Country Mouse or City Mouse??

Ok, so we are in great big ol' Texas trying to figure out whether or not we could actually live here -happily. There are definitely pros and cons to Austin, and I'm not sure whether to put the heat on the pro or con side yet. It will be REALLY nice come winter when it is still 60 degrees outside. Possibly the one big thing that I am hung up on is that it doesn't have the same "feel" as Cambridge. Duh. Of course it shouldn't, since it's NOT Cambridge. But, I feel slightly like a city mouse who has been dropped off in the country, with plenty of tacos to eat but no pad thai. How do you possibly decide between the convenience, culture and excitement of the city and the lifestyle, space, and comfort of the burbs? It may very well be the eternal question. I am hoping an "a-ha" moment will resolve this all for me.
On another note, I took the kids on a little adventure this morning to San Antonio, which is an hour from Austin. We went to the Alamo, the San Antonio Children's Museum and then walked along the "river walk". It was wonderful! The river walk is one of the most beautiful places I have been. Lined by restaurants and little shops (with a mall at one end) it was a lovely place to take a stroll and snap some photos.

Our Warm Welcome

For those of you who have missed a beat or two with the Brown/Gritton clan... we are now in AUSTIN! That's Texas. After a 3.2 day journey with the kiddlie-bops we arrived to the warmest of welcomes from the lone star state. In fact, today's forecast on accuweather.com stated that it would be 100 degrees, followed by the one word description "sunshine". Not "hot as *#%$", or "warning: people standing in direct sunlight are at risk of instantaneous combustion." Perhaps I could open up a roadside breakfast shack and fry some eggs on my face. You get the point. It's HOT!!

I've had some mixed reviews from the local folk. Some say it's unseasonable "warm" for May. This morning while waiting at the Quick Lube for my oil change, an older gent told me "ya ain't seen nothin yet darlin. Summer still ain't here yet." (Meanwhile, a few miles away, a freaky drugged out creep armed with 5 knives was sitting outside our house, insisting to cops that he lived there. Fun. -We actually live in a really nice neighborhood. Just random apparently.)

My one year old, Emma, has learned the word "hot" in the last few days. It sounds more like "awt", but she says it while waving her hands every time we get in the car. Thank heaven for AC in the car and central AC in the house.

Ok. Enough of the hotness. But, did I mention...? This place is pretty hot. Tomorrow should be cooler. A high of 93. Yippee!!

General Choas

Chaos is too much a part of my life lately. I envision Chaos as a miserable little man that wants everyone to suffer for his inadequacies. He likes to shut down brain function, torpedo your house, feed your kids too much sugar, and send secret agents to wipe out all communication between you and your spouse. He leaves you with never ending loose ends, and ten thumbs to tie them up with. What a guy.

This last week has been just crazy. We have given our notice for our current apartment, found a HUGE new place to move into August 1st, posted our car on Craigslist and sold it that day, Jeff finished classes and started pulling late nights to study for finals. We have started packing for Austin AND are packing to move a week after we get back from Austin... I could keep going, but I'm getting another Chaos induced headache just thinking about it all.

On the bright side (literally) it is beautiful weather today! Finally the rain is gone and the sun is shining. With some of the big "what are we gonna do about it" things behind us, I can breath a bit and take a sec to open up the windows and let in the sun.