Visiting Texas

We spent the last week of June and the first days of July in Texas. Our Cousin Katie was getting married and we attended the wedding which was just outside Houston. Being adventurous, Mr B, the kids and I flew from Long Beach into Austin where we rented a car and drove up to Arlington to meet and visit with our Aunt Mickey. A GREAT Aunt in every sense of the word, we enjoyed visiting with her.

 We ate some fantastic Texas BBQ and stayed at a hotel in Arlington near the Rangers Ball park and the new Cowboy Stadium. The next morning we decided to take a tour of Cowboy Stadium which was actually incredibly fun! There had just been an event on the field the night before so we weren't able to take a picture on the actual star but it was so cool. Even though we're Charger Fans, Go Bolts! (and JT our lone Raider fan... don't get me started) it was a neat experience to be in the locker room and down on the turf. The facility itself is still so new! Absolutely worth the $17 (kiddos were free).

After our tour, we drove down to Houston and checked in to our Hotel, the Hotel Magnolia it was beautiful boutique hotel in the heart of Downtown Houston. After checking in we changed in to our Astro Gear and walked over to Minute Maid Park to watch their game agains the Boston Red Sox. Stadium food was delicious, chili dogs, ice cream, cotton candy and diet cokes. Ugh so yummy!

After the game, a tough loss throughout which JT hard core rooted for the home team despite the unrelenting and passionate BoSox fans by which we were surrounded... we were treated to a fireworks show after they opened the retractable roof! It was insanely humid during our whole Texas experience. As soon as the roof opened up, we were drenched in sweat. Crazy how they were able to keep the interior of a space as large as a stadium fairly cool during the whole course of the game!

Our hotel featured complimentary Milk and Cookies every evening and we made in time to snag a few chocolate chip treats. Tired from yet another very full day (and the two hour time difference) kiddos went to bed without a single fuss. It was during this trip that we were trying to wean HeaBug off the  'Mommy helps you go to sleep' and this combined with our trip to Dove Mountain did great for that cause.

We attended the wedding the next day and afterwards explored the highway. We had to drive back to Austin to catch our plane the next day. In essence, we drove a giant triangle... From Austin, North to Arlington, South to Houston and back West to Austin. It was indeed a great adventure peppered with great food and fun. By the second day driving we had banned electronic devices, Leapster, iPad, iPhone i.e. all the things we'd brought to help us survive the car time. Funny thing was how they were just as occupied counting churches and water towers. Since the little miss is potty training as well, we had almost hourly stops for bathroom breaks. We tried buffalo jerky, venison, buttermilk pie, cobbler, and lots of other roadside treasures.

After flying home from Austin we got to get a peek in the Jet Blue cockpit. The pilots were awesome and let JT and HeaBug sit up front and play with all the controls they wanted. We really enjoyed our time in Texas but as soon as we stepped off the plane we were so happy to be back in Long Beach and the beautiful weather!