The Stephs: June 2012

So it's been a while since our last post and there is much to report. This may take a while but we hope it's worth your time, and here we go!

As the semester was coming to an end, Stephen still had not found an internship (despite applying to everything in sight). This is when Scott (brother-in-law) mentioned that his company, an insurance company, was hiring interns if Stephen was interested. Having worked at an insurance company last summer, this seemed like a good opportunity to learn more about the insurance industry. Despite being unable to meet in person due to the distance, Stephen was contacted during finals week to be offered a position in the claims department. Yay to answered prayers!

This kicked off a frantic chain of events. We promptly turned in our 30 day notice to Wymount and began packing (again). Also, since the internship doesn't allow for vacation time, we would no longer be able to attend Angela's graduation in California. So we planned to first drive out to California, stay for a week, then backtrack south to Texas for the summer.

Moving was, again, a huge hassle and of course it took much longer than expected to move all of our things into a storage unit for the summer, minus the bare necessities we would need for life in Texas. After staying the night with family along the way, we left early Saturday morning to head for California. Up to this point we had worried that Jayden would have a rough time with the drive. However, this trip went rather well and only took slightly longer with Jayden on board, which might be mostly due to Stephen getting lost while looking for a restroom (hint: don't mess with Truckee).

California was a blast and thanks to mom and dad for making our stay so fun. A small sampling of our trip included: an exclusive guided tour of Pixar, playing at the tidepools, and a visit to the Academy of Science. Jayden seemed to enjoy it all (minus the cold of the tidepools, see picture). We wish that it could have been longer but all too soon it was time for us to move on.

We anticipated that this drive would be much harder since it would take about 3 days and required staying in hotels. Jayden seemed to realize it from the start because the first day was rough. It was cruel treatment for a boy who had just discovered his "rollies" to be locked up all day in a car seat. By the end of the day he was exhausted, and it only got worse the second day. However, he did seem to figure out that messing his diaper was a straight ticket to a break from the car seat, as shown by the sudden increase of messy diapers.

The third he seemed to have accepted the situation and instead of fussing simply looked depressed throughout the final drive. Luckily, we had planned this to be a much shorter drive. And so on May 23rd we arrived in Texas and less than a week later Stephen started his internship with Horace Mann. So far the internship is going well and Stephen has quickly transitioned into his work. He's the only intern not from a Texas school (or from Texas) and so he gets plenty of surprised looks when telling people where he's from. It's been an adjustment to be gone half the day due to Dallas traffic and to be outside the bubble but it's been a wonderful experience thus far.

We are currently staying with Heather and Scott who offered us their home for the summer. This let's us stay close to family and we love playing with Jakie and Elly, especially Stephanie as she sees them most of the day. Stephanie is enjoying being back home for the summer and loves watching Jayden become more aware of his surrounding. Jayden is now much better at playing by himself (probably because it was forced on him during our drive) and will only stop rolling once he hits the wall. His new trick is blowing spit bubbles, which he somehow discovered on his own and will mimic when you do it to him (which daddy loves). Also, he is now an expert at attracting attention, frequently receiving compliments from strangers every time he leaves the house (at the store, church, the pool, pretty much everywhere). He's very good at making new friends, some of which get a little too close for his daddy's and mommy's comfort. But such is the life of the Jay-man.

Now for some pics: