As you can see we are still catching up on our homeleave posts!

After Oregon we flew in to Ft. Worth where we visited with my parents and got to see a few friends while we were in the area. We didn’t make it to Dallas more than for 2 hours for the state fair so it was sad not to see all of our friends there.

While in Ft Worth we continued the blue bell ice cream trend and got to have Thai food made by my mom! Jackson spent lots of time with my parents dog Noah. My parents were in the middle of a move themselves so it felt a bit like we were being stalked by boxes! We were glad they still wanted us to visit even though they had a lot going on.

Jackson’s 2nd birthday gift from us was a tricycle. We bought it for him in Ft Worth so he would have it for our road trip. He amazed us with how he was able to hop on and ride with no help or training. We had no idea he could do it!

We spent a morning at the State Fair which was lots of fun! Before the fair we got to meet my sweet friend, Jenny and her baby Emma for coffee.

gazing up at Big Tex

We got to see my brother Graham and his fiance Tina one morning. They came along when Jackson went to fly a kite with PopPop.

We had dinner with a couple of my college friends one evening. Jackson was in rare form from being excited and exhausted but it was a good time! I ordered Jackson french fries and we were shocked to see the Texas size for fries. See below the bucket of fries!

After a week and a half it was time to hit the road and head to DC . We packed up every inch of the minivan and set out. Jackson was a trooper and took great naps throughout our trip. We could not have asked for a better traveler.

We drove through Nashville and got to have lunch with one of my Jr High/High School friends, Hannah. Her son’s name is Jackson too so Jackson thought it was amazing that he got to play with another Jackson! It was so fun to see Hannah and her boys as well as her mom and catch up even if it was only for a little while.

After Nashville we drove on to Louisville where we spent a few days with the O’Leary family. Jackson was in heaven with constant attention from Evan, Maddie and Gilly. It was such a fun time to take Jackson to be with them after having watched them when they were Jackson’s age.

Jackson crashing the girls slumber party

Pumpkin painting with the girls

Seth was like a boy on Christmas morning when we spent the morning at the Louisville Slugger Museum!

Seth and Jackson posing with Mickey Mantle’s bat. They had to wear white gloves to protect the bat.

After a great homeleave we arrived in Virginia on the 10th of Oct. We were so relieved to be done traveling and unpacked our suitcases within the first few hours! I am not sure we will ever do a month of travel again with a toddler, let alone 2 little ones! Adjusting to time zones and a zillion different beds for Jackson was a bit more of an adventure than we had warned him about. We have gotten settled into our “home” for the most part and have gotten right in to life here in VA. We are enjoying the gorgeous fall leaves and having family and friends so close by! We will post pictures of our Fall times soon. We promise to get it up before the first snow

After Houston we headed to the Northwest to see Seth’s sister Claire and her husband Donnie in Oregon. We had a great long weekend with them there enjoying the sights of Oregon!  One of the highlights was a trip to the coast. Despite the fact that the water was icy cold Jackson just LOVED it. He had no hesitation. He just held his breath and enjoyed! We got spoiled eating all of the famous blackberry sweets! It was so fun to see Claire and Donnie’s new home and Claire’s growing tummy! She is due only 3 weeks after us! The only downside of the trip was that Jackson (independent of his begging parents) decided to stay on Texas time. So we woke up for the day with him in the 4 AM hour which made for some tired parents!

Here are a few pictures!

On Sept 11th we landed in Houston, thrilled to be back in the United States!! We had a packed week visiting with Seth’s family. We ate our fill of Blue Bell ice cream and made sure to get to Lupe Tortilla!

We took Jackson to his first Astros game! He was so excited and actually payed attention more than we anticipated.

national anthem

Jackson had lots of fun time playing with his cousins.

We spent a day in Galveston….We thought Jackson might get his shorts wet but we never anticipated him wanting to dive in to the ocean! He loved it!

ready to feed the seagulls on the ferry

We visited with Seth’s grandmother, Mimi, at the nursing home.  After visiting Jackson said “Mimi, old lady”

One morning, out of the blue, Mia spotted a snake in the backyard.  Turns out it was a coral snake.  Check out the video if you don’t believe us.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_RBjptynLx4]

At the end of our time in Houston we made our 6 month stop at MD Anderson. Another all clear check up which was an answer to prayer! Jackson was a trooper when the IV took 3 attempts.

After the MRI Jackson was groggy for maybe 20 mins and then he was ready to get moving!

Well, it is good to be able to post on this end of things having had survived our packout. It took weeks of prep with our things being divided between storage, DC short term (our things for the next 8 months), DC long term storage, Bern and giveaway! I threatened after this packout that next packout I might take Jackson and Owen away and let Seth do it! Jackson was more than enthusiastic and helpful which made things interesting. The movers were in our home for 3 full days, not because we had that much stuff but because in true Colombian style our packers were late, didn’t show up and worked like snails! We were so relieved to see the trucks drive away.

Here are a few pictures!

Jackson on his last day at school. He carried in bouquets of flowers for his teachers

saying good bye to Sonia and Santiago

saying good bye to our guards and getting the chance to hold the walkie talkie and wear the official hat

helping with the luggage.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y5JJKZ4XfA0]

his backpack was so heavy he fell over carrying it!

Our traveling family. USA here we come!