I listened to Freezepop for several hours yesterday (Saturday) while working on our washing machine. This morning I was looking through my pictures and ran across this one from our vacation to Houston and just completely got sidetracked when Freezepop’s Shark Attack got stuck in my head.
Click for full size.
Win!
I added a Vacations/Trips category so that navigating to the Houston Recap posts would be easier. It might come in handy in the future, too. Here are links to the posts in order:
Houston – Day 1 – Recap
Houston – Days 2-4 – Recap
Houston – Days 5-6 – Recap
Houston – Days 7-11 – Recap
Houston – Days 12-15 – Recap
There has been a lot to catch up on since we returned home, but we’re doing pretty good with it. We’re getting used to the time zone again, and I know that Texas is only an hour behind but you have to consider that we had just adjusted to going forward an hour for DST, then we go back an hour, and now we’re forward an hour again. Fun times.
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Day 12: We spent most of the day relaxing. Nothing too exciting, and that was just fine.
Day 13: We spent our last day packing, meeting up with old friends, packing, spending time with family, and packing.
Eventually we went to bed, but sleeping never seems to come easy on the nights you need it.
Day 14: We got up early and finished up with our packing, loading up the car, and saying our goodbyes. On our way out we took a different route so that we could visit Lynn’s grandparents (on her dad’s side; see Day 5) and tell them bye. We then settled into the car for a nice long drive to Biloxi, MS.
Thanks to Lynn and Orbitz we received a great deal to stay a night at IP Biloxi.
Why yes, we did enjoy our night’s stay. The beds were comfy:
Day 15: We enjoyed sleeping in a bit, but the time came to get up and get ready:
Then it was time to load up the car and check out. We left the hotel and headed to the nearest Taco Bell for some grub.
Before we could get to the Taco Bell, we couldn’t resist stopping to take pictures of a flock of seagulls sitting around. Note: When stopping to roll down your window and take pictures of seagulls, they will be expecting food.
Once we figured out they were expecting food, I pulled out some bread and started tossing it. I was very amused when they were catching the bread in their beaks and flying away like MINE MINE MINE MINE MINE. =P
After a bit of searching I learned that these are known as Laughing Gulls. /random fact
After a lot of driving and a stop or two for potty and stretch time, we ended up right here:
Noah had a lot of fun meeting Sammy Stephens, and so did we!
After a lot of fun, it was time to finish up the drive home. We’re having to readjust after being gone for two weeks, but we’re happy to have made it back safely.
Just to keep the dates straight:
3/12: Thursday – Day 1
3/13: Friday – Day 2
3/14: Saturday – Day 3
3/15: Sunday – Day 4
3/16: Monday – Day 5
3/17: Tuesday – Day 6
3/18: Wednesday – Day 7
3/19: Thursday – Day 8
3/20: Friday – Day 9
3/21: Saturday – Day 10
3/22: Sunday – Day 11
3/23: Monday – Day 12
3/24: Tuesday – Day 13
3/25: Wednesday – Day 14
3/26: Thursday – Day 15
I went to write this post and I had to figure out where I left off. Maybe it’ll help you keep up, but it’ll definitely help me. =P
Days 7 – 9: These days were a blur for me. We did have fun and Lynn has a post on her blog about a great find we bought for Noah on one of the days.
Day 10: One of Lynn’s cousins (Ivana) had her birthday party out at a park where her boyfriend’s band played and Noah had tons of fun with family. Noah and I met another one of Lynn’s cousins (Michelle) for the first time.
After the park we went out to TGI Friday’s to eat dinner.
Few words, many pics! These might not be in the right order, but oh well.
Day 5: We headed out to visit Lynn’s grandparents on her dad’s side of the family about an hour away. They love him so much, and he loves them too.
A joystick you say?
Noah loved the animals. The brown dog tolerated it very well and was really friendly to him. The cat that wasn’t hiding from us did very well with Noah but was much faster in getting away from him when she got tired of it. ;-) We didn’t see much of the black dog but she was still friendly. Noah had a blast.
Unfortunately they had to have one of their cats put down (it was very sick). I was glad I was able to help, though I felt bad for them over it.
The day was filled with fun though:
Day 6: We went out for lunch to meet with a friend of Lynn’s at a restaurant that doesn’t exist. This is a fact. =P We ended up at Quiznos and had a wonderful lunch, although Lynn didn’t get to meet up with her friend by the time we did get to eat lunch.
However, later that day a long time internet friend of ours (Tiffany) drove down and we went to the Hong Kong Mall to meet her:
Here’s Tiffany holding a Jack Fruit. These things had a bad smell. @_@ Huge though.
Yes, I can be very immature. Pickled yer wut?
There was a lot to look at, and we had a lot of fun.
In the end, Noah had just a little too much fun:
On our way out, we took a few pictures of all of us together:
So all in all it was a good day, even with the restaurant that didn’t exist.
Day 2: So we slept well and we got up at 5 AM (CST) to head out for Houston. We ate the hotel breakfast, loaded up the car, then went on our way.
The drive was just a drive until we got close to Texas and the rain kicked in. It wasn’t bad, though there were a few times when vision was unclear and people were close to killing each other trying to merge lanes blindly. The rain cleared up and we came close to Houston to find smog and pollution and more fun traffic.
Lots of fun traffic. Today (3/15) I discovered a nifty option in the GPS: AVOID TOLL ROADS. We were led into an easy tag toll road that requires a special sticker to get through or you get fined… we’re supposed to call again in a few days once it registers in their system to clear it up. Glad to have the option now though, and everything is going to get worked out for the toll from before so no worries.
Day 3: Lynn went with her mom to go get groceries while I stayed here with Noah and Lynn’s brother. We ended up spending most of the day here, but you can read more about that day on Aithyne.net.
Day 4: We got up today and I took a wonderful shower then went out to Wal-Mart to grab a few things. I received a phone call in the parking lot from my mom with some pretty crappy (and heartbreaking) news. It’s been bugging me today but I’m getting past it. Anyway, later we went to Lynn’s aunt’s house and spent time with a lot of her family. We had a lot of fun and everybody loves him so much!
He had so much fun that in the end:
We went out to Pappadeaux with Alexa (Lynn’s cousin) and her boyfriend and enjoyed a crazy meal together. Noah enjoyed it and was introduced to a new love: Lemonade! Lynn and I enjoyed a wonderful meal of alligator tail and crab fingers. Nomnomnom.
I’ve avoided pictures of me so far, so here’s one of me looking crazy at Pappadeaux:
The trip has been a blast so far, and I have no doubt that there is plenty more excitement to come!
I just wanted to give a quick update. I’m hoping to finish the Day 2 recap later today. If you want to see more of my quick updates, check out my Twitter! I have a mini feed showing recent updates on the left sidebar for those of you not interested in signing up for Twitter or following me there.
Thursday (3/12): We got up way too early (5:30 AM EST) and finished everything up. We packed up the car in the dark like a couple of Tetris professionals, and headed out as the sun was coming up.
The actual drive wasn’t super exciting for a while. Trees, sky, trees, other cars, made a few stops; normal stuff. When we got closer to New Orleans we got to see a lot of ocean and drive over it. I enjoyed that a lot!
Unfortunately we didn’t get to stop in at Flea Market Montgomery because we came into the area about 3 hours before they opened. We should be stopping in on the way home when we head back, so that’ll make up for it.
Noah was amazing in the car both days. He would get a little fussy, but he did great for the trip!
So we arrive in New Orleans with heavy traffic and getting to the hotel was a mess. Plenty of one way streets and very little parking. Lynn had to drive around a few times while I checked us in and got our remote to park for the night.
We thought we’d enjoy some great New Orleans food, but ended up walking to a Chinese restaurant and walking back out. Even though the sign said that it was a non-smoking establishment, it smelled so badly of smoke that I was gagging.
Back at the hotel, we asked the lady at the desk if she could recommend a nice place that wasn’t too expensive. She recommended one that was supposed to be close (walking distance), but ended up being a very long walk for three hungry people (two and a half?). When we finally got there it was ridiculously priced. The waitress sat down to chat with another waitress friend and they ignored us until we decided to leave; she didn’t bother saying anything after delivering our drinks until we were asking somebody else about leaving. Noah was fussy and we weren’t feeling good so we left and paid $5 for their overpriced fountain drinks, then we went back to the Hotel and ate sandwiches.
While we were walking I spotted this and I couldn’t resist getting a picture… it’s a bit of a wtf thing… o_O
Anyway, New Orleans was interesting to see. Mardi Gras was pretty recent so there were beads everywhere, and you could still see some damage from Katrina.
If nothing else, now we can say we’ve been there. =P I came, I saw, I’m bypassing New Orleans on the way home.
Check back soon or subscribe (right sidebar) for Day 2!
Well the trip here was crazy but we’re here in Houston! I hooked up our router right after we arrived (you expected anything less?). I do plan on making a longer post later tonight, but I thought I’d give a quick update for now. I have some pictures (Lynn took most of them because I was driving) to upload and all of that, so be sure to check back later tonight (or subscribe!).
So we’re heading out to Houston next week and I’m trying to get everything ready on my computer to carry it with us. I’m using the offline mode in Gmail Labs so I can see my email offline, I’ve got Windows Live Writer ready to get posts ready while I’m unable to get online, and I’m going to make backups of everything later just in case. I’ll be making posts when I can and posting them on the blog when I’m able to get online.
We’ll be driving there to visit with Lynn’s family for about a week. We’re splitting the trip there (and return trip) into two days so we can enjoy the trip and not wear out the little guy (or ourselves).
We might even stop to see Sammy Stephens if he’s at Flea Market Montgomery. We’re going to call the day before to find out if he’ll be there the next day. We live surprisingly close to the area. Don’t know who Sammy Stephens is? Enjoy this video:
Oh boy. This will be a fun trip.
