Nov 2019 Avery Ranch Living - Other - Page 12
THE
Staats
FA M I LY
meet your neighbors
W
Story By AnnMarie Staats
e are the Staats family, a mixture of
Dutch, South African and Italian American culture. When people ask me how
we got to Texas, I often say, “30 hours in
the minivan.” It’s true. My husband, Gavin, and I took turns
driving, only stopping for food, gas and to feed our 2-monthold twins, Gabriella and Gianna, and their big sister, Genevieve, age 3. Our first stop in the area was the HEB on 620
and O’Connor. It was the biggest grocery store I had ever
seen. Now considering myself a Texan, I know it is one of
the smaller ones. Coming from NY, I expected cowboys, hot
weather, and maybe some horses. After all, we were moving
to a Ranch…Avery Ranch!
Well, we don’t see too many cowboys at Avery Ranch, but the
friendliness Texans are known for surrounds us. We love the
amenities in our community, the great schools, the beautiful
environment as well as the opportunities for service. We
also love the amount of space we have now. When we were
expecting twins, we planned to move out of our two-bedroom
1,000-square-foot home. We looked for months with very little luck. We had talked about moving to Austin when we were
first married. We decided the time was right to move. There
was just one hitch: shortly after making this decision I was
put on bed rest. We connected with a realtor and Gavin flew
to Austin on a mission: to find the perfect house in a weekend,
sans wife. He toured over 40 homes in two days and put in an
offer on our current home before returning back to Yonkers,
NY. I moved into the home without ever seeing anything other than Internet photos. The house had three times the space
and a bedroom for everyone.
We have been here for six years. The twins are 6 and Genevieve is 9. I will not bore you with the details of Gavin’s age
or mine. I will just say that we are soon expecting mail from
AARP. The girls love crafts, riding their bikes and “all things
girl.” Genevieve, Gianna, and Gabriella are full-time students
at Elsa England. The girls love being Texans and can shout
out as good a “y’all” as any native Texan. As for me, my New
York accent is still with me and if you listen close enough, you
can detect Gavin’s South African accent. Gavin works in the
IT community and serves on the Avery Ranch Board of Directors. I work as a Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse Practitioner
for the Veterans Administration and in private practice.
The girls love having their picture taken. We had a great time
doing the photo shoot with the amazing Jennifer Rudolph.
Does it get any better than having your family photo shoot
in a field of bluebonnets on a picture-perfect day in Central
Texas? I think not. We hope to see you in the neighborhood at
the park, near the pool, or at any of the great family-friendly
events in Morningside.
12 Avery Ranch Living • June 2019
June 2019 • Avery Ranch Living
13