......TWISTERS!!!!......

We have had some crazy weather over the last week.  Last night we had our first tornado watch.  I had images of Kent and I landing in Oz, whereas Kent was far more realistic about the situation!  In fact the states that were officially on tornado watch were Mississippi, Arkansas, Oklahoma and Louisiana.  Not Texas, but they are all States (except for Mississippi) that boarder our State, so that is close enough for me to freak out!!!  We were supposed to be heading to Oak Plantation Alley in Louisiana today, but because they are directly in the "watch" zone we thought that it was a better idea to chill out in Houston!!!

Hanging out in Houston

The last two weekends we have stayed in Houston.  We have discovered some great Southern bars and restaurants thanks to Steve, Anita and Craig!!! 

 Last week we went to the Icehouse, which had such a great relaxed vibe, people had their dogs, there was a live band and everyone was just having a good time!  On the Saturday we checked out the Museum of Natural Science.  There was an awesome exhibit on mining and also Native American culture.  Sunday we headed to Breakfast Klub with Steve, Anita and Craig.  We had waffles and deep fried chicken wings (the restaurant is known for this!) what a combination! 

The following weekend we met up with Steve and went to a jazz bar called the Red Cat and later ended up at The Big Easy a blues bar.  On Saturday Steve, Anita and Craig took us to a microbrewery, St Arnolds, where we drank beer and played jenga!

~Miami~

Kent and I took our first official set of holidays to explore Miami and Orlando.  Our first stop was Miami.  We stayed on Ocean Drive which was vibrant with Art Deco buildings, surfers and people looking for a good time.  We felt for the first time that we could relate to the relaxed and fun culture.  

We went to visit the Haitian, Italian and Cuban parts of the city which was brilliant!  We saw men rolling cigars, people playing dominoes, chess and cards, and visited the Latino walk of fame!  

We had our first celebrity spottings, Mario Lopez (from Saved by the bell) and Kourtney Kardashian.  Both sat right next to us in the same cafe on different days.  We had no idea until we realised that half the cafe was taking pictures in our direction and pointing and whispering!!  Then one of the ladies nearby said "you're sitting next Mario Lopez" we thought WHO?  Not A list but a sighting all the same!

We also HAD to do a boat tour of Star Island, where people like Elizabeth Taylor, Oprah, Tony Montana, Gwen Steffani etc etc own ridiculously HUGE mansions.  We could have stayed there ourselves while in Miami for a small price of $16,000/night!   It was actually just nice to be out on the water for an hour!!!

...Orlando...

The primary reason why we chose to visit Orlando was to see one of the Discovery's final launches.  We were picked up from our hotel at 11:30pm by bus.  After traveling for about an hour we arrived at the Kennedy Space Centre.  We had some time to look around the exhibits in the early hours of the morning.  The one that stood out was all about future space travel.  We saw Hubble 3D which was amazing (particularly for me because that was the mission that I had followed with my kids last year) it is really worth seeing it if you have the chance!  Finally we went on the launch simulator (we thought it would be really cheesy but it actually was well done!) 

We then got picked up at 3:30am by the bus and was dropped off at the causeway.  We sat amongst hundreds of others with binocular and cameras ready to catch what we could!  After waiting for a good 2 hours we were becoming restless, but then suddenly the countdown came on and it was liftoff!!!!  It was one of the most incredible things that we had ever seen.  It lit up the sky like the sun was exploding and it roared (the ground even shuddered!)

That day we slept.... 

The final day in Orlando we went to the Island on Adventure (part of Universal studios)  It was just a whole lot of fun!!!

Those blossoms are real!  How gorgeous are they?!