it my summer home, but for a couple of weeks, it is really quite nice (Eric mentioned this was not an obvious reference...I am referring to a line he gives in "The Princess Bride" about living in the fire swamp).  Plus, it is amazing to really see how much you can do without.  I commented to Eric this morning that after 6 weeks of living out of a suitcase, I should just empty out the remaining clothes from the kids' drawers when we get back.  I don't think they would notice.  And here is as good a place to mention that at the beginning of this journey, I rushed out to get a winter coat for Dom in time for a winter storm.  I bought boots a couple of weeks later for the kids in time for a second winter storm.  And then last night we bought shorts for the kids for the warmer weather we will have for the rest of the trip...That's what you get for traveling in the winter across many lines of latitude.  Speaking of winter storms,  I would also like to mention that our change of plans was even more fortuitous when we learned that the day I had planned to drive through St. Louis they received a foot of snow.  Yup.

It took a couple of days, but we got into a routine pretty quickly.  The kids and I get up long after Eric leaves for work (we are all catching up on about 5 weeks of sleep deprivation from all of the excitement of grandparents, aunts and uncles, cousins, and Christmas), get dressed, eat breakfast, clean-up, and head out to do a couple of hours of school at the base library.  We've hit the commissary a couple of times, a children's museum, and a park.   The weather has improved immensely and we've spent a good chunk of each day outside where the kids just run around for the heck of it.  Dom has discovered he loves to run.  Will enjoys it also, but doesn't like to get sweaty.  And Molly just tries to keep up.  And I try to keep up with Molly.  This third trimester makes that a little more difficult than usual.  The first day, she kept going all the way to the third floor.  I was exhausted.  Oddly, she was not.  I have also learned this week that Molly doesn't just get a second wind...she apparently gets third and fourth winds.  Just when I think she is winding down for a nap or bed, she seems to dig deep and find even more energy.  Did I mention I am exhausted?

At any rate, we are enjoying being a family.  We've had some short tempers, but we've also made some wonderful memories.  I will write soon about our trip to the Alamo and the Riverwalk.  Our most successful dinner has been pancakes and bacon.  And we have come to appreciate multiple bathrooms more than ever.  Life is good.