Destin vacation

July was a crazy month with our move from Dallas, Texas to Chicago so we were more than ready for our summer vacation to the beach!  This was our 3rd summer to travel to Destin with Brooks, Reese and Sloane....needless to say we were all very excited for some family time!

We actually drove from Chicago to Destin...just 15 hours. :-)

One of the things we like to do at the beach is make sandcastles.  This summer, Brooks, Reese and Sloane were able to help with the task!

 Our family with one of our sandcastles.

 Steve became a master of building sandcastles....look at this one!

Family photo

A sunset walk on the beach...

 Our sandcastle was still up that night!

Dinner out with the family

Playing volleyball....who knew Brooks, Reese and Sloane would like to play!

Feeding the seagulls....

Brooks, Reese and Sloane also surfed on the waves with boogie boards...

 Three little surfers!

Reese and Sloane buried Brooks in the sand a few times during the week.  He seemed to like it!

Another sunset walk on the beach!

 Our family

 Steve and the girls

Brooks, Reese and Sloane wanted tattoos and the girls also got a braid in their hair

Dinner at Pompano Joe's Seafood House on our last night in Destin!  We loved this place, especially the view of the ocean from our table.

1st week in the new house

Our first week here in Chicago has been exciting yet challenging!  Needless to say, moving with 5 year old triplets requires lots of patience and organization.  

Brooks, Reese and Sloane were so excited to see our new home and were running wild around the house while the movers were attempting to unload the truck and set up furniture.

It was overwhelming looking at boxes all over the house and not knowing where things were located, etc.  All I could think about was "where are the toys?"  We need reinforcements ha ha ha!

Brooks, Reese & Sloane's 1st photo in front of our new house

Luckily, we were able to locate the trio's bikes!  Our new house is located in a Cul-de-sac so they were  excited to ride in the long driveway and in the street in front of our house!  This is something they could not do at our old house in Dallas.

On day 2 in our new home, the trio was playing in the basement.  At some point, Sloane got hit in the mouth and knocked out her bottom tooth!  She was afraid we would be mad so she threw her tooth in the trash!  We searched but were not able to find the tooth.  That night, we still did not have hot water so we had to spend the night in a hotel.  The Tooth Fairy managed to find Sloane's tooth and leave her a note with money under her pillow at the hotel!  What a memory...this was Sloane's 1st time losing a tooth!

On day 4, Steve returned to work and I had to get out and learn my way around.  First stop...an amazing grocery store called Mariano's! 

As I continued to venture out and about, I began to learn that many stores in the state of Illinois sell alcohol including Target and Walgreens!  This is very different from the stores in Texas.  

Look what I found at Target!  My favorite!

In Dallas, Steve and I always took Brooks, Reese & Sloane out to dinner for "family dinner night".  We decided to try a local Mexican restaurant in our downtown area.  The weather was so nice that we were able to sit on the patio...in July!

All in all, we have had a good first week in our new home!  As we get settled, I know we will have more fun and excited adventures!

Moving week!

Things have been crazy for the past few weeks.  It is hard to believe that moving week has arrived!

Needless to say, it has been an emotional week filled with old memories and feelings of sadness as we say our final goodbyes to friends and family.

Soon we will leave the state of Texas to begin our new lives in Chicago....

Moving truck has arrived!

See you in Chicago!

Day 1 of packing is complete

Our last dinner and a movie in our Texas house...

Packing up the truck

Ready to head out for Chicago!

July 4th! Last one in Texas...

I wanted to make our last 4th of July in Texas special so we started off the day with a parade in Plano.

  Brooks, Reese and Sloane were excited...they had never seen a parade!

Waiting for the parade!

Waving to the people in the parade!

Brooks, Reese & Sloane loved collecting the candy!

The Hickey Triplets & The Ruggles Triplets

Later that day, we attended a 4th of July Celebration at one of our friend's neighborhoods

Ready for some fun!

Sloane & Mommy

Fireworks!

Next year at this time we will be in Chicago on the 4th of July...hopefully making new memories!

July 3, 2006

July 3, 2006 is a day I will never forget!  It's the day Steve and I found out that we were going to be parents!  We had been trying to get pregnant for over a year and were beginning to lose hope that our wish would come true.

I had not been feeling well earlier that day, and we were trying to fly home from our trip to Florida.  I was so sick that I did not think I could get on the airplane without puking the entire flight back to Texas!  Luckily, I ate a big cheeseburger (something I didn't normally do) and that made me feel well enough to fly home.

That night, we watched a local fireworks show from a parking lot close to our home.  I started feeling sick again during the fireworks so after the show we came home.  Steve looked at me and said "maybe you are pregnant"?  After staring at each other for several minutes, we decided to take a home pregnancy test.

I remember waiting for the results and then being extremely nervous to look at the test!  Finally we counted to 3 and looked at the same time.....it was positive!  Steve and I hugged each other and both began to cry tears of joy!  Little did we know that we were going to be parents of triplets!

Positive pregnancy test!

Brooks, Reese & Sloane in the NICU just 3 weeks old

Brooks, Reese & Sloane at our last Texas Rangers game - 5 years old

This is just another Texas memory that I will always cherish!  The bathroom where I took the test and where Steve and I hugged and cried at the joy of becoming parents....will all soon be left behind.
We may be leaving our home, but we will take the memories with us...