Beaumont

The final part of the Galveston-Houston-Beaumont trip was, of course, Beaumont. 


After dropping Daniel off at the Houston airport (for his business trip to Mexico), the kids and I drove the 2 hours to Beaumont to visit Sadie and Pop. 



The most "interesting" part of our short road trip was a stop at a disgusting (falsely advertised "clean restroom stop") gas station where the water out of the faucets was actually yellow.  I've never seen that before. 
 

Elliot kept asking why the water was yellow, and--determined not to think about it--I replied that I didn't know. 
 

Lucy helpfully offered, "maybe someone peed in it." 



Because the in-stall experience was hygienically deficient by every conceivable metric, skipping the hand-washing was out of the question. 
 

So we washed our hands quickly with yellow water and rushed back to the car.  Ugh.  We had JUST pottied at a nice, clean restaurant 30 minutes ago. 
 

Unplanned gas station bathroom stops with three kids under age 5... they are the worst.



Anyways, we did safely make it to Sadie and Pop's  house and quickly settled in. 
 

Lucy was delighted to be able to sleep in "her bed" again, and all the kids were excited to re-discover the various toys in the playroom and guest rooms.



On one of our days in Beaumont, we tried out the new Beaumont Children's Museum, which was awesome! 
 

There were SO many exhibits that captured the kids' attention. 
 

We could have spent a whole day there. 
 

While the aesthetics were less impressive than, say, the Perot Museum in Dallas--the exhibits were far more numerous and more interesting to my kids.








 








On our last full day, Sadie treated the kids to Build-A-Bear. 

 

Lucy remembered her experience from last time and didn't even have to be told how to give her new friend a "bath" in the little "sink" at the back wall.
 

We learned our lesson after the last experience and insisted that our new furry friends be left "floppy" so they'd be extra cuddly. 



Elliot went home with an "Eee-eee" named "Serious George," whom he seems to be in the process of re-naming "Ivan." 



Lucy went home with a puppy named "Woof-woof," and Oliver went home with a sweet, soft little bear whom he loves but who remains nameless.


 The kids had a marvelous time visiting with Sadie and Pop, enjoying treats here and there, and being doted upon.  It really is a special thing, to get to visit Sadie and Pop. 

They are already looking forward to their next visit and wondering when that will be.    

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!