Texas

I should probably say something about our Texas trip. I had a free round trip ticket from Southwest (thank you frequent flyer program) which expired in March. Our original plan was to go spend New Years with the Andrew & Cathi, as that was sort of a tradition for us when they lived close. But as the holiday season approached, the ticket prices kept going up. I looked a little farther out and airfare was much cheaper just a couple weeks later, so we opted to do that instead.

We flew in on Thursday and out again Tuesday. An extended weekend of sorts. It was really cold that Thursday. We had left our heavy winter coats in our van in the airport parking lot because we were optimists. Well, the weather report said the week was going to progressively get warmer, into the low 60s over the next few days. It never really did. Mid 50s was about as high as it got. And we only saw the sun for a couple of hours Monday afternoon. Oh well. We survived.

Friday, Andrew worked and Cailey had school. The rest of us went to the Houston Zoo. I was really impressed with that zoo. They have done a lot of work to keep that zoo up-to-date. I was shocked to do a little research and learn that the Houston Zoo opened in 1905 whereas the Brookfield Zoo opened in 1919. However, the Houston Zoo feels much more modern. Brookfield still feels like a 1920s zoo in many respects, while Houston was much nicer – the animal pens were varied and the landscaping was really well done.

Friday night, Sara, Alex and I borrowed Andrew’s car and drove 40 minutes south to visit Aunt Kathy and Uncle Dirk and their 2 dogs. The dogs, being small terriers, were an amusing curiosity for Alex. He didn’t want to go anywhere near them, but he enjoyed looking at them from a distance. But once the dogs were put in the bedroom, Alex really relaxed. He and Uncle Dirk had a great evening together and there was a lot of laughing and giggling. Alex did some, too.

Saturday morning, Cailey had a basketball game and Andrew is the coach of her team. So we went to watch them play. Afterwards, we went to the Houston Children’s Museum. It wasn’t too crowded, which was nice. Although Alex did have to wait his turn to drive the ambulance and never did get a chance to play at the grocery store checkout. But all the kids still had a lot of fun.

After that, we went back to Herman Park and rode the train ride around the park. We fed the ducks and then went  home.

Sunday we went to the church where Andrew works and got a little tour afterward. Alex was okay being left in the kids room with Nate. Sunday afternoon was dedicated to the Bears game. We went out for some Texas BBQ for dinner. It rained most of the day, but stopped enough in the evening to let the kids bounce on the trampoline for a while and let out some built up energy.

Monday we all drove to Galveston. This was an interesting little beach town. There’s a beautiful historic district (where the cruise ships come in). There’s the seawall and beach that is gorgeous. There is the cool ferry ride that take people and cars across the channel (for free!) and you can watch for dolphins swim alongside the boats. There is the pretty Moody Gardens park and pyramids where the aquarium is. And there are a bunch of lovely historic homes from the 19th century. Unfortunately, due to Texas’ lack of zoning laws, there are also plenty of car repair shops right next to all those lovely historic homes. It’s a weird, stark contrast.

But we had a great time. We started the morning at the aquarium since it was still cloudy and cool. It was a pretty good one, too with good penguin and shark exhibits (not in the same pen). And the beach was great. The kids could have stayed at that beach all day long. The sun even came out for a little while (of course, as it was getting time to leave).

In all, it was a very fun trip. Andrew & Cathi still have 2 cats and on the last day Alex was able to muster up enough courage to pet one. It was great seeing them again and we’re sad we had to leave. We look forward to them coming up here for a visit this summer.

Pictures of our trip are here.