401 Windridge Drive

We met Mom, Grandma Dot, and Grandpa Wilbert at our new "house" this afternoon. We took our before picture of the lot and showed them inside a house across the street which is the same floor plan as our home.

Our lot ends just to the right of the meter in the front yard

We will occupy the corner of Windridge and Parkside

We have an announcement!

WE ARE BUILDING A HOUSE!

The lease in our apartment will expire soon. We decided to see what was on the market before we made a decision to re-new the lease. We looked at a few pre-owned homes, but within hours of the homes being listed in our area, they were already pending a contract. I have never seen anything like it!!!  We did look at a home that is being built right now and we liked that one. But by the time we discussed it and ready to make a move, it was gone too!!!  AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

Luckily, the builder had a few more lots in the area. We scoped out the lots, viewed the floor plans and met with our realtor and builder's agent to ask some questions.  We obtained a pre-approval letter from a lender, discussed price, location, schools, house, builder, commute, EVERYTHING! We slept on it and ultimately decided to pull the trigger!  We met with our realtor and the builder's agent Tuesday night to make a few minor adjustments to the floor plan, sign the contract, and pick out colors for the home. It was a little overwhelming - all those colors and textures.  We chose two different tiles (Entry/Utility and M Bath), carpet, Vinyl (Kitchen/Guest Bath), wall paint, brick, trim paint, cabinets, and three counter tops. WHEW!  We have two weeks to make any adjustments.

It hard to believe they can build a house so quickly, but they said we will be in by end of May!  We have been dreaming of our first home for many years. After 10 years of renting, 7 different apartments... We are looking forward to settling down and FINALLY having a yard!

Here is our floor plan and view of the front of the house; we will be on a corner lot. The house is within walking distance of Lewisville Lake (Little Elm Park), and 15 minutes drive North of Mimi and Poppa's house.

A Beautiful Day for the Park

I was off for the Martin Luther King Jr. Holiday and it was the first warm day in awhile, so I picked up Andrew early from daycare and we headed to the park. He got a big goose egg on his head from tripping on the playground, but he was back at it after a kiss on the forehead. He saw some kids swinging and said he wanted to swing too, but he didn't want a baby swing!  No, No No, only a big boy swing!  I was a little nervous, but he did it like a pro!  We climbed, crawled, ran, slid, swung, and topped it all off with a snack!

 

Chinese Lantern Festival

Mom and I had a girls night out! We drove to Fair Park to see the Chinese Lantern Festival.  Although these were not traditional lanterns because there was no fire, they were still beautiful to see. There were so many pretty colors and characters.

My favorites were the mushrooms, because of the fun colors, and the Porcelain Pagoda. The Pagoda was 53 feet tall and made completely from porcelain plates, bowls, spoons, and cups. There were approximately 68,000 dishes that comprised the 7 towers!  Very neat! 

 

 
 

 1986 was the year of the Tiger!  That's me!

It's a ZOO day!

We had a Sunday with no agenda. The weather was nice, so we picked up Mimi and headed to the zoo.

This was our second trip to the Dallas zoo. This time we talked daddy into letting us feed the giraffes!!!

We saw all sorts of animals. Andrew's favorite part was the Gorilla Trail. It was Gorillas, monkeys and chimps galore!

Happy New Year & Viva Las Vegas!

We started off the year in Las Vegas!  Andrew stayed at Mimi and Poppa's house during our trip.  Overall, the trip was GREAT! We a minor baggage issue upon our arrival. Two of our three checked bags did not come out on the baggage carousel. We had momentary panic, but turns out they arrived on an earlier flight. Then upon our return home The Parking Spot lost the car keys(we had requested a car wash while we were gone). After 30 minutes, four employees, a supervisor and a many checks and re-checks.... they found them!  Whew!!!!  The car was not washed... so they obviously refunded our car wash. We also received 50 % off our stay because of the inconvenience. Turned out to be approximately $3 a day.

I was accompanied by a Las Vegas virgin (Josh). I had been a few times before, so I was excited to show him around.  We stayed at the Monte Carlo; It was nice and a perfect location on the strip to visit some of the other well-known hotel/casinos.

The purpose of our trip was to celebrate our friends', Toby & Mindy Henson, 10 year wedding Anniversary.  There were a total of five couples there for the weekend. We went a couple days early to see the sites and a couple shows before everyone arrived. Josh and I saw a show Wednesday night, Vegas The Show, and Thursday night, The Blue Man Group. We liked them both.  We met three of the four other couples late Thursday night and checked out the Minus 5 bar. You guessed it... it is cold in there - but it was a lot of FUN!  -5 degrees Celsius (they said it was 17 degrees Fahrenheit when we were in there).

Friday was the big day!  We all had lunch at Diablo's Cantina in the Monte Carlo. Then the girls went off to get all beautified (hair and make-up for us all), while the guys went off to the bar!  We got dressed up and met early evening in the lobby. We took some pictures and jumped in our Hummer limo. We headed to the Bellagio fountains for Toby & Mindy's vow renewal. After that, the limo took us to the Las Vegas Sign were we took couple and group photos.  We concluded with dinner and dueling pianos at The Pub.

Saturday was kind of a lazy day... I don't think we got out of bed until 11.  We walked around and met everyone for dinner at Toby Keith's bar and grill in Harrah's.  Dinner was yummy and we all ventured downtown for the rest of the evening.  I got to play Roulette for the first time!  Sunday we were up early and headed to the airport and back to reality.

We had such an amazing time. I have never had so much fun in my life! Here are some random pics from the trip.

Bellagio Conservatory

Bellagio Conservatory

Bellagio Conservatory

New York, New York

Statue of Liberty made from Jelly Beans!!!!

Selfie in front of Bellagio fountains