For the past six days we have been staying in an extended stay hotel. Kevin had already been here a week when we arrived. We have a “non” smoking room that is suspiciously smoky. The girls, however, love it here. They think the room is the coolest thing that has ever happened to them. Our days consist of waking VERY early (for our bodies, still on Oregon time) and taking Kevin to work. The first time I was a little scared about finding my way back to the hotel. Unlike Oregon, in Austin you can almost never return the same way you came, because of all the one-way streets and access roads. I did find my way straight back to the hotel and was so pleased with myself that I decided to investigate further. We found a Walgreens and purchased some we-live-in-a-hotel-room-for-a-week necessities. I found my way straight back to the hotel and we unloaded. It was already super hot and humid that day. The sweet, smoky relief of the hotel room was heavenly.
The rest of the week was filled by working with our apartment locator, Martha. A friend of Kevin’s from U of O referred us to her, and she was great! Because of Martha, we all now call Red Robin the “Ruby Bird.” And slugbugs are “hug-a-bugs.” The only other things to note here are the TWO trips to urgent care. Yep, two. First for Kevin’s nearly lethal sinus infection and second, for Juby’s bladder infection. I felt so sorry for them both. Kevin, because he had to keep working and there was nothing I could do to help him. He was miserable. Juby, because she had such a high fever that she couldn’t sleep at all, and she was up running to the bathroom all night thinking she had to go, then crying because it hurt. Poor thing. I “slept” with her on the pull-out bed because she would wake screaming if she couldn’t feel me next to her. Her little body was burning so hot that I couldn’t even use a sheet and I still sweat all night. We got them both on antibiotics on the same day my parents showed up to help. Man, I am glad they came! If I had had to ferry both kids around in the heat to get Juby examined and take care of signing the lease and filling the prescription with no insurance, it would have been miserable. Instead, my parents kept Sophie, my dad took Kevin to and from work in the morning, then again when we had to sign our lease at lunch time, after my urgent care trip. Yikes. Then we let Juby rest with my mom and Sophie, while my dad and I began moving all the stuff that Kevin had loaded in the Land Cruiser. (Plus the stuff my parents brought for us.) Um, let me just say that we were a trifle sweaty when we finished. Neither one of us was used to that type of heat. No breeze at all, humidty so bad the heat index was 114, even though the actual heat was only 106. Only. That night we visited the Ruby Bird for our farewell dinner with my parents. Although they had only been there one night and one day, it was such a whirlwind the entire time that they must have been a little relieved to be going. Along with the sadness, of course. As if on cue it began pouring rain right when we stepped outside the Ruby Bird to say goodbye. It’s like Oregon was saying, “Ha! Thought you escaped, did you?” Well, we will see them again for Thanksgiving, something all of us are already looking forward to!
So the place we settled on and signed for is pretty close to Apple and the area we had become familiar with near the hotel. It is not the fanciest location, reminding me a little bit of Lancaster in Salem, but it’s not that bad. We have a “busy” road on one side (40 mph) and it has a couple upscale car dealerships. (They are our “view” actually!) One happens to be Audi, and the girls love that because they recognize the symbol. (Mostly because of our last car but also because Kevin teaches them stuff like that.) Our place has 1333 sq. feet and is extremely new and nice inside. No complaints from me. The worst thing about it is noise, and it’s really not that bad. I have had no trouble sleeping here. Well, except for the bad milk Juby and I kept drinking for half a week before noticing . . .
Besides that we are settling in remarkably fast. Kevin rides his bike to work and we have all fallen into a routine. I expect I might get bored soon with Sophie at school 7 hours a day, but for now there is more than enough to do!
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