Southbound Road Trip

On our drive down to Corpus we drove through 8 states in 5 days: VA, NC, SC, GA, AL, MS, LA, TX and had stops in 4 cities: Burlington, Atlanta, New Orleans, Houston. Mike and I have clear distinctions between out strengths when traveling. I am great at making sure we take walking breaks, hydrate, making sure we have snacks, and picking places for us to eat dinner each night. Mike is great at picking awesome hotels, driving downtown in new places, and going along with whatever weird needs or plans I have. 

I initially thought we would be bored on our long trip, but it actually went by super fast. I think this is because we broke it up into 5 days AND I insisted on a walking/bathroom break every hour and a half where we would also normally switch drivers....if only I could try the same strategy with pregnancy! As you drive South, the weather started to get really hot and walking outside was not as appealing. Solution? Wal-Mart! There are a ton of Wal-Marts in the South, so there was never a shortage of exits we could take. I would do a few laps around the Supercenter and also grab a Fage yogurt for a snack. Mike would check out the electronics section because that keeps him happy. And bathrooms!

Anyway, the photos below will take you on our journey to Corpus Christi!

ATLANTA

I had never been to Atlanta before and Mike had never been to the ATL aquarium which we luckily had time to check out when we got into the city.

Sunset view from our hotel room.

At some point leaving the city, we hit 100,000 miles!

NEW ORLEANS

I had also never been to New Orleans. Mike got us a hotel right near French quarter, so we were able to spend lots of time exploring by walking. We were even able to get dinner with Beau's mom, Bunny, that evening at a creole/cajun restaurant.

Creaole/Cajun spice store

Crepe snack before dinner

Beignets from Cafe Du Monde (I've been avoiding overconsumption of sweets throughout pregnancy, but Mike convinced me this was an exception that had to be made)

A street performer who I made Mike go give money too because I was too scared he would move and scare me....Mike is the best haha

I did find a healthy restaurant in French Quarter called "Meals from the Heart"....loved it!

Mike's crabcake benedict

HOUSTON

 Houston was a really cool city (although a LOT bigger than I expected).

Unfortunately, I didn't get any pictures of Houston while we were there, but I did get this cool picture of Texas countryside while driving:)

CORPUS CHRISTI

When we finally got to Corpus, we had to wait to check into out apartment, so we went to a local food truck to grab lunch.

I got an avocaco/egg/sriracha sandwich while Mike had a smoothie

View from our apartment after we finally got in!

We were (fortunately) able to get our stuff delivered late that night (I think it was midnight before we finally get out bed set up) and, while I hated not being able to move boxes, I got really good at opening them.

All we had to do now is to wait for Rupert to get there the next day!

My amazing sister picked up Rupert (with Ashton in tow) and got him on the plane for Corpus Christi. Because I was so stressed about Rupert's travel, Mike took the role of being point of contact with Court the entire time, so that I could keep from getting caught up in the travel details.

And then we got him!

And he loves the new apartment! So much carpet for him to run on and plenty of windows to look through.

We also had another new addition to the family since arriving in Corpus.....meet "Corpus Coopsti". Corpus Christi is not a great city for public transportation or uber, so we knew that if we ever had two places to be in the same day, we would need separate cars. Mike obviously set to work researching solutions as soon as we got our stuff more settled. He found a guy online trying to downsize and get rid of one of his two cars....one of those being a Mini. In case you didn't know, Mike has had a thing for Minis for a several years and this is the first car he's ever had the opportunity to by himself, so he was very excited.

Corpus Coopsti

I can't believe how much has happened so far this month! At the beginning of this month, I was still working for GW and now I'm exploring the stay-at-home life until I figure out my next move. We're now living in our own place for the first time, getting used to having our own refrigerator! washer/dryer! dishwasher! kitchen!

One of the benefits of being stay-at-home for now is more time to blog, so hoping to keep this more regularly updated. On to June!

Kelsey

Bye Bye DC

We've been busy, and Kelsey is very bad at keeping secrets so she has avoided updating the blog. (Mike)

(Kelsey) I'm very bad at keeping secrets in person which is why most everyone I've met in person over the past 20 weeks knows that we are expecting a new addition to the family in October! We recently found out (I've had a doctor's appointment since we got to Texas) that we're expecting a baby girl:) Ava Noel is the only name we agreed upon for a girl so that's what we're calling her.

Anyway, this series of pictures is from our last couple of weeks in DC. Saying goodbye to DC is definitely bittersweet. It's the city where Mike and I met and where we got married; it's where  I got my first job after my graduate degree and 2 subsequent jobs; it's where Mike went to law school, got commissioned, and was first stationed in the Navy; it's where we ran our first marathon together. We've both only really lived in the DC/VA/NC area our whole lives, so TX is definitely a new start and adventure for us as well as starting our own family. But we could not have asked for a better sendoff from all of our friends and coworkers in DC.

A cake I wanted to get for my coworkers at my going away party.... I was referencing "Frozen" :)

This was the dress I was wearing the first time a stranger asked me if I was pregnant and we then proceeded to have an awkward interaction....so then I made Mike take a picture of me:)

Food from my (Kelsey's) going away party at work!

Texas-shaped cutting board

Balloons and flowers:)

Signed poster...

...with a photoshopped cowboy hat on my head:)

The beginning of the packing process

in the midst of packing and post-it noting

trying to get Rupert used to his crate that he was going to fly in

pastry and taquitos (sweet and savory) as breakfast for our movers...Mike and I ended up eating most of it

Rupe obviously hid when the movers were over

View from one of my last walks around our neighborhood

Mike has a get together with his coworkers at The Brig- an outdoor bar near the Navy Yard in DC and then we also had a get together there the Sunday before our roadtrip.

Kelly and Alex brought us Texas balloons!

A picture of the whole group: Alex, Amy, Josh, Mike and I, Will and Julia, Kelly and Alex:)

A picture of the "Barons & SBs" at the goodbye party

More blog posts coming soon about our road trip down to Texas and how we're settling in down here! I'm also hoping to start posting some more pregnancy updates as well!

Welcome to 30

We've had a busy last month or so, since the holidays ended and here's a little recap of what we've been up to!

• Kels turned 30!

And Mike got her the best card.

I got dessert at Ambar with Mike and Kelly on my actual birthday:)

Hamilton-themed prezzies:)

Day after my birthday at Philz coffee!

• Mike and Kels went on a weekend trip to New York!

View from the train station. Super cold this day!

Hot ramen in NYC:)

I love ramen so much!

Beautiful flowers at our hotel. Real!

A nice gift of champagne and dessert from our hotel for my birthday.

There is a nespresso machine in the room, so obviously I drank all the coffee.

And we did our first live Peloton rides!

A picture with our favorite instructor, Jess!

A pilates reformer class that I tried while Mike was working on his paper!

I love early mornings in NYC.

Fancy class.

When I tried to sleep in our sleeper car on the train trip back.

Trains are the best way to travel.

Hard at work on his paper:)

• We saw Louis CK at DAR Constitution Hall! First comedy show together.

And I took this awesome picture that evening.

• Mike got us a new shower head.

And the first time I saw it (he surprised me), it scared the crap out of me and I ran from the shower.

• We celebrate Beau and Jen turning 30 (this will be a theme for the year) at a cabin in New Hampshire!

The mighty ski lodge we stayed in!

Mike trying to start a stove fire with one of those accordion devices.

Wearing my We Are All Wonder Women tank to the gym near the ski lodge!

Walk back from the gym, backing in wintry New England splendor!

• Mike keeps outdoing me with his awesome presents.

Best Valentine's Day present ever: a solar system necklace! I just couldn't wait until Valentine's Day to open it:)

• Kim visited (from Montana), and we went hiking in Shenandoah National Park!

View from the top! So glad Kim made us try this:)

All of us at the top!

This past weekend, we went to Williamsburg to celebrate 3 birthday in the group (2 turning 30) and we did many of the traditional Williamsburg things: Aroma's, Dog Street, Paul's Cheese fries. 

Hopefully we get another blog post up this month:) I'll be headed to Raleigh next weekend to see a book speaker and also Leslie and Rachel! And Mike has a big paper due. Can't wait to get through this month and on to March!