Life in Round Rock

Since we've moved, I've talked to all my friends and family about where we live and tried my best to describe what makes Round Rock so much better then Bellflower. Don't get me wrong. I loved Bellflower. I loved Bellflower because it was where I was born and raised. It's where I went to school and met a lot of great people, and most importantly, it's where both my boys were born. Even though Bellflower holds a special place in my heart, it was never where I wanted to raise a family. 

So here is a little "tour" of the new place I call home. The place where we plan on buying a home, raising the boys. Round Rock, TX

This is the water tower which is located next to the famous Round Rock Donuts. Back home in CA, water towers were far and few between. During Christmas this water tower is lite up with lights. Round Rock Donuts are pretty darn good. I heard of them before since they were featured on Man vs Food. I am proud to say that I have not tried the Texas donut. No one needs that much donut.

One of the biggest draws to Round Rock were the schools. Mikey had to spend kindergarten at a Bellflower school and it was awful. He had 32 kids in his class with one teacher. Here at his new school, there are only roughly 20 kids. His reading level has improved so much and his behavior has improved as well. The PTA is very active in planning school activities and the communication between the school and parents is amazing. HUGE difference from what I experienced back in CA.

Words can not express how good the food is here. The above photo was taken at Rudy's BBQ. Now Rudy's is a BBQ chain out here, but in my opinion, the one is Round Rock is the best. I've eaten at a couple others, but they don't come close to the one close to home. Round Rock is not only home to BBQ places, but we also got a food truck park (see photo below from Yelp)

The food trucks are a big thing in Austin, so having one in Round Rock is amazing for someone like me (someone who hates going far from home). 


I need to take a second and talk about the community here in Round Rock. The city offers some amazing events through out the year. One of the events we attended was Touch a Truck. The purpose of this event was to bring in different types of working vehicles and give children a chance to see these up close and personal. We took the boys and had a great time. My kids are obsessed with any type of large truck, so they were having a field day.

Another great example of a what a wonderful community I joined, was that despite the fact that my son goes to a home day care, the RR Fire Dept came out and taught the kids about what they do. 

I actually took the time from work to join my youngest and his friends for the fire department visit. They had a wonderful time. 

I'm sure I could go on and on and share more photos with everyone, but I'll wrap this up. The whole point of this post is just to share with every one I left behind what kind of life we are living now and hopefully motivate you to come visit us soon!

Spring (not so much) Break

I probably could have blogged about this a bit sooner, seeing as how spring break was March 11-15, but lets face it, I needed a breather from it. I wouldn't say it was horrible, but it was busy. Before I get too far ahead, I decided this year that I was going to a week off when Mikey was on spring break. I get two weeks of vacation a year and besides are trip to California in August, I don't have anything planned. Plus I didn't want to enroll him in YMCA or pay to have my MIL come from El Paso to watch him. 

So the time finally came around and Mikey didn't get the clue that it was Spring Break for the first 2 days. What does that mean? It means Mikey still woke up WAY too early which meant I woke up early despite not having any where to be. Those first two days were pretty rough. I begged and pleaded with my 7 year old to take a nap, but he wasn't having it. During those first two days we cleaned house (by far his FAVORITE activity), had lunch with family, made a trip to the library, went to the mall, bounced his heart out at Inflatable Wonderland, saw a movie and took park trips. By mid-week I was pooped but then Joey's day care was closed that Wednesday so then I had to entertain both of them and keep them from fighting. Not the easiest thing to do considering they fight about everything! Wednesday went well and Joey returned the next day to daycare so then I only had one child with me the day that almost ruined the whole vacation. The day I decided Six Flags in the middle of spring break was a great idea.

I'll admit Six Flags was my idea. Never said it was a good idea, but it was mine. I convinced my brother and his girlfriend Sara that we all needed to go. Since both boys have lucked out in the height department (both are in the 90th percentile when it comes to height) I was convinced that we will get on every ride and give Mikey a memorable spring break. The moment we arrived there, I should have known it was a mistake. When police are directing traffic and have roads closed down, that normally isn't a good sign. Once we were forced to park in the back, I should have called it a day, but no, we went in. We went in and rode only 3 rides in 5 hours. We became sun burned and tired and fought crowds. Awful isn't a powerful enough word to describe the day we had there. Traumatizing is a better fit. It's been 2 weeks and the husband wants us all to go so he and Joey can get year passes, but I still don't feel mentally ready. 

With out a doubt, the best day out of the whole week was Friday. By nature Friday's are pretty amazing, but that last day of break was really special. Mike took the day off. I realize that doesn't seem like a big deal, but my dear husband NEVER takes a day off unless it's a major event or he's on his death bed. Mike took the day off just we can all go bowling as a family. We went bowling, had lunch, and just spent the whole day together as a family.

So next year I'll probably take a week off for spring break again, but this time we are taking a trip. It could be to CA to see my dad and the boys can play with all the cool things their papa bought for them, or it could be to South Carolina to see my grandparents. Either way, the time off won't really be much of a "break".

Kindergarten.....

Today is kindergarten round-up. Since my youngest hit the big 5 this past Saturday, today is the first step in putting him in big boy school. Whoa. Where in the world did the time go? When I was complaining the costs of daycare, that didn’t mean it was ok for Joey to keep growing at this super fast pace! I know he doesn’t actually start till August, but at this rate I’m going to blink and then BAM! It’s August.

It all started on Friday. I picked my little man up and he let me know after Saturday that I had to buy him a backpack. I asked why he needed a backpack, and he informed me that since he’s 5 it’s time for kindergarten. I did my best to break down the concept of school years, but I guess at 4/almost 5 it’s a hard thing to grasp.

I was able to pump the breaks on kinder talk that day, but it only gave me 4 extra days because now it’s Tuesday, and it’s time to get that packet from the school. This really is a bittersweet moment. I’m ready for both my boys to be in the same school and to look after each other, but it really is a sign of how fast they’ve grown and how much things have changed. It doesn’t feel like that long ago we were back in California and prepping Mikey to enter kindergarten. Now Mikey is in 2^nd grade and Joey is 4 months away from being finished with daycare. It’s a little much at times.

So after I post this, I'm going to grab my wine, fill out the packet and sniffle a little bit at how my big boy is growing up!