It’s almost midnight and we’re sitting here watching Despicable Me with the kids. We’ve had a big day and I’m ready for bed. But I think I might be the only one. Fortunately, I’m one of the adults pretending to be in charge so I plan to announce it’s officially bedtime as soon as I finish writing this post and have the energy to get off the couch.
We left San Antonio around noon on Monday and headed for Houston. Mimi and Bops recently bought a place in Houston because it’s their favorite city ever and who doesn’t want a summer home in a location that’s even more hot and humid than where you normally live? And Gulley’s dad also lives in Houston. Therefore, we decided Houston was a logical first stop on our road trip.
On Monday night we went to watch the Astros or, as they’re also known, the worst team in baseball. However, this didn’t stop Caroline from talking Bops into buying her an Astros t-shirt.
The good news is that since no one really cares about watching the Astros right now, we were able to get eight tickets for a grand total of $45.00. Unfortunately, we spent twice that amount on food. Did y’all know that a barbecued brisket sandwich plate at Minute Maid park is $13.00? Neither did I. But Bops did because he tried to convince Mimi that they weren’t selling them on the third level where our seats were located.
So we ate a varied combination of ballpark foods including a chili cheese dog, the aforementioned sandwich, three things of cotton candy, two buckets of popcorn, and a snow cone that was larger than a person’s head.
I’ll just say that I had some regrets about chasing my barbecue brisket sandwich with a few bites of Caroline’s chili cheese dog. Which probably shouldn’t come as a surprise.
I’ll break it down for you Mastercard-style.
Cotton candy – $15.00
Two Brisket Sandwiches – $26.00
Listening to Bops talk about how baseball isn’t what it used to be and how the fans are more excited about watching the jumping cans of refried beans on the jumbotron – PRICELESS
Our plan for Tuesday morning was to take the kids to Galveston for the day. We had big plans to pack a cooler full of Gatorade, Fritos and bean dip and rent an umbrella and some chairs on Stewart Beach. In other words, we feel it is of the utmost importance to teach our children about the finer things in life.
The flaw in our plan came in the form of thunderstorms coming in from the Gulf. When you’ve been living in drought conditions as long as we have, you forget to factor in things like rainfall. But I have vowed I will never complain about rain again because it is so desperately needed. Not to mention there are PLENTY of other things to complain about in this world. AT&T makes sure of that.
Gulley called me from her dad’s house to discuss our options now that Project White Beach Trash had been scrapped. Ultimately, they voted for a visit to the Aquarium. Which, truth be told, turned out to be so much easier than the beach. Especially because I prefer to see my sharks behind glass.
For reasons I don’t totally understand, there is also a white tiger at the Aquarium. I don’t know how he fits into the whole underwater scenario but I’m pretty sure if he could have figured out a way to break the glass he would’ve have eaten a child sitting in the stroller in front of us. He kept eyeballing her and I could almost see the thought bubble forming over his head that said, “FREE, DELICIOUS MONKEY DRESSED IN PINK”.
Don’t worry. That’s not the real white tiger. Just a replica.
It inspired Will to make his best face like an ape.
After all the big aquarium fun (Is this post as boring as it feels like it is? Because it feels about eight kinds of MEH.) we drove to The Galleria. Actually, we first got lost in a questionable neighborhood near downtown Houston and then we drove to The Galleria so the kids could bungee jump and ride the glass elevators up and down and give us a heart attack by acting like fools on the escalator until we had to use our I MEAN IT mom voices.
And it was there we discovered Dylan’s Candy Bar. Some of you may remember that I totally FLIPPED OUT over Ralph Lauren’s interview with Oprah and fell completely in love with his ranch and his tee-pees and basically would like to email him and ask if I could move there and just live in his garage. Well, they also interviewed his family and that’s when I learned he had a daughter named Dylan who owns the largest candy store in the world located in New York. However, I did not know there was one in Houston.
Oh happy day.
We each filled a bag with candy and I attempted to get a picture of the kids all holding giant lollipops and was informed by a salesgirl that they don’t allow photos in the store due to copyright infringement or it being a front for a covert operation involving Sydney Bristow. I can’t exactly remember. But she told me we were welcome to take a picture SANS MERCHANDISE in front of the chocolate bunny.
So we did.
And then on the way out I saw this sign and couldn’t resist.
You have to admit that’s pretty perfect.