Houston

Back in October we got some free Delta flight vouchers. We used them to visit Derrick's brother Jamon and his wife Jean last week. They showed us the sights and really spoiled us. We had such a fun time and it was great to get to know them better.

Day 1: Flew to Houston. Zach fell asleep during take off so that made things easier. Once there we took Zach on a walk to the park and mostly just hung out and played Wii.

Day 2: Drove to downtown Houston to see the Water Wall, the Galleria (a huge and very pricey mall. I think it's the 2nd biggest in America), and the Houston Zoo. For dinner we went to a great Chinese restaurant near Chinatown. We had Peking duck for the first time.

In front of the water wall. This thing was huge! It gave us vertigo when we'd look up at it from the base. The wall was falling down all 4 sides.

At the zoo we got to get really close to the lions. Only a piece of glass separated us from the lions. Zach was able to look where we were pointing but only seemed mildly interested in the animals in the cages. He seems to prefer animals he can chase and terrorize like Jamon and Jean's cat Georgina.

In the aquarium part they had this tube thing running through the tank that kids could crawl through. We tried to get Zach to crawl through it but it really freaked him out.

Jean's parents also live in Houston and were able to join us at the Chinese restaurant. They had a lot of fun with Zach.

Back at the house Zach got to have a bath in a giant tub. We filled it up a lot so we could see his reaction to the jets but sadly he barely noticed them. He did love all the extra wiggle room.

Day 3: Drove down to Galveston. There we took a boat ride, saw the aquarium and rainforest pyramids at Moody Gardens, and drove down to see the sea wall. Back in Houston we had a crawfish boil for dinner. We couldn't ever do much after dinner because Zach would crash by around 7:30p.m. every night because his nap schedule got all messed up.


On the boat. Since Zach refused to keep his hat on we had to rub sunscreen all over his head. It made him look like he had a comb over.

Fun times in the Aquarium Pyramid

Zach got his first taste of the ocean. He fought so hard to get in but once we stripped him and let him sit down he started crying and fought to climb back up me and out of the water. Oh well, maybe next time he'll like it better.

Jean and me at the sea wall. If you look closely at the pier behind us you can see a missing chuck. Bigger chunks were missing farther out.

Mmm...crawfish. Once you got past the point that you were eating things that looked like giant bugs, they were pretty good and tasted like shrimp.

Day 4: Derrick, Zach and I went to church in the morning. The afternoon was pretty mellow and then we had a BBQ for Jamon's birthday. This was Texas-style with massive amounts of beef and buffalo steaks and ribs. There were a ton of sides to go with it so we were completely stuffed. Jean's parents and a pair of Jamon and Jean's friends were also there.


Day 5: We drove to Brazos Bend State Park to have a picnic and see some alligators. The alligators were usually really hard to spot in the water. I'd forgotten to pack a spoon to go with Zach's lunch so I got to feed him using a straw (suck a bit into it and let him suck it out the bottom. Good thing he learned how to use a straw :) )


We did meet an alligator that decided to sun himself on the edge of our path. We tried to sneak past on the far side of the path but decided to head back the way we came once he lifted his head up and started hissing at us.

Day 6: We took Zach on a walk by the bayou and went to a BBQ place for lunch. (We had so much meat this trip). After that we headed back to the airport to fly home.