James Van Der Beek and Family Are Moving to Texas to ‘Embark on a New Adventure’

James Van Der Beek and his family are headed south! The Dawson’s Creek star and wife Kimberly announced Wednesday that they and their five children are moving out of Los Angeles and heading to Texas to “embark on a new adventure.” The actor shared the news alongside family photos with kids Olivia, 10, Joshua, 8, Annabel, 6, Emilia, 4, Gwendolyn, 2, in an empty house.

“Sometimes a fuller life begins with an empty house. Leaving Los Angeles incredibly grateful for all the friends and memories we’ve made here. Onto the next big adventure!” he captioned the photos. Kimberly made a similar announcement on her own page, writing that the family had left their Beverly Hills home to “embark on a new adventure in Texas.”

Coming alongside the family for the 10-day road trip are two rescue puppies the family adopted to “bring along and bond on this journey.” The dog’s names are Windsor and Able, which Kimberly said means “breath,” noting, “we need a lot of breath right now.” Rocky and Skye were immediately attached to the dogs, the mother-of-five wrote alongside sweet photos of the family’s newest members, and she will be posting cute photos from their trip in the hopes that “it can bring a smile to your face during such an uncertain time in the world.”

Kimberly had revealed the family’s intention to move “outside of Austin” on a recent interview with The Make Down podcast. “I think we’re in a time right now where people are wanting to ground themselves a little bit more into nature,” she explained at the time. “And L.A. has been a magical place for many years for me. So much life has been lived here. I’m going to go through a process to leave. I mean, I birthed three kids in the home I’m living in. But you know, I gotta get out of the concrete jungle for a little bit.”

James and Kimberly revealed in June that they had suffered a pregnancy loss at 17 weeks, which is the same point in Kimberly’s pregnancy as the time she miscarried in November 2019. She continued on The Make Down, “I understand that I am very blessed to be able to birth five children. I’ve also had five miscarriages, two which were really harsh experiences.” With her body in “healing mode” right now, she continued that she’s been in some serious need of “nourishment” and “care” as she recovers, which is her goal with her new home.