Houston, Texas - Our first visit home in a year

Man! The last two weeks were mental. We went back to Texas for the first time in a year. We visited MANY people and drove hundreds of miles. We ate tacos for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. We had a BBQ at Mama S's house. Lots of people came. We had tons of food and an awesome cake (Thanks Jennifer!). One morning, Steve and I got up earlier than most in the house and decided to get breakfast. We walked to Shipley's Donuts. Mmmm! Every dog that was outside barked at us. Steve said, "You can tell they aren't used to people walking."

Hey (insert the voice of Uncle Si)! You are going to laugh at this. I went running one night at Steve's parent's house... well, around their neighborhood. I had on my headphones, and I saw something moving fast in the corner of my eye. I turned down the volume as I looked behind me. One chihuahua was running at the speed of a bullet toward me, and another one wasn't far behind the first. They were both barking hysterically. Apparently the owner lets them potty in the front yard. Anyway, I turned around, "AWAY!", I yelled as I stomped. He backed away but continued barking. I turned my head back toward the direction I was running. After about half a second I could hear barking again, and when I looked behind me, that little monster was right on my heels! I stomped my foot, hissed, clapped, and yelled, "AWAY!" again. Same routine. They backed off just long enough for me to be fooled into thinking I could continue running peacefully, and then they were back at my heels barking. Those vicious little monsters chased me all the way down the block! I had to stomp and yell SIX TIMES before we reached a cease fire. The owner stood in the road staring at me. I have no idea if she said anything because my music was still playing. She's lucky that I understand dogs and didn't punt her mini beasts like a football. A couple of days later they ran down the street to the house and started barking at my brother-in-law as he was putting things in his car. Seriously? Oh well... at least it wasn't just me. Control your dogs people. If they chase your neighbors, you shouldn't let them potty outside off lead....clearly.

While we were in Houston, we also did a little shopping. Did you know that there is a new outlet mall in Texas City? Tanger Outlets. Check it out! It's great! I also went with the ladies to the Antique Village and Flea Market in Pearland. That was interesting. Live music, knock off clothing and accessories, hot dogs wrapped in bacon, nachos, a Mexican food buffet, antiques, fun hats, and a haircut all in one place? Awesome. I was entertained. I also really enjoyed my hot dog wrapped in bacon. Seriously. It was good. I say, live it up when you get to play! I don't think the rest of the group enjoyed the experience as much as I did. hehe. From there we went to the Kemah boardwalk. It was nice to see the Gulf and to have some Mexican food and margaritas. It was a fun day. While we were out together, Mama S and Corinne bought me some cute gifts for my birthday (early).

Moving on. We spent one night with Erica and Sean, and had an early Thanksgiving dinner at Mama S's. Everything was so yummy! We spent a few nights playing board games. We also had a fajita night at Chris and Angela's house with friends. We did so many things in such a short time, one week, in Houston! We also spent loads of time in traffic. If I felt that I may have been missing Houston, I can assure you that feeling was quickly demolished by the millions of aggressive, cell phone texting, drivers crammed bumper to bumper for hours. Ugh. Traffic aside, we had a great time. On our way to Dallas after a week in Houston, we stopped in College Station to watch some Aggie football. Aggies won! It was so fun to get to go to a game!

Oh wow... it's 1:00 AM. I think I should get to bed. I'll post more tomorrow. I've also created a slideshow with all of our pictures. I'm just waiting for it to finish uploading. It's easier to do that than to post a hundred single pictures or try to pick only a dozen or so that I like best. :o)