Should I stay or should I go

The tail end of the summer was pretty busy and chaotic for the Swans. By mid-August we had been 6 months on the market, with many showing and many dinners eaten out, and still no sale on our house. We considered other options such as renting out, or renovating then renting out or re-trying to sell, etc. But as we made our preparations, a new option of instead selling the Katy house ( Matt's parents home that we were planning on moving into temporarily while they are overseas) started to be discussed.  This kind of sudden change in plans and uncertainty usually makes me crazy, and as Matt will attest there were definitely a few not so endearing moments while trying to sort out what we should do.  But for the most part I was collected, and honestly just relieved at the possibility of simply staying put in our house. We would be saying goodbye to a great opportunity to save on mortgage payments, but wouldn't have to deal with the hassle of renters, moving the rest of our stuff out to Katy, we could stay in the house and neighborhood that we love, and most importantly we could start using the excess energy and time we have spent taking care of two houses to work toward some goals we have had to put aside.
So did we stay or did we go?  We stayed.
After lots of thought, list making, and discussions over it all, we decided it would best for us to stay put, and take ourselves out of the emotional decision for Matt's parents to sell or not sell their house. And as it turns out they decided to sell... and quickly. So the last 3 weeks have been dedicated to moving our previously moved stuff back to our house, and helping to clean out Matt's parents house to get ready to sell. It was busy to say the least, but thankfully task accomplished and their house has already sold!  (Enter huge sigh of relief!) I know I should be sad that their house is selling, but honestly I am just so glad this moving to Katy chapter and summer is finally over. We are back at home in Houston. Settled and happy. Bring on the Fall!

Summer days: Southern Alberta

After our cabin and camping vacation, Matt went back to work and Wheeler and I went to Southern Alberta to my parents house for a week. My parents still live in the same house in Lethbridge that we were all born and raised in, so there is definitely something relaxing and really comforting about being there. We went on long morning walks, played with Anna & Austin, and spent hours in the swimming pool. It was great to see old friends, extended family members, and enjoy watching Wheeler play on the same playgrounds I did as a kid. Here are our Southern Alberta pictures.

Twin little duckies. 

Happy 3rd Birthday Anna!

One of the highlights of the week was going to my Grandma and Grandpa Edwards' house. They have a wonderful large garden with rows and rows of different fruits and vegetables. Grandma let Wheeler pick and eat whatever he wanted, and he thought that was pretty cool to get to eat vegetables and fruit right off of the plants. He didn't hold back and polished off our entire bucket of raspberries and strawberries! 

Summer days: camping in Waterton

After a week at the lake we drove across the border to meet our Swan cousins in Waterton for 2 days of camping. It was our first time camping as a family and we had an awesome time. Wheeler was beyond excited about the tent, to get to run around with all his big kid cousins,  to have lots of treats/songs by the campfire and soooo excited to get to stay up until the sun went down (which I forgot how incredibly late that is in the north during the summer.) We did a day trip into Waterton that brought back tons of memories from summer vacations as a little girl. We hiked bears hump/Cameron falls, explored red rock canyon, threw rocks in the lake and stood in the long lines for ice cream. It was an awesome awesome weekend, that we hope to repeat next summer!  Here are some pictures.

Driving over Logans Pass on the way up. I love the mountains. 

First morning... up at 6 with the sun. Our apologies to everyone else trying to sleep in. 

Campfires. Drinking hot Tang, another one of those "odd" Swan family traditions, along with ridiculing the only person sensible enough to take advantage of the hot showers available at the campsite. Jerks.

A friendly squirrel let all the kids feed him sunflower seeds right off their hands. 

A family of deer... and uncle Darrell. 

ruining a perfectly good picture. Thanks Wheeler.

Token family pictures. Jared & Nat's family was there too, but were off "geo-chaching" and missed picture time. 

Throwing rocks and auntie Sara in the lake. 

Summer days: Cabin

My parents have a cabin on a lake in Montana. The time we spend there each summer is arguably our most anticipated week of the year. Of course we look forward to seeing family and relaxing in the mountains... but the big excitement for both Matt and I is the chance to water-ski on the lake. We love it. Its been my absolute favorite summer activity since I was a little girl and learned how to ski behind my dads old 35 horsepower fishing boat. And although he didn't grow up skiing, in true Matt style he picked it up quick, and has since surpassed me as the best slalom ski-er in the family ( dammit!!!). Anyway, this summer there was an unprecedented amount of rain in northern Montana, coupled with a high amount of run off from the mountains, and so our flooded little lake got slapped with a "no wake zone" law. This  meant no water-skiing or wake-boarding for us this summer. We were definitely bummed out, but soon realized that there is more to do on a lake than our beloved skiing, and actually the time we spent there this summer will probably be the most memorable of all the summers. We were able to swim and kayak and fish in the bay without risk of the big motor boats coming by and inundating us with their huge wakes. And the atomosphere on the lake was so quiet and calm, it was like an entirely different place.  *sub note: we did actually figure out a way around the no wake zone law and were able to do some water-skiing by sneaking over to a small nearby lake that has a shallow connecting channel (which thanks to the flooding was now passable by motorboat. :)
Here are our pictures from summer time at the cabin!

So much room to explore. 

A new favorite activity... baseball with daddy!

I guess our skiing wasn't all that impressive to some... this was on the boat in the middle of the lake.

Besties

Wheelie loved baby Austin and had to be limited on the number of smothering kissing he could give him. 

Fun times with all the Leavitt cousins!

Summer days: New Orleans girls trip

My sisters and I have been plotting a girls trip for this past year. At first we had our sights set on 2 weeks in Italy, but stopped reading Eat Pray Love, came back down to earth a bit and decided on 4 days in New Orleans instead.   Everything was a go for the 2nd week in July and then a week before our trip little miss Annika came along and our girls trip trio became a duo. (A new baby excuse is pretty iron clad).
So Kristi came to Texas and we drove out to NOLA for a few days. It was my first time since Wheeler was born that I have spent a night away from him. I don't know if that is normal or not, but I figured I was due for a sleep-in or two.
Besides sleeping in, we did a lot of walking, eating, shopping and picture taking in the Big Easy. Some of the highlights include:
The Court of Two Sisters- The name was just a bonus, we went for their Jazz brunch; a buffet of everything "cajun, southern, and seafood". My favorite was the bread pudding, cheese grits and eggs benedict. If you go to NOLA this place is a complete must!
St. Charles Streetcar- The oldest operating streetcar in the world! We took an afternoon to ride up through the Garden district. Beautiful antebellum mansions and traditional architecture, saw Loyola and Tulane University.
French Market- pretty trashy, but some redeeming local artist booths
Jackson Square Card/Palm reading-  hilarious, but apparently good things are in the cards for me this fall.
French Quarter- We spent so much of our time just wandering around the F.Q. There are hundreds of antique shops and art galleries and old bookstores mixed in with with tacky mardis gras souvineer shops. Bourbon Street was gross and smelled even worse. But the rest was lovely, and it was heavenly to browse and wander sans an 18 month old.  We bought our fair share of pretty things, and ate more than our fair share of delicious treats.
St. Louis Cathedral- went on a Sunday and walked in on Mass. Going to Catholic Hell for taking pictures like ignorant tourists.
Riverwalk Mall- just a mall, but was attached to our Hotel and gave us lots to do when we got caught in a bad weather system that shut down half the city for 2 days with the first flooding since Hurricane Katrina.
Cafe Du Monde- obviously. And more than once obviously.

It was a great trip with great company. Now hurry up and send me a disc of all our pictures Kristi, or you aren't invited on our next girls trip!

The only picture I managed to get before my camera battery died. Kristi lugged her massive Canon around all week, but is apparently holding the pictures hostage up in Canada and I can't seem to get her to send me a disc... even though her life should obviously revolve around my need to update my blog right...? ;)