Last of the Pictures

More Pictures

Our New Home

Here are some pictures of our new home. I love our new living room and kitchen. The den... well, let's just say Louie was in charge of the decorating in the basement and his office. We still have some major projects we would like to do, but we are waiting on estimates to figure all that out.

We are starting to figure out the town a little. I met some of my new teammates and principal at Franklin Elem. I also visited the school and saw my new classroom. I am very excited about starting in the fall. So excited in fact, that I have decided to teach summer school from July 9- Aug. 2. It should definitely keep me busy.

Louie starts with orientation on the 25th and then his first official day of his intern year is on the 29th. Not much time off for us, but we like to be busy and this will allow both of us to meet new people here.

I am leaving on Friday for a "girls weekend" in Port A and then joining my dad and the family in Gulf Shores, AL for a little more beach time. I will arrive back in MN on the 28th so that I can be sure to be here for Louie's first day.

You all should be receiving postcards with our new address very soon. If you do not, just email me at Cathowns@aol.com and I will email it to you. We both will be changing our cell numbers around July the 6th. I will email the new numbers out then.

Take care! Love, Catherine and Louie

Settling In

We introduced the dogs to the house and their new back yard. We do not have a fence all the way around the yard yet, so it has been pretty challenging keeping them (well, actually Striper) under control. The rabbit did not help things.

Wed. afternoon, after closing, we went and bought paint to cover up the big green wall and the purple master bedroom. I started out assisting Louie, but then decided he did a better job than I, so I let him do it all. I am so thoughtful sometimes. :) I worked on cleaning cabinets and drawers so that when the truck arrived we could go ahead and unpack.

The Move

Wow! Moving across the country is not easy. Louie's parents can attest to that and they didn't even leave Houston. They graciously helped Louie and I load this 28 ft. trailer which we ambitiously decided we could load ourselves. Everyone involved was more than nervous about whether all of our stuff would fit in this thing... but have no fear, Louie and his Dad, with some creative packing ideas, made it work. The most difficult thing to load was the new 500lb.+ cooker that Louie inherited from his Dad. It took 6 of us to get it in the truck. Whew! We said goodbye to our home in Pearland. Louie made the dogs pose for the picture as you can see.

Louie and I both drove a car and took a dog and headed out after a smooth closing in Pearland. We left Monday and stopped for the evening in Wichita, Kansas. Ahhh, Kansas... now that is an exciting state. Nothing for miles and miles and you have to pay a toll to drive on the interstate. Definitely the longest part of the trip. We drove the rest of the way on Tuesday and got to Rochester around 6 PM and no, Dad, there was no snow on the ground. It actually was very hot, in the low 90's each day, but absolutely gorgeous! We closed Wed. morning, then picked up the dogs and headed over to our new home.

Saying Goodbye

Louie and I did our best to say goodbye to as many people as possible while still trying to manage packing and planning our trip to Minnesota. I had a tearful goodbye with my team and my students right before we headed north.