Beaumont with Sadie and Pop

About 6 years and 1 month ago, I met one of my favorite couples.


My father-in-law had become aware of the fact that the housing assignment during my internal medicine rotation was pretty sketchy -- maybe unsafe.
 

He thus took it upon himself to correspond with the two Episcopalian priests in the town, who each asked for volunteers -- kind people to take me in for 4 weeks during the rotation.





As luck or destiny or fate or God would have it, Pop and Sadie were those kind people.




And we are all thankful for my father-in-law and his protective thoughtfulness.



We travel to see Pop and Sadie 1-2 times/year (more, back when we lived closer, in Galveston), and it is amazing how much changes and how much stays the same between visits.


But this weekend was particularly nice.



We made the drive (6 hours) Friday afternoon, and the kids did decently well, considering they were strapped into their car seats the whole time.  Man.  Car seats.  What a kill joy.  Don't get me started.



Anyways, we made a quick stop at a rest station so the kids could get out some energy before falling asleep in the car.  Everyone's mood quickly deteriorated after that.  Daniel and I were gritting our teeth, determined to make it to Beaumont whether the kids were losing it in the back or not.

 

Thankfully, we came across a fried chicken place (we almost never get fried chicken), and a couple of biscuits and chicken tenders later, everybody was happy again.  Food is amazing.  What a beautiful idea... food.  




We spent our time in Beaumont visiting with Pop and Sadie, having tea parties, playing in the play room upstairs, building teddy bears, reading in the library, and making new friends at the park.
 

We always visit this park when we're in town, but between last visit and this, the park had been completely renovated.  It was SO much fun!
 

There were tons more toddler-friendly fixtures like see-saws and springy animal statues to bob back and forth on.


 

We met interesting people, like a woman from Albania, a man (and his son) from Germany (they had just moved from Paris, France... to Beaumont), and a woman from California (with three kids my own kids' ages).



The kids shared bubbles and complimented each other's clothes and took turns on the slide.  It was all that I could have hoped for in brand-new, for-the-moment friends that we'll never see again.
 

If there was a theme to this recent trip, it was clocks.



Lucy and Elliot were positively elated by the clocks at Sadie and Pop's house.



There is the huge grandfather clock in the entry way, the magical musical clock in the living room, and then the bird-chirping clock in the utility room.



They are off set from each other by a few minutes, so the kids' routine became observing the entry-way one, then the living room one, and finally the bird one.




On our first full day, I asked Lucy if she was ready to go to the park, and her reply was, "No, I'm going to stay here and watch the clocks."



Lighting in Sadie and Pop's house is interesting and challenging.




There is some natural light and a lot of fluorescent light.

 



I find it to be a continual exercise when I'm there -- how to compose, where to position myself, what white balance to use, and how to post-process.






I adore the upstairs rooms -- they have tons of beautiful natural light and clean, fluffy carpet.
 

Sadie treated the kids to Build-A-Bear, a toy store in the mall where kids can create their own stuffed animal.



They not only pick the animal, but also the sound effects included inside, the amount of fill, and the clothes.


We opted to skip the clothes this trip.


Both kids picked "For the first time in forever" to be the song inside the paw.  Kind of random, since they've only seen Frozen once and weren't particularly fond of it.



The kids get to stand on the pedal that blows the fluff into their new little animal friends, and then they take the stuffed animal over to the sink to give it a "bath" and brush its fur.



Air blows from the "faucet".  The whole idea is really pretty cute.  Elliot named his bear "Bo" and Lucy at first named hers "Gustov" but then changed his name to "Lightening".  




To say that the kids were upset to leave is a gross under-statement.



They were having so much fun.
 

I began preparing them to leave a full 48 hours ahead of time, setting expectations appropriately that we would--at some point--be returning home.


The last morning we were there, Lucy was devastated she wouldn't be able to "sleep in her bed" again until our next visit.



I informed her we would visit again once Oliver began walking, and I subsequently overheard her conspiring with Sadie to teach Oliver to walk ASAP.





We had a wonderful time.  We miss our friends.  But we are so glad we got to visit them, and we are thankful for a safe trip there and back!