Houston, We Have A Secret: A TX Vacation With A WDW Surprise ...aaand Done! Page 43

[amandaw]

Loved the update! I especially loved the picture of Madison helping out her little brother. Too sweet! I never thought about vacationing in Houston, but it seems like they have some cool stuff to do with kids. Maybe I should consider it since we're only a few hours away. Their tourism board should be paying you! Oh - and I loved the part about the ice cream! You'll see in my latest TR update that I, too, used that same solution! It never fails!

 

[IamTrike]

(If anyone is interested, that picture was taken at Hermann park in Houston.)

Thanks for the park name. I stared at the fake Washington Monument for a bit trying to figure it out.

Welcome! I can personally guarantee there is virtually no peeing in the TR.

That's a pretty good rule.

 

[petals]

I'm liking the steel yard and the Giant tetris game! Houston looks like a nice place to visit.

 

[kaileighbug]

My Dad lives in Kingwood. I actually really like it there, just WAY to hot most of the time.

My aunt and uncle used to live in Kingwood. After he retired from Budweiser, they moved to the south side - Pearland.

The heat wasn't too bad when we were there - but then again, my aunt insisted we come in the March - April time frame before the summer heat and humidity gripped the city!

My ex lives in Kingwood. Right off Northpark. My son also had his bike/auto accident on Northpark. Scared me to death told him next time just call and ask me to come visit.

My mother in law lives in Summerwood. This is why we still visit. It get H O T Hot in Houston. I do not miss that....

 

[kaileighbug]

I do love the buildings around Houston. My son had a blast at the water wall when he was younger. I would also take him down to the Kemah boardwalk to hang out alot as well. There is so much to do and alot of it doesn't cost anything just gas and maybe snacks.

 

[Stringbean&Wingnut]

It also has what appears to be the world's largest game of Tetris

I now have the Tetris theme firmly stuck in my head. Version A, of course. Not those crazy dance remixes that are version B or version C.

 

[Jules425]

I've never done the the park downtown, that's something to add next time we're visiting my parents. (Well, maybe not this summer since our Houston trip is pushed to August because of our WDW trip.) August is the MOST MISERABLE month in Houston. Looking forward to more updates! You must have been staying south of the city. I'm from the Spring/The Woodlands area and its a different view driving in of the skyline.

 

[fmelchor88]

I am so glad u had a great time in my home town! Looking forward to more!

 

[cj9200]

Great TR Barry. Only visited Texas once and it was Austin. It can get hot and this is from a Floridian. The BBQ was fantastic. Hope you got your fill.

My only question is where are the cheese balls? I am still waiting for them to enter the picture.

 

[Mrs. Knowitall]

LOVE this picture of brother and sister.

I need this in my house! Where's Mrs. Knowitall when I need her?

Here's the deal - we can get the car/table thing when I can put this in the front yard:

 

[Poolrat]

Party pooping already, Pat?

Minus being pooped on either.

It was a very fitful night sleep for me. I must have dreamed about getting up and going to take a shower at least a dozen times. I even dreamed that I told Bambi about having all these dreams. Well, the alarm clock finally did go off - and did it ever. That thing was like an tornado siren going off! But it did the trick. We all go up, got dressed and waited in the lobby for our ride. I later told Bambi about having a dream where I told her about having all of these dreams. Sounds like some kind of circle of life or something.

I hate when that happens.

The first stop was The Williams Water Wall in Houston's Uptown district. While we were looking for a parking spot, we noticed that everything truly is bigger in Texas:

The Uptown district has those street signs at all of the major intersections.

How did I miss that?

The Water Wall is on the grounds of the 64 story Williams Tower. The wall is 64 feet tall and 11,000 gallons of water cycle through it every minute - both on the inside and outside of the concave wall.

Ever wonder what 11,000 gallons of falling water sounds like? It's loud. I SAID "IT'S LOUD!"

And That?

After the tour/nap, we had lunch at Chuy's - a Mexican restaurant in uptown Houston. The place was very eclectic- every random decoration you can think of all completely mismatched, but in a way that made it look really cool.

One section's ceiling was covered in hubcaps

And they had the rear end of an old car. The trunk opened to reveal a buffet table!

The food was really good, and gave us plenty of energy for our last stop - the Houston Children's Museum.

I had the pleasure of eating at Chuy's in San Antonio courtesy of Camille(millie12591)

 

[princess aleya]

Another funky Houston building:

What a small world!!! My DH works in this building..

 

[E3yore]

I have tried really hard to let you have your memories for these TR but sometimes I think you just make it up.

Houston Day 2: Friday, April 22

Evan even met another kid there who was probably about 9 or 10 named, oddly enough, Evan. They were playing together, and all of a sudden the other Evan just runs off. I asked my Evan what happened, and he said that the other Evan was going to go home and get his Lego guys. (Our Evan has just started getting into Legos and was constantly playing with the few that he brought on the trip. It's not a surprise at all that Lego came up in their conversation.)

He was 8.

Evan lived across the street from the park, so was soon back with a pretty cool Knight - even though it was a fairly warm morning. (Wow, 3rd entry and I'm back to the puns. Honestly, I'm just as surprised as you are that I lasted this long, too)

The last time we were in Houston (1994ish) we went to the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo. At the time, it was held in the Astrodome and I remember being in awe of just how massive that building was. So it was even more of a shock to see the new(ish) Reliant Stadium right next to it - and dwarfing it! The sight is even more dramatic as you get closer and around that side of town, but we didn't have the camera out then.

Our first destination was Discovery Green. From the reading we had done before we left home, it was sort of an artist's park right in the middle of downtown Houston. What we didn't know was that an Earth Day festival/event was going on. There was a band playing, dozens of booths set up selling everything from vegan organic baked goods to organic soap to Chevrolet Volt electric cars.

Who is this "we" you are talking about? You were the only one that had ever been to Houston before. I was the one that did the research on Houston.

In our research, we found the had a mini train ride around the park, so the kids were very excited to do it. The line to buy tickets was huge, but the kids wanted to ride, so I jumped in at the back. After about 5 minutes (and taking exactly 2 steps forward) Bambi walked out of the gift shop and said that you can buy tickets in there as well - and it's air conditioned and has no line. It didn't take much to convince me. I came out about 4 minutes later with train tickets, boat tickets for later, a Diet Coke and some Powerades for the kids. The family I was behind in line hadn't moved.

Again, I was the one that did the research.

It did take some convincing to get you in the store. The kids screamed at you from the door that you could get tickets in the store but you did not leave the line. I then had to come and get you.

We were pedaling along, coming up behind and around the big fountain and everything was going fine. Until the wind shifted. And those pedal boats don't exactly turn or accelerate in any type of record setting fashion. Bambi and Madison, sitting in back, got ... well, drenched. Madison was pretty upset. She must have thought I did it on purpose. I can assure you, I did not shift the wind direction on purpose.

This is just making stuff up. Of course you soaked us on purpose. You giggled like a school girl as it was happening and BEFORE it happened I told you not to get close to the fountain. Madison was more than upset if she could have swam the lake she would have to get on dry land.

 

[FreezinRafiki]

there goes the furnature, im in!!!!! ive not been keeping up and getting behind. great tr and pics as always barry! (you can tell me, do you get peed on, on this trip?)

Thanks Dave. I won't give anything away, but lets just say my streak of consecutive pee-free trips is intact.

Good luck with that. My son's going to be 8 and still won't get his own breakfast.

I don't know - Evan already knows how to get a bunch of the easier food out of the fridge (yogurt, string cheese, etc) in the morning. I wouldn't be surprised if I came downstairs on morning to see him standing on a stool frying some eggs. Terrified, yes. But not surprised.

I remember those cows. Don't they have them everywhere in Texas?

I don't recall seeing them anywhere else. Racine has had things like this every year in their downtown area to promote tourism where local businesses decorate statues: Cattin' around Downtown (cat statue), Dog Days of Summer (dog statues), "Hour Town" (clocks), Sunny and Chair (lawn chairs).
As you can imagine, puns rule in Downtown Racine!

I remember those days.

I'll be you were thinking about a few of those moments at your party this weekend, huh?

How did I know you'd be on the swing.

Because they're fun!

What a nice guy you are.

Shhh...you'll ruin my tough guy personal.

You big meanie...picking on Madison like that.

Way to go dad!!!!

Yeah, but all was forgiven with ice cream!

 

[FreezinRafiki]

It's not their sweet little faces that wake me up, but their reeking morning breath.

Evan has his adnoids taken out a few months ago. Oh. My. God. The doctor warned us about his breath for a few days after surgery - but that was beyond anything I've every smelled before. And I grew up on a dairy farm!

The first time I read that, I thought it said crap.




yeah, I thought you put the "S" on there accidentally. I was right.

It's ART! (I think...)

But a really unique one.

Oooh, I'll bet the line for these were REALLY long...

Yeah, really had to fight our way though that crowd.

How do you think they piped it all the way from the POP??

Just a little bit of Disney Magic to make our Houston stay a little more magical.

You don't think she wants him to get it fixed, do you?

Hmmm...she didn't say. I always thought she was talking about his knee, but you might be right!

Did he slip you 5 bones as he boarded?

No. Should have just stood next to where he was still and turned my pockets inside out until he got the hint.

Sure ya didn't. (I would have.)

I still maintain that I did not shift that wind direction on purpose.

I'll bet it was REALLY hard to not let the secret slip right about here.

Nah. As much as we'd been biting our tongues for the last few months, there was no way we'd let it slip this late into the game!

You know, I have been known to appreciate a fine Pun (and even a not so fine pun) now and again, I was, after all, the go to guy for puns in my old improv group (a PUNch hitter, if you will). But that? That was just plain awful.


TL

Puns: The awfuler the better!

Loved the update! I especially loved the picture of Madison helping out her little brother. Too sweet! I never thought about vacationing in Houston, but it seems like they have some cool stuff to do with kids. Maybe I should consider it since we're only a few hours away. Their tourism board should be paying you! Oh - and I loved the part about the ice cream! You'll see in my latest TR update that I, too, used that same solution! It never fails!

Thanks! I'll have some final thoughts on the Houston portion of the trip after I get through it all.
Wow, not only are you writing your first trip report, but you're plugging it in other ones! You're a natural!

 

[afwdwfan]

I asked my Evan what happened, and he said that the other Evan was going to go home and get his Lego guys.

Evans and Legos. Sounds like a fun combination!

Evan lived across the street from the park, so was soon back with a pretty cool Knight - even though it was a fairly warm morning. (Wow, 3rd entry and I'm back to the puns. Honestly, I'm just as surprised as you are that I lasted this long, too)

I was starting to think that maybe you were going to actually try to write a TR without puns. I know, what was I thinking?

(That really, really large, windowless building on the right? Yeah, that's a light pole)

It looks like a high rise apartment for squirrels to me.

She pointed that out to my Aunt Jo (who plans conventions for a living) who stopped in her tracks, looked at it, and said "I must have been here a thousand times and never noticed that!"

It does look kind of like a cruise ship... kind of funny how sometimes when you're used to looking at something, you don't really notice/pay attention to the details.

I had a Texas BBQ burger. Mmmm....

I don't know exactly what makes it a Texas BBQ burger, but I'm sure it was delicious.

We brought the boat back in and Madison was still a bit upset. And how do you calm down an upset child? Sit them down and have them talk to you in a calm and quiet manor, discussing their feelings about why they are upset and what we can do in the future to avoid getting upset? NO! You buy them Ice Cream!

Yep, everybody knows ice cream fixes everything!

 

[Turkey Lurkey]

Puns: The awfuler the better!

Yeah, but that one was so bad it went back the other way and became horrible again. There's a fine between "so bad it's funny" and "so bad we need to remove the speech center of his brain to prevent such attrocities from happening again".


TL

 

[FreezinRafiki]

Thanks for the park name. I stared at the fake Washington Monument for a bit trying to figure it out.

We were pretty impressed with Madison here. They learned about a lot of the monuments in her Kindergarten Social Studies class. She saw that and immediately said it looked just like the Washington Monument!

I'm liking the steel yard and the Giant tetris game! Houston looks like a nice place to visit.

It certainly had some neat stuff. (And there's even more neat stuff coming up!)

My ex lives in Kingwood. Right off Northpark. My son also had his bike/auto accident on Northpark. Scared me to death told him next time just call and ask me to come visit.

My mother in law lives in Summerwood. This is why we still visit. It get H O T Hot in Houston. I do not miss that....

We felt some of the heat, but were lucky to have a good breeze blowing in off the gulf to keep the humidity away and give us some relief.

I do love the buildings around Houston. My son had a blast at the water wall when he was younger. I would also take him down to the Kemah boardwalk to hang out alot as well. There is so much to do and alot of it doesn't cost anything just gas and maybe snacks.

My uncle suggested Kemah boardwalk. Bambi did some research before we left and though it would be better if the kids were a bit older and taller. We did drive by it on our way from NASA to Galveston and it looked pretty cool right next to the water there!

 

[FreezinRafiki]

I now have the Tetris theme firmly stuck in my head. Version A, of course. Not those crazy dance remixes that are version B or version C.

I remember spending hours playing that, then having that Russian techno music playing in my head the rest of the day!

I've never done the the park downtown, that's something to add next time we're visiting my parents. (Well, maybe not this summer since our Houston trip is pushed to August because of our WDW trip.) August is the MOST MISERABLE month in Houston. Looking forward to more updates! You must have been staying south of the city. I'm from the Spring/The Woodlands area and its a different view driving in of the skyline.

Yes, my Aunt & Uncle live in Pearland. It's pronounced Pear - Land, which didn't sound quite a nice a PEARLand (as in the jewel Pearl), so decided to class it up a bit and call it PEARLand

I am so glad u had a great time in my home town! Looking forward to more!

Thanks! We had a blast!

 

[Avery&Todd]

Im HERE!!

I can't believe you started without me....

not that you even have a clue who I am!!

Just know that Im here, and Im reading and I think your family is GREAT!!

I've never been to Houston - my DH is from Corpus Christi, TX and I've only been there once - it was in August, and I seriously thought I was going to melt..like a witch from Oz...

.."Im melting..."...