The rest of Amanda's stay & a little of my creative side...

Here are some of the other things that we did while Amanda was here...

We went to the Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center.  I wish we would have had more time for some of the tours like mission control, but it was raining so hard they had to cancel a lot of them and then as you can imagine, the wait time was crazy!  But, we got to learn more about the space program, NASA, and even got to see what it's like inside the space shuttles!

We ate at "Whataburger."  It's a popular hamburger joint in this part of the country.  I just had to get a picture of the "fancy" ketchup. : )

We made some patriotic rice krispy treats!

And we got to watch the fireworks in Houston along with what seemed to be at least half of the city!  It was SO hot.  We probably drank six or seven bottles of water between the three of us within about a three hour stretch! 

Amanda trying to keep the sun off!  That afternoon I really 

understood why I see people using umbrellas for the shade!

The last few days I've been busy decorating a bulletin board for Amanda's dorm room in the fall.  I have loved doing it!  Here's what it looks like.  It's hard to see some of the details (all I have to take pictures with right now is my phone!), especially the "POKES" letters to the right of the schedule section on the left side of the board.

The Latest Happenings...

We've been pretty busy here these last few weeks.  We've had the opportunity to "discover" Houston and what it has to offer. 

Mark and I went to a Houston Astros baseball game.  For me, it wasn't quite the same experience I have at the Rockies games... They close the dome on top of the stadium because it's so hot outside, but even with the AC inside it's still muggy and smells like sweat... I was not that impressed.  I'd much rather go see the Rockies play and catch a little sun at the same time : )

My sister, Amanda, came down to stay with us for a week!  We loved the time she was able to spend with us!  The first day she was here, she and I toured an ice cream factory!  Blue Bell Creameries has some of the best ice cream I have ever had and it's sold all over Texas (and some other states close by).  The tour was very interesting and informative.  We got to see how they mix up the ice cream and put it into the tubs, how they make ice cream bars and popsicles and how they add the different ingredients to the ice cream like fresh strawberries and nuts.  The tour even included a free dish of ice cream at the end!  It was one of the best places we went. 

We also got to go to the Health Museum and the Downtown Aquarium.  Both were fun but I left them wanting to see MORE!  Amanda and I had fun taking pictures inside the big mouth at the Health Museum and a favorite at the Downtown Aquarium were the spotted sting rays and the octopus (sorry the picture is not very good).

More adventures to come!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

"Home"

It was bound to happen sooner or later... I miss "Home."  Maybe I should clarify a bit.  I have had a lot of "homes" in the last few years.  There's the house where I grew up, where my parents live - and that will always be "home" for me.  Then there was the "home" I had the summer after high school graduation with my Grammy and then with my aunt and uncle.  I had a "home" in the dorms my freshman year of college.  The summer following that year I signed my very first lease and had a "home" for the next year with the best roommates I could have ever asked for.  Also that year I gained yet another "home."  I met my future in-laws and their house has become a "home" for me.  Then we got married and made a "home" out of our first place.  This summer, my "home" is in Houston.

Right now though, I guess I miss a place more than an actual house or apartment.  I miss Golden.  When we moved there after we got married it was so different for me.  I had never lived that close to a city before, never had to worry about traffic, never had to think about SO many people... I guess it was a little overwhelming.  However, as time passed, I got more used to those things and they don't bother me quite as much as they used to.  Granted, I'd rather not live "in town" forever, but it has grown on me. Golden isn't just a suburb of Denver though.  It has character.  It has charm.  It has nice people... and, nestled in the foot of the Rocky Mountains, it has the most spectacular views.  It is those views that I'm missing the most tonight.  I hate not being able to see what I have been able to see every day for the last year.  I miss "home."

Crape Myrtle

Ever sense we've been in Houston, I have been admiring these pretty trees with little flowers on them.  We don't have anything like this at home.  There are many different colors and shades of colors of the flowers.  I found out today that the tree is called a Crape Myrtle.   Here are some pictures I borrowed of the tree from google images.  Enjoy : )

Deplorable Driving

According to Forbes.com, Houston is the 5th worst city in the United States for traffic.  My evidence:

Before we came to Houston we heard about the way people here drive.  We were hoping it was just rumors.  It's not.  After living here for only a couple of weeks, I can already come up with a list of bad driving habits here that I have consistently witnessed.

1.  Speed Limit - more like "What speed limit?"  If I am obeying the speed limit almost EVERYONE with the exception of maybe one or two vehicles will pass me within seconds.  It is normal to go 5 or 10 miles an hour over the "limit."

2.  School Zones - luckily, school is out for the summer now but this is also an area in which the majority of Houston drivers pay no attention to.  Come on people!  It's a SCHOOL ZONE!!!  There's a 20 MPH speed limit for SAFETY reasons!  This is not only irritating, but dangerous!

3.  Turn Signals - don't exist.  People will cut in front of you without giving even a seconds worth of notice.  They will slow down in front of you for no apparent reason and then turn into a driveway, parking lot, etc.  I wish they would just use their turn signal... that's what it's there for isn't it?

4.  Brakes - the drivers here definitely know how to use their brakes.  They're on them all the time.  There's NO coasting if you see that people are stopping in front of you.  Nope, they're on the gas (already going faster than they should be) and then slamming on their brakes!  I don't think they can imagine going any slower until they absolutely have to stop!

5.  Turn Lanes - apparently don't exist either.  If you are in the inside turn lane I always thought that meant you were supposed to turn into the inside lane of the street you are getting onto.  They must have learned different driving rules here.  Hardly anyone ever follows their turn lane into the correct lane on the road.  This is especially worrisome when there is more than one turn lane and people seem to think that they will be just fine ending up in whatever lane they want.  I'm sure I will see an accident because of this before we leave here.

I heard a conversation on a radio station here this morning that went something like this:

Radio DJ 1:  "And the commute from the Sam Houston Tollway into downtown along the Katy Freeway is only 15 minutes this morning!  Do you people out there even know what a speed limit is?"

Radio DJ 2:  "I think they know what a speed limit is but they're just like the rest of us - they don't pay any attention to them!  That's what the radar gun is for, right?"

Well, there you have it.  The Houston driving mentality in a nutshell!

I refuse to speed just because everyone is passing me.  I will NOT speed in a school zone (how STUPID do you have to be?!).  I will coast instead of slamming on my breaks, and I will turn into the correct lane unless I am trying to avoid an accident because YOU are not turning into the correct lane and are going to cut me off.  I've decided that if the Houston drivers don't like my driving or get annoyed with me, they can just blame it on my out of state plates!