#TheKerrieShow in #Houston Day 13: Lunch with Daddy, Dinner by the Pool and the Lego Store

Friday was another lovely day in Webster, Texas! We drove up to Texas City to pick up Daddy for lunch and we headed to Grand Prize BBQ, which was super yum!

The owner is super awesome and great under pressure. They have quite a lunch rush and handle it quickly!

A lovely day for a hot tub hangout.

Aron came home from work early!

Dinner by the pool

Took Michael to the mall for his one cool present from us from Houston and we all know I hate the mall!

Me want.

Michael's choice from Baybrook Mall right up the road from our hotel! Score!

32585 Harmony Road in Paola, Kansas, I Love You and UPDATE

So this happened where I fell in love with a house a year and a half ago and we even went to see it even though Mr. Kerrie doesn't want to live in Missouri and now that we do virtual school and Missouri has crap options neither do I. BUT then the new owner left a comment HERE on the blog where he was like on the movie Good Will Hunting when he yelled, "I GOT HER NUMBAH!"

So I'm sitting here in Houston waiting for the new owner of THIS house to tell me they bought it. And I will be happy for them but could you please, new owner, like check in from time to time? I am harmless and would just like to know how you are settling in. We could be neighbors-ish someday, after all, so throw me a bone! I promise to not stalk you or mess with you like that idiot lady who didn't get a house and then terrorized the new owners. I promise! I am way too busy for that kind of stuff anyway! This house has everything we have been looking for, but ...

This is a "bedroom" or office on the main floor and would be our homeschool room and my office and probably also the LEGO room where we would put LEGO creations on shelves all over the place.

This place is going on my vision board and in my prayers and if it does not sell before we get home I want to go look at it so badly but the price would have to drastically come down, for real. Mr. Kerrie and I don't want to owe on a house until we are in our 90s, ya know?

Update: We did the mortgage calculator and it was looking good, BUT don't forget you have to also add 1/12 of the annual property taxes and 1/12 of insurance into that total package and month payment and then we came up with a figure that would have us not being able to turn the heat or air conditioning on at this dream house as we walk around in rags and eat lots of beans, rice and peanut butter daily. Not worth it.

Update 12/1/17: This house was $425,000. Entirely worth it but too rich for our blood. We have moved to a home in MISSOURI (never thought my husband would move here) and for $372,000 we got 8 acres, a house of 2,752 square feet (entirely manageable), a ranch so we can ignore the lower level when we're old and our knees don't work anymore. We also got a POOL and a huge pond and trees and a fenced backyard and a pool table, washer and dryer came with the place. It is a dream come true!

#TheKerrieShow in #Houston Day 12: A New Writer Friend and the Houston Museum of Natural Science

The Houston Museum of Natural Science is free on Thursdays from 2-5 p.m. Let me tell you that is not enough time to explore the place because there is a ton to see and do. They are giving you a preview so you will buy a membership and you probably should. This town is KID-FRIENDLY, people ... one of the most kid-friendly towns I have ever been in ... and I did not expect a museum like this to be so hands-on for children, which was WONDERFUL!

So here is our day in pics. I like to try to do one new thing every day while we are here, even if that just means eating at a place we don't have in Kansas City, meeting someone new, going somewhere new.

Sometimes we end the day with swimming and sometimes we start it that way. Today the kids hit the pool before we went to the museum.

Then we hit the highway and made it downtown to meet up with my new writer friend, Jill Morgenstern.

My friend Jon called these "mesmerizing" ... and they are. The kids just sat and watched the pendulum swing back and forth until eventually it would knock down a dealy-jobber.

Some gorgeous gems in an exhibit

My Mommy crown

Sam's brother

We need this at our house ... helps understand the Periodic Table of the Elements way better than I ever learned it in school!

The geovator. You get inside and pretend to go down into the earth where they drill oil and learn all about the process.

Too late to go on that cool grassy trail hill but I got a pic in front of it. They were tired and ready for the trek home on the 45 South.

I got all adventurous on the way home and wanted to try out the Sam Houston, or the Beltway or the 8. Every highway has like 76 names here. I paid a whole lot of money to drive on it but we got to go over a huge bridge and come back over it.

And here ends another lovely day in paradise. For real this place is growing on me.

#TheKerrieShow in #Houston Day 11: Whataburger, Armand Bayou Nature Center & My Book in Print!

Today was TONS OF CHILLING IN THE MORNING until I could not stand it anymore and we headed out for some fun. First stop: WHATABURGER! Look for the orange and white roof!

It's good to try new things and have new experiences in fun places.

Armand Bayou Nature Center in Pasadena, TX

No traffic to get here or back, no crowds at all, and lots of time in gorgeous nature in Texas. Yes, a recharging time for all. The kids are checking out an alligator in the water across the way.

Back at the hotel, my 2 proofs of my book came from Amazon and I immediately started marking one up. I've done 6 editions of the ebook version of this but holding it in my hands ... surreal.

UPDATE 2018: You can get the 7th edition of my book here, over at The Published Parent!

Mr. McLoughlin got in on the action and he has found so many things I would have missed. So grateful to have a supportive husband. He was all into the proofing that night in the room. Get this boy a red pen!

#Houston Day 10: Houston Zoo, Meeting Family(!), Weight Watchers and New German Friends

Day 10 in Houston found us heading Downtown again and getting familiar with the 45 to the 610 (love that highway for reals) and the 288. So many highways! I'm getting the hang of it here though! What I was not prepared for was the time it would take to find a parking spot at the zoo. INSANITY! We drove around for one full hour, including getting gas because we ran out, and finally snagged a spot. I conquered the lot!

I felt so bad leaving my 2nd cousin's wife and 3 babies in the zoo to wait on us, though, but she was so sweet about the whole thing. As for trying to chat with 8 kids around, that's another story. We plan to meet up this weekend instead for the conversation end of things and so I can meet my 2nd cousin in person. SO EXCITED because I am already in love with his wife and kids and he has my genes so he must be AWESOME.

Anyway, I had nothing to complain about on the parking situation because my kids were pretty much angels in the van the whole time. If they had been tiny babies that would have been a different story, but now that they are older life is lulling me into the notion that things are "easier" ... I'm enjoying this "easy" before they all hit the teen years. I'm storing up all my energy. Here we go with the day in pics!