Austin Trip

We made it!!! We've spent the last few days in Austin trying to find a house. It was a long, exhausting, emotional, and fun few days. If you aren't in the mood for the details or some suspense this early in the morning-- here's the important thing: we found a house!! We just found out-- literally 5 minutes ago. So if you don't want the details, you can't stop reading. But if you do- here's the story:

My mom flew in Saturday night and Dave and I flew out Monday morning. So we had a day with my mom to show her the ropes of watching the kids. We got to the airport early Monday to find out that our flight was delayed. We were routed through San Fransisco and the weather was bad there so they wouldn't let us take off. I had to stand in line for over an hour because we were going to miss our connecting flight. We were put on a flight out of San Fran-- but not until 7 pm. Not really what I wanted to hear while traveling with a baby (we brought Veda). They finally let us board the plane and for some miraculous reason our flight was WAY faster than planned. So when we landed in San Fransisco we realized that our original flight was actually not taking off for 5 more minutes. Which means that we had to RUN to get on that flight-- or wait until 7 pm. So we RAN. As fast as we could. Holding Veda and three bags. And we made it. It was a miracle. We were probably the last people to board-- but we made it. Veda was ticked and we were all hungry but had no time to eat or go to the bathroom.

So we get to Austin, and at the same time we were originally supposed to!! Unfortunately-- our luggage did not. (Our luggage that included Veda's pack n' play/pajamas/blankie/sound machine). And the airline said that we could expect it by 10 pm. And if you know me at all-- Veda does NOT stay up until 10 pm. I just about lost it in the baggage office.

So then we went to pick up our rental car. Everything with that started out fine except that we needed to rent a carseat. They had a carseat but no base. We needed a base. We knew we would be in and out of cars for two days straight and wanted to be able to get her in and out if she was sleeping. So we waited. And waited. And waited. I think while someone went to buy one :) Just kidding.... but it took forever.

So we got our rental and went to our hotel. It was beautiful. It was probably 74 degrees and sunny. The grass was green and it was slightly breezy. A GREAT first impression of Austin. Our hotel was nice and everyone was super friendly and helpful. We went to dinner with Dave's business partners at a Mexican restaurant called Chuys. We ate outside even though it was 7 at night. It was my first time meeting the new partners/wives. Everyone was super nice and cute and had cute hair :)

Our hotel had a pack n' play that we could use. But it was awful and lumpy. Veda was so pooped from our long day that she slept OK anyway. Our hotel had an awesome breakfast (with Texas shaped waffles!!).

Then our realtor came to get us. All I can say-- is that she was a gift from Heavenly Father. We could not have found a house without her. She drove us around all day for two days. Made all the appointments, took us to lunch, was patient while I nursed, changed, and comforted Veda, never gave an unwise or unwanted opinion, called and called and called leasing offices to get answers on our approval, answered emails at 7 in the morning and 9 at night, and dropped off papers to our hotel late at night. She was awesome. And had this cute little Southern accent. I loved her. And she did all of this to help us find a RENTAL.

So the first day of house hunting was a nightmare. We looked at 8 houses. TWO were livable- but we didn't like them. The others were horrible. Nasty, dirty, scuzzy, 80's appliances, broken everything, or smelled like smoke or body odor. There was one house was was not great-- but was in a great spot. The other thing about rentals there is that they go fast. And by fast-- I mean within 24 hours. So we had labored over a list of houses we wanted to see- and by the time we were in Austin, 70% were leased already. So after our first depressing day we decided to just apply for the one that was OK. We were worried we were going to go back home with nothing.

But then the second day started. Almost every house we looked at was decent. We were then looking in the other part of Austin (surprisingly the part that everyone said that we probably wouldn't want to live). I still don't know why. The house that we got is awesome. Awesome and small. :) A block from a park and pool. Clean. Cute little kitchen. An office for Dave. Washer/dryer/fridge-- which means we don't have to bring ours. GREAT school district. And the school is only blocks away from the house. It is 5 minutes from TWO different Targets!! 10 minutes from IKEA, 10 minutes from an outlet mall. 3 minutes from a good grocery store.

I can't even tell you the relief I'm feeling this morning. We applied for the house Wednesday afternoon-- knowing that we were flying home in the morning without an answer. And also knowing that our 2nd and 3rd choice houses could very well by gone by the time we got an answer on our 1st choice.

 Veda loved the kleenex dispenser in our hotel bathroom.

 View from the front door of our new house!!! Yes-- it has tile throughout and wood in the bedrooms/office. Tile was the ONE thing that we said we didn't want. But we got it anyway since the house was so much better than everything else. And at least it's pretty tile.

 Me and Dave at the airport ready to fly home. We were tired :)

Veda was a trooper. She had many moments of crying and being upset-- but she really did awesome overall. She slept in the car, on the plane, in my arms, and in the hotel without too much fight. She was sick of the car and really sick of airplanes. But we couldn't really have asked more of her. She was super thrown off her schedule. Had to stay up late and nap in the car. But did awesome. And I have zero tolerance for people who have zero tolerance of people traveling with children. We did encounter a rude lady... geesh. She must not have gotten a good look at how cute Veda was