Houston Trip: Day 8

 We had big plans this day to go to the zoo, but there was another major rain storm that morning which cancelled those plans. Thankfully, the rain let up enough for us to meet up with Sophia and her kids at the reflection pool at Hermann Park.

 Emma loved seeing all the turtles in the pool. You can see the little head of one in this shot.

 Shortly after the picture below was taken, a big gust of wind blew an inflated beach ball of Sophia's away, which produced a grand adventure as we worked to fish it out. All was well in the end and the ball was returned and deflated so as to avoid future troubles such as that one.

 When the Cranes left, we headed over to the Japanese gardens to walk around a bit. I was so impressed. They were really quite lovely. We wanted to bring Ross back here, but we just never made it with all the other stuff going on.

 Such a happy baby, even with a bunch of teeth coming in.

 When Ross got home from work this day, he told me to not even think about cooking because he had a hankering for seafood. this led us down the street to Joe's Crab Shack where we all shared a giant steamer of crab, shrimp, sausage, and lobster. It was so yummy!

 Jack loved all the tools needed to cut them open.

 After dinner, we went to Target to get some things we needed for Mr. Luke's birthday the next day. While there, we saw these lovelies, and I almost did something very unladylike because I was laughing so hard.

 Unicorns are a bit of an inside joke with my Bunco ladies and me, and I was sooooo tempted to buy these to show them, but decided the pictures were enough for the moment.

When I was putting Luke down for the night, he  had a fever. We gave him some medicine to help him with the fever, but he had a pretty fitful night of sleep. It was so hard to see him so sad and fussy.

Houston Trip: Day 10

 Ross was doing much better this day, but was not totally recovered, so we took it easy and decided to hit the Miller Outdoor Theater again to see the Houston Opera perform La Boheme.

 We grabbed a pizza on the way over and enjoyed a fun picnic while we waited for the show to start. It was so well done, but the kids got a little tired and restless, and I wasn't loving the heavy scent of wine from all around us, so we left after the third Act and didn't get to see Mimi die.

 I think it is so great that Houston does these kinds of performances for free. There were a lot of kids there, and I loved seeing so many people coming out to enjoy something so classical and cultured. There are far worse things to do with a Friday night!

Houston Trip: Day 9

 We had big plans of going swimming with Sophia's kids on this day, but it didn't work out that way. Ross came home from work early very sick. He was there to hang out with Luke, who was also really miserable and sick. Poor boys!

When I called to tell Sophia, she pulled out her amazing friend skills and offered to come and pick up my girls so that I could better help my boys feel better. The girls LOVED hanging out at Sophia's house, and I so enjoyed the chance to give Ross and Luke the quiet they needed to heal. Mr. Luke slept for 6 hours straight, which NEVER happens during the day.

When Ross was sleeping, Jack and I went on a little date to Kroger to pick up some supplies we needed. We stopped at Sonic on the way home to get the boy a sundae for being so patient and quiet during the day-- two things he is not usually very good at.

The day of rest did a lot to help them, and Ross was back at work the next day, although he was moving quite a bit slower than usual for the next couple of days. Luke was sickly for the rest of our time there as teething and allergies just don't mix well for such a tiny body. This was his only day with that terrible high fever and the extended lethargy, so we were happy to seem him mending a bit as things progressed.


The sad thing about his sickly state is that the big event on this day was Mr. Luke's birthday! I can't believe this little guy is a year old. He is such a big ball of sunshine for me and this family. We love him so much. It was so hard in so many ways to get him here, but he is surely where he belongs, and we could not be happier about it. I am so grateful for him, and I can't wait to see who he turns into. His big day was really not as special as it could have been because of the strange circumstances, but I am not a big one for huge birthday parties anyway, and he didn't seem to mind, so we are calling it good.

 We got a Marie Calendars chocolate silk pie since Ross was sure that was Luke's favorite. I think he was more concerned with it being his own favorite, but whatever. The boy liked it, so everyone's a winner!

 The kids all got to pick out a few fun things for him, but we only had a couple of gift bags with us, so we just crammed it all into those bags.

Happy Birthday, sweet boy. I love you so very much!

Houston Trip: Day 7

This day was pretty low key for us. Luke had been feeling under the weather, and Emma had some school work to catch up with, so we decided to just hang around the room and relax. We headed to the store for a bit to grab some items for dinner that night, which was a wonderful BBQ feast grilled up by Ross in the little outdoor picnic area at the hotel.

 I was a bit limited on what to use for the marinade for the chicken and beef because, well, we are living in a hotel room at the moment. I have to say, however, that it was the best marinade we have EVER had. The chicken was especially wonderful. I used Morton's seasoning, Seasonall, BBQ sauce, and the juice from a small tangerine. Amazing. We will be replicating this in the future.

Ross did a great job grilling everything, and we were lucky that nobody else had the same plans we did because we had total privacy the entire time.

 This guy sure knows where the naughty stuff is...

 It was a really simple day, but it was fun because we spent it all together.