Trusting you all had blessed Christmas celebrations with your loved ones. Our Christmas certainly looked a little different this year, but praise God we can celebrate the birth of Jesus anywhere; this year in Waco, Texas!
Our Airbnb has been a comforting landing spot for the past four days. We’ve enjoyed homemade meals, slow mornings, running around in the giant yard and swinging as high as the trees. I tried my best to make Christmas as normal as possible for the kids. We baked Christmas cookies, crafted homemade decorations, ate homemade cinnamon rolls for breakfast, and laid out treats for Santa. And of course, we read through the Christmas story to remind the kids what Christmas is really about.
Nothing is perfect when traveling with kids, but I dare say we’re actually getting the hang of this full-time travel thing. Travis is a speed demon at unpacking and repacking the car. Our food tote is ready and stocked for our next location. And the daily car clean out is getting a little quicker every time.
It certainly wasn’t as warm weather-wise as I had hoped for in Texas. I mean, what did I expect? It’s the middle of December here… but being from Wisconsin and all, I just imagined constant sun all the day long. Instead, we got clouds and raining, but still tried to do as much as possible in between showers. There’s certainly a wide variety of activities to do for free in Waco. It was music to my ears! We strolled around the town, hunted for snails, visited Magnolia Market, visited the bears at Baylor University, and even climbed around Cameron Park during a rare sighting of sun.
I do wish we could have done some laundry, but I completely forgot to check for a washer or dryer at this stay, so we just piled more laundry on top of the already giant mountain and moved on.
After Waco, we drove two and a half hour south to Houston. Our original plan was to head straight to Louisiana, but after my grandma suggested visiting some of her friends in Houston, we decided WHY NOT? This Vietnamese couple have been long-time friends with my grandparents. Hoang and Hahn have an incredible story of leaving Vietnam to immigrate to the United States. This trip is all about an open mind to learn new things and experience new places. That’s what we did in Houston, and I’m so glad we made the detour. Hahn cooked up an incredible dinner with steamed vegetables, salmon, pecking duck, egg rolls, and rice. What a treat! Their kindness confirmed that this trip really was the right decision for our family. Meeting new people is what we’re all about!
Now we’re making the seven hour trek to Mississippi. We’ll be in four states over the course of two days. It’s not our normal itinerary, but we’re making it work. Flexibility is the name of this trip’s game.
Off to Mississippi to visit our old neighbors from Wake Forest, North Carolina! We have five kids between the two families, so it should be three full days of fun!
See ya on the road!
