Things we are looking forward to in Pennsylvania

1. Farm fresh produce - Melons, berries and corn.  Can't wait for spring.

2. Scenery - Lots of pretty farms and rolling hills.  And trees.

3. Weather - Four seasons.  Cold winters and hot summers, but not so hot you can never go outside.

4. Central Market - Lots of yummy treats to choose from there.

5. Location - Withing a few hours of several major cities as well as airports.

6. Neato Burrito - A family favorite, especially on Thursdays, when the special is Chick in a Thai.

7. Schools - The high school is smaller than just one year in our Texas school district.

8. Backyard & Basement - A nice place to play and a place for all our stuff.

9. Long Johns - Donuts made both lists.  We like donuts.

10. Brad's new job - New company, new job.  Sounds really promising, and a good discount too.

Things I'll miss about Texas

We have known we might be moving for almost a year now, and I have gotten used to the idea of not living here any more.  We are all excited to move back to Pennsylvania, but there are a few things we might miss.

1. 5th Street Pizza - This is Brad's favorite restaurant and the only one he ever wants to go to.  Its St. Louis style, which is super thin crust with a bit of sauce and Provel cheese.  Provel cheese is a processed orange and sort of creamy cheese - we looked it up and it said it was a mix of Swiss, Cheddar, and Provelone.

2. Whole Foods - which is about a mile from my house.  Its expensive I know, but the produce and meats are great.

3. Shopping - Almost anything else I could possibly need is also about a mile from my house - Container Store, Target, Macy's, etc... Plus a nice selection of smaller shops.

4. Tex-Mex food - there is a restaurant on every corner.  We have tried lots and have a few favorites.

5. DFW - Even though we basically live in the middle of nowhere, we can get to DFW in about half an hour, and from there we could go anywhere in the 48 states in about 3 hours or less.

6. Barbeque - Good southern food.  Brisket is the popular choice in Texas.

7. Mild weather in January - At least for a few days... Today's high is expected to be above 70.  But I won't miss the crazy insane heat for the entire summer and at least a month on either side.

8. Beer & Wine - Easily available at your nearest Target, or any other grocery store.

9. New football stadium - Allen is building one of the most expensive high school football stadiums in the county, set to open in Fall 2013 I believe.  It means that more people can sit and watch their high school team play (at the current stadium its not so easy to get a seat.)  It would be neat to see.

10.  Donut shops - Almost every little strip mall has a little donut shop.  Its hard to find the real name of each one because they mostly just say "Donuts" out front.  We have our favorites but all that we tried were quite good.

Back to where we started

After two and a half year of living in Texas, it is time to move on.

When we moved here from England we knew we might stay for quite a while, or maybe not.  We have enjoyed living in Texas - it has certainly been a good experience for all of us.

But Brad got a new position in Pennsylvania so back we go, and we will even live in Lancaster, very near where we moved from nearly 4 years ago.

The packers will be here Monday morning and the truck will be loaded on Wednesday.  Wednesday will also be the last day of school here and we will leave on Thursday morning.

We have an agreement on a house but won't be able to move in until March.  So we will stay in a hotel for six weeks or so while we wait.

So once again we are saying good-bye, which is always sad.  But we are also excited to be moving back to a place where we already have friends.

And we are hoping to stay a while!

Alice's 3 month photo shoot!