For Ellen Stoker, a typical afternoon with her children involves riding bicycles, kayaking or walking the trails around their neighborhood lake.
That outdoor lifestyle is what drew Stoker and her husband, Derek, to Hockley last year, trading the trees and traffic of Spring for a slower-paced setting in the Grand Prairie master-planned community. Even with Derek’s 45-minute commute to his job at HP in Spring, the first-time homebuyers liked how Hockley’s open skies reminded them of their hometown in northern California’s almond-growing country.
“We feel that it is so worth it to be out here, because we have this lifestyle being outside,” said Ellen Stoker, 33. “We wanted the land and the scenery, and to enjoy the sunsets and the space.”…