~Galveston~

On Sunday we did a day trip to Galveston to see the Gulf of Mexico.  We were really excited to see the beach!  It was really nice considering it is predominantly used for shipping (it is nothing like Australia though!)  We had our first thick shake and sundae (and felt really unwell after but it was SooooOOO worth it!!)  

....We're going to the zoo, zoo, zoo!....

Over the weekend we thought we'd go and check out the zoo.   We saw lots of lions and tigers and bears (Grizzly and Kodiak).  Their reptile collection was amazing, with albino alligators, snakes, geckos and lizards.  

Hello friend!

...Houston Rockets Vs LA Clippers....

We had fun at the Toyota Stadium last night seeing our first basketball game.  The Rockets fought hard but were beaten just in the last 5 minutes!!!

~New Orleans~

We had so much fun exploring the streets of New Orleans.  Music filled the streets and lots of good food filled our tummies!   We experienced our first gumbo, jambalaya and barbequed alligator!!!  

The beignets at Cafe du Monde were delicious!

Walking through Jackson Square.  Touches of colour everywhere!

We cruised down the Mississippi on the Nanchez Paddle Steamer.  It brought back memories of Lane Cove River Park.....ahhh the good ole days!!!  We also went to check out the engine room to see all the machinery behind the steamer, very impressive!

....FUN FACT!....

Did you know..... 

coat hangers in Houston are seasonal!  

(You can't find them anywhere in Spring according to our sources)

....Houston......we have a problem......

This past weekend we went to NASA.  It was mind blowing!  I think that the pictures speak louder than our words so here you go.....

Ready to explore the outer regions of the galaxy!

Touching a rock from the moon....!

That's a big engine!

Hello!

The Saturn 5, which was responsible for many of the early Apollo missions including Apollo 11, when man walked on the moon, and Apollo 13, when Tom Hanks saved the mission!!! :)  It actually is far bigger than the picture shows!

Under the flight deck

Checking out mission control.....

....LIVE....

The streets around Houston

Down the road from where we live, one street is lined with these beautiful animal sculptures!

The industrial view of Houston.

.....PLAY.....

This weekend was a BLAST!!! 

We started it off going to the Rodeo with Vergillio.  Although getting there we hit the worlds worst traffic (an oil tanker rolled on one of the major highways in the morning and it took all day to clear up the mess)  The cars literally were not moving.  We did get a tip off from someone from Kent's work to park in the Gallery and jump on a train (which we did thank goodness otherwise we would have missed the whole thing!!) 

The rodeo was HILariouS!!!! We saw bull riding, barrel racing, cow competing and sheep riding (yes you heard right 5 year olds were put on the back of sheep and the aim was for them to hold on as long as they could)  Check it out below!

This little one below was not going to let go!!!!!!

After the rodeo they had one of Texas' biggest country singers perform Toby Keith.  

Just a good fun night all together!

....Out and about in Houston....

Here are a few pics of Houston, where we work, play and live!

~WORK~

Jacinto Port, GE Houston

Behind the scenes at the Museum of Fine Arts Houston

Briargrove School

Stay tuned for our pics of play and live :)

Dinner with Vergillio

We were lucky enough to have our first visitor, Vergillio, from Australia on Sunday night!  We were very excited and spent the night eating unbelievable amounts of Mexican food!!!

Look at all that food......yikes....!

P.S We didn't even get through a quarter of the food on the table (thank goodness!)

San Antonio for the weekend....

We decided to venture out of Houston this weekend to see more of Texas.  After about three hours driving West we arrived in San Antonio.  Many people had told us that San Antonio was the prettiest city in Texas, and from what we have seen so far, we'd have to agree.  

We are only just entering Spring here and as a consequence things looked quite bare and bleak in the suburbs or "Addam's Family-ish!" as we referred to it!  But we could see signs of warmer weather, and in the late Spring/Summer it must be just beautiful.  

The part of the city, no matter the time of the year, that is full of life and just so much fun is the riverwalk area.  This is where we spent most of our time over the weekend.  We had dinner there both nights, went on a boat ride up the river and just enjoyed being around lots of people!!!  

On the Saturday we stumbled upon a re-enactment of the falling of the Alamo, a battle between Mexico and America.  It was HiLarIous!!! There were hundreds of people involved, dressed in period costume.  They had guns, they were shooting each other and yes, they even fell to the ground when they had been shot!   

5.3

Cheerleading & Gun Shows

Last weekend when driving around Houston, trying to get our bearings, we came across crowds of people in the centre of the city.  Of course, we parked the car immediately and went to find out what was going on.....the Cheerleading Nationals and the Houston Gun Show were taking place right next door to each other in the same building!!!  

After we had experienced the world of Cheer we went to a nearby park, which was definitely the highlight of the day!  

Finally, we dashed into the Gun Show, which was......well........you know!  The irony is that as we entered, the police stopped us and informed us that we were not allowed to take the camera in..... meanwhile men with riffles and hand guns just walked straight past security!

4.3

Shopping in Houston

Just a few fun pics!  Enjoy!!!

Everything is bigger!!

4.3

It has been over a week since we landed in Houston, Texas.  In such a short time we have had so many experiences that we never would have dreamt doing!  

On Friday we went to the Texas Cook off.  It was the Sydney Easter Show but about 10 times bigger.  Walking through the carnival the lights were flashing, the music was loud and you could just tell everyone was there just to have a great time.  The food choice was limited to deep fried hot dogs, oreos or waffles the size of dinner plates pilled with whipped cream.  We were saving our appetite to sample some of the food from the World Barb-b-que Championships. 

Once we got through the carnival we entered the world of barbeques!  There were lines and lines of tents that held approx 50-100 people in each.  

According to the map there are over 500 entrants which means there are 500 tents which equals a lot of people!!!

Each tent had their own barbeque, each unique in technique, spices and sauces to try to win the title of World Barb-b-quer!  This is a very serious event, there were security guards everywhere and you could only enter a marquis with a pass. We were lucky enough to given one from John, thanks!  The barbeque we had was delicious, and we met some lovely Texans along the way! They gave us some tips to getting around Houston and what to see, so we will definately be making our way through the list!