Official Start of Autumn in Our House!

It's officially Autumn. The weather is changing, hearing the boys pant during walks is quickly becoming less and less frequent. I found my Fall décor items. Last year I couldn't find them. After moving in together I had this large container of Autumn and Christmas décor items that seemed to get lost in the shuffle. Last Christmas I looked around at our holiday items and thought there was some stuff missing. As the stuff we had out was Brad's and what we had acquired as a result of having a Christmastime wedding. A few months back I finally came across my container of holiday décor. Woo-hoo! So Fall decorations are on display in our place. 

In recent days I've even done some Autumn baking.  I made banana chocolate toffee breads along with two different types of apple flavored cookies. I'm VERY experimental when it comes to baking breads. I'll throw just about anything into the batter just to see how it comes out.  At special holiday times of the year, look out, there's likely some candy floating about in the batter. Perhaps I think to throw candy into the batters because I'm a sucker for limited edition candy and cookies introduced to the market at holiday times. Just the other day I came across caramel apple Oreos.  I had to buy them! My husband is SUPER traditional when it comes to his desserts. So when I arrived home with the caramel apple Oreos the look on his face wasn't as giddy as the look on my face as I quickly ripped into the package. After I said they tasted quite good he had enough courage to take a bite of my cookie. He hasn't needed to have a full caramel apple Oreo cookie of his own yet. The caramel apple Oreo experience I suppose led me to get into the kitchen to bake some apple flavored cookies of my own. I baked two different kinds. The first type of apple cookies I completely dreamed up on my own.  And much like with the caramel apple Oreos Brad was somewhat apprehensive to taste test the "dreamed up" cookies. Once he did....well....he had quite a few! The second batch of cookies combined peanut butter and apples.  What could be better, right Simon? Actually Simon isn't too experienced with apples just peanut butter.  Over the years he's sampled apple peels that have accidentally hit the floor. But his true expertise is in peanut butter.

This Autumn in our household, not only means our football obsession grows week by week, but it now means not one but both ladies in the house are about to celebrate a birthday. The men in the household better recognize!  Ha-Ha! First comes mommie's birthday then comes little Piper's birthday.  Piper is about to celebrate her very first bday! Congrats Pipe!

My husband has attempted to turn this weekend into my "birthday weekend".  However, I like waiting for my birthday, celebrating it then letting the good times roll a bit longer.  Once the birthday occurs there's leftover cake to eat not to mention just a good overall feeling going on. Therefore, I'm all about, shall I term it....the after party! 

My grandpa had to celebrate every birthday of his 3 times before he was completely satisfied with his bday festivities.  He would celebrate with a longtime friend by going out to lunch near his birthday if not on his birthday. Our family would of course gather together to celebrate. Plus he'd go out to celebrate in a quieter fashion with only my grandma. So you see, I learned how to extend a birthday!

As for Piper's birthday, that milestone occasion will occur 10 days after mine.  It's quite interesting the way our "kids" bdays stack up.  Cody's bday is before Christmas which means the boys always receive a new Christmas toy as well as Christmas related treats.  Simon's birthday hits right before Easter.  In his 12 years of life Easter has never occurred before his birthday. A day or two after or a week or so after but never before.  Therefore, his birthday is perfectly placed to get the boys Easter/Spring toys and treats.  And now there's Piper.  Her birthday is aligned in front of Halloween, meaning her and her brothers will be getting Halloween related gifts!  So be ready for something spooktacular kids! LOL!  

Houston Vacation Pics!

I'm a bit late posting pics from our Houston get-away. But here's some pics finally! What can I say? I get busy and easily distracted while days pass by quickly before I get to posting again.

We honestly didn't take enough pics. Then again we were only in Houston.  Not to take anything away from Houston it was great little trip. However, it's not Paris. Great fun, but this vacation was about relaxing and romping around a new to us city. Most of our pics were from NASA day.

 Look at the deer, roaming around! I had to snap a couple photos!

The pics below were all taken inside the Space Center, which is much like a museum:

 Inside a replica space shuttle!

 The Angry Birds play zone for little ones visiting the Space Center. I love Angry Birds so I had to take this pic!

 Cool mural on the wall where line forms for the tram ride.

 Longhorns on NASA property! Is there any animal that says "TEXAS" better than a longhorn?  Nope! Say longhorn and Texas automatically comes to mind. Am I right?

 Main attraction at the entrance of Rocket Park.

 This is a rocket that was nearly completed before government funding was ceased. Very cool to see this huge rocket up close! It's called Saturn VI. 

 

 Outside the main entrance of NASA.

 

Settling Back In!

Before officially returning home we drove immediately to collect our "kids" from the grandparents house.  Now this was the first time we've left Piper, therefore, I was curious to see and hear how she did without mommie and daddy. The boys are accustom to it all so I knew exactly what to expect there. I have to say first...I am so glad Piper has her big brothers to help her feel more comfortable. I know she was nervous but I also know it helps that she has them by her side.

My mother-in-law takes her job of spoiling her grand-pets very seriously. When we returned she had gone shopping for them. Picking up the boys some treats and bones. Piper got a new toy. It's not as easy to buy Piper treats.  Toys are the way to go for her right now. Especially since we're trying to up the amount of designated "cat toys" in our household. There's tons of dog toys which she likes but she does still need to collect a few more cat toys.  Her TX grandma was helpful in that area.

While still at my in-laws house I turned to Simon to tell him the normal routine would begin again early in the morning. He tilted his head with extreme intent. He knew exactly what I was saying. He also knew the extra treats were done....mommie's back in town.

The boys of course didn't appear to have any anxiety concerning the return of mommie and daddy. While Piper demonstrated great relief once the 5 of us arrived back to our home. I do believe cats are more prone to anxiety in general, dogs roll with things a bit easier. I'm sure in lots of ways the boys like going to their grandparents place.  It means they have a backyard. They don't have to ride an elevator. And they've hit the jackpot on extra treats.  That being stated, it was clear they all 3 enjoyed coming home. They all put themselves to bed the first night back.  They wasted no time getting cuddly in their usual beds and their usual sleeping quarters. And when they all laid down to go to sleep Wednesday night they likely said to themselves, "there's no place like home", as they drifted off to sleep.

Dallas vs. Houston!

We made it home from Houston this past Wednesday.  We certainly enjoyed being out of town for a few days. It was nice to stay within the state as well.  I must say I wasn't exactly ready to come home. I could've stayed another day or two.

Before leaving for Houston Brad posed this question to me: "what if we like Houston so much we want to move there?". My response was, "Well then we move to Houston." As we headed for home on Wednesday I asked Brad if he was wanting to trade Dallas in for life in Houston? His response, "No!" Oh he enjoyed being there and seeing what Houston has to offer but Dallas is home.

Some of the differences I noticed.

Food:
Ribs are super popular in Dallas.  Spare ribs are more popular in Houston. Nearly every restaurant we went to had spare ribs on the menu.  Lots of steakhouses too.  Perhaps a few more steakhouses than Dallas.  Gourmet burger places are slightly more popular in big D.

Sports:
Dallas is a serious sports town.  Houston didn't appear to be as serious of a sports town.  Don't get me wrong I'm sure they love their teams there.  But I actually saw more team apparel of Dallas and New Orleans in Houston stores than Houston teams!

Shopping:
Not a big difference. A few different stores than what you find in our area but the two cities are quite similar in this category. Both cities feature a main attraction Galleria mall too!

Architecture:
I wouldn't say there's a big difference here either. The homes looked similar to the ones in Dallas. The neighborhood design looked similar too.

Landscape:
Palm trees!  Houston has palm trees.  Dallas does not.  Good luck trying to find a palm tree in the Dallas area!

Size:
Dallas is bigger for sure! Big D is more spread out too. Houston seemed more condensed to me.



I hope we can go back to Houston in the not so distant future. It's easy to get to and would make a great 3 day weekend getaway. Perhaps we'll visit again not too far down the road.  Although visiting San Antonio should be next up on our list for in-state getaways.

But lets be honest the real reason my husband couldn't bare to leave Dallas....he can't take the Dallas Cowboys with him!  LOL! 

Visiting Houston! (part 3)

Yesterday was NASA day for us. We drove out to the Clear Lake area where NASA is located. As soon as you start approaching NASA everything seems to have NASA in it's title. From "NASA Flowers" to "NASA Bakery", and the McDonald's adjacent to the NASA grounds features an astronaut floating in the air holding a large fry. Lol!

Once inside the Space Center we began to look around. There were a few flight simulator type rides, an Angry Birds Space themed playland for little ones, along with a few areas that featured short movies, and some museum like items to look over. I'll be honest after paying the steep entry fee to get into the Space Center and looking around some we were starting to wonder if it was worth it? We did try one of the flight simulators which you must pay extra to go on. Someone had a bit of a freak out moment as soon as the doors closed and it was pitch black inside. Someone else had to spend time trying to convince the someone that was freaking out to simply breathe and take it easy. Everyone that reads this can guess which one of us had a freak out moment and which one of us had to calm the other one down. All I have to say is before arriving at NASA I imagined what a flight simulator might be like and that isn't what I imagined. Being put in a capsule in complete darkness wasn't comforting. It all turned out okay in the end but a little unnerving at the start.

We then hopped on the Tram ride. The Tram ride is the main attraction. The rest of it is not completely worth the steep admission price, the Tram makes it all worth it. The Tram is a 90 minute tour of the facilities. There's 3 stops along the route: Flight Deck, Mission Control, and Rocket Park. Mission Control and Rocket Park were definitely the better stops on the tour. You had to walk up 87 steps to get to the Mission Control room. Rocket Park featured an actual rocket that was nearly completed before funding was cut by the government. To stand next to an actual rocket was pretty sweet! An actual rocket not a replica.

Things that surprised us the most about NASA? The wildlife roaming about. Lots of deer freely walking the grounds. They also feature a Longhorn Preserve on the grounds. Well it is Texas....gotta have longhorns nearby even nearby NASA I suppose. Lol! Another thing that was surpring is how old things look. It doesn't appear there's been much updating of the NASA grounds since the 70's. I'm willing to bet there's little difference between how it looked back then and how it looks now. Sure there's new buildings mixed in and the Longhorn Preserve has clearly been added in the last few years but in general most of the buildings look like they are still representing well for the 1970's.

I think going out to see NASA while visiting Houston is a must and taking the Tram once there is another must. It was certainly fun. We did buy the souvenir pics. We normally don't care about those souvenir pics that are taken of us when we're at a theme park riding rides. But these souvenir pics were a little different.  Before boarding the Tram they snap your photo, upon returning from the Tram ride your souvenir pics are lined up to purchase. It's a rather complete package. There are quite a few pics in the package all the same photo of us with different NASA sites behind us. So we came away with quite the souvenir of pics. I'll post them after we return home.

Today I think we'll be heading to downtown Houston. Most likely going to the Downtown Aquarium. We always try to check out the Aquarium in every city we visit. The cameras are powered up and ready to go. It's our last full day here. Yesterday the cameras didn't make it through the entire Tram ride. We relied on our cell phones a lot to capture pics. So last night we had things plugged in all over the place as we charged 2 cameras and 2 phones. Hee-hee!

Visiting Houston! (part 2)

As I mentioned in my previous post the plan for Sunday was a bit low-key, in a good way. After we watched the Cowboys win. Thank goodness they won since that always means Brad will be in a good mood for the rest of the day. ;) Lol! As I was saying, after the game we went to the extremely large and popular Galleria mall. The Galleria mall here in Houston is quite the attraction, shopping galore! Dallas has a Galleria mall too however I have yet to go to it. Someday soon I'll have to visit the Galleria in my own city to compare it now to the one in Houston.

We did a little shopping. Browsed more than shopped, we did get a couple of things though. All useful stuff, no buyers remorse going on this morning. Lol!

After we checked out the Galleria it was soon time for dinner. I had done some research on restaurants in the area and discovered there was a restaurant called Houston's nearby. According to its reviews it seemed like a perfect choice especially since we're in the city it got it's name from. We enjoyed an excellent meal at Houston's. It featured a plentiful menu focusing on American cuisine. Dim lighting and a cozy atmosphere made it feel a bit romantic. Brad enjoyed the ribs while I ordered the French dip. Nothing but good things to say about Houston's the restaurant.

Afterward we spoke of going to a movie but we never actually did. It was more appealing to go back to our hotel and have a quiet evening watching the rest of the Sunday night football game plus playing games on our Notes.

As mentioned before today's plan is NASA. Brad is also considering a short drive to the coast. Neither of us has ever looked out over the Gulf Coast. NASA is situated lakeside and according to the map it appears to be close to the coast too. The lake its next to seems to lead out to the coast. We'll see! Should be a fun day! Good way to celebrate 5 official years together. Today is the 15th, the 5 year anniversary of our very first date. Woo-hoo!

Visiting Houston! (part 1)

Greetings from another major city in Texas! We dropped off our pet family at their grandparent's place about mid-day yesterday then headed for Houston. It was a pleasant drive with quite a few small towns between Dallas and here. It took us about three and a half hours to go the distance. Which is almost equivalent to traveling from Seattle to Portland.  Something I used to do on a rather frequent basis when I lived in Seattle.

We arrived and settled into our hotel room around 6:00. We're in the "Uptown" area. Very much a city vibe similar to a downtown vibe but maybe not quite as hectic as I assume downtown might be. We're both completely pleased with our hotel choice. The hotel turned out to be bigger than I imagined which is perfectly acceptable. Aside from the Gaylord Texan this is the biggest hotel we've stayed in together. It's got 15 floors and we're on the 14th. Brad loves being high up so he's a super happy camper! :) They originally gave us a room on the 10th floor facing the downtown area and overlooking a freeway. The nicest part of that room's view was Reliant Stadium where the Texans play could be seen off in the distance a little ways. I could tell Brad though was not fully happy about hearing traffic noise. When I sleep a train whistle blaring outside my window wouldn't wake me. I'm only sensitive to the noises of our pet-children, otherwise I'm a sound sleeper.  Brad is a lighter sleeper and is more sensitive to traffic noise. So within a few minutes of being in the 10th floor room I told my husband I would call the front desk to see if anything on the opposite side of the hotel was available. A 14th floor was and we grabbed it. After making the room switch that features an even better view, in our opinion, we went down to the hotel restaurant for dinner. Our hotel has an upscale feel without being pretentious. The meal was great. I think we'll likely be ordering room service from the restaurant right around the Cowboys game time.  Yes, even though we're in Houston we still get ths Cowboys game. Woo-hoo! I figured we would since they are the other Texas team, as long as Cowboys game time didn't coincide with the Texans game time.

Since we're on vacation in a different city I imagine we'll limit our football watching a bit today. I think we'll watch the Cowboys then go explore and come back to our mini-apartment for the majority of the Sunday night game. I say mini-apartment because we are staying in a suite that has a small living room and a separate bedroom. Brad jokingly made the comment last night that we could live in a place this size. Well I agree we could but I'd need a better kitchen!....a more complete kitchen. Lol! ;)

I'll do my best to keep some Houston posts going the days we're here. Hopefully I'll find time each day. As it's fun to recount the day's events while exploring a new area. NASA is part of the plan on Monday. I'm excited about that! Should also make for an interesting blog post as well.

Home Alone with the Pets!

Today I had a busy afternoon.  Which meant Brad was going to be home with our "kids" alone. What happens when mommie stays out for the afternoon at appointments?  The "kids" get spoiled.

While I was out Brad sent me pics of our trio. I could easily tell he was having fun snapping photos of them.  After arriving home I notice a bed that is used only at bedtime, not during the day was suddenly out and placed in the hallway near the front door.  I soon asked why there's 4 beds out now? And why is the fourth bed over in the entryway away from the living room beds?  Brad had a great explanation. One that made me smile and quietly laugh to myself. His explanation....in case one of the pets wanted to get away from their siblings. You know....privacy!  The newly defined "privacy zone". He was concerned about Simon's privacy in general! LOL! I have to admit I've never been too concerned about Simon's privacy! Sorry Sime!

While mommie was away the boys also enjoyed rawhides on the carpet.  Yep, definitely got a bit spoiled this afternoon. Though there's no evidence of this but knowing my husband Piper got some extra treats as well! 

All in all I think a good time was had by everyone. The extra bed in the "privacy zone" is still out. It's currently being occupied by whom? Simon!  Perhaps daddy had a good idea to add a "privacy zone". It however will be moved shortly when it's time for the pets to go to bed. It's funny to hear how things go when I'm not around. Brad enjoys his trio of pets. That's the most important thing to me!  :)

Vacation Time Arrives!

Whew it was a long wait, waiting until September to take a vacation proved to be a slight challenge.  Worth it though because less people will likely be doing things we plan on doing.  Maybe!  That is the hope.

We had everything figured out as to where we were going to stay.  But somebody drug their feet to complete the reservation. I have no clue who that somebody is...ME. Low and behold the hotel got booked up.  It's totally not me to be a procrastinator so my husband was a little freaked out last night as he thought my procrastination must mean I'm not that into visiting Houston. So there we were last night starting to reconsider Houston in general. I must admit I'm still baffled that the first hotel we wanted to stay at is booked up.  Granted the rooms were on quite a discount.  My procrastination had nothing to do with anything other than just being overly busy lately.

After a short debate we're sticking with Houston.  I was successful earlier tonight in finding us a different hotel. We are Houston bound come Saturday.  Big day tomorrow, the boys will go to the groomers and we'll get ready to take our trip. Little Piper needs food so I must remember to get her some food as well as other pet supplies the grandparents might need while they take care of our animal kingdom. This is the first time we've left Piper.  I know she'll be fine as she will likely cling to her brothers. But her mommie is already suffering some anxiety.  I did the same thing the first few times I left the boys. It's only natural!

I'm excited to get out of town for a few days. It will be nice to see another area of Texas.  I did more research on NASA and realized it's lakefront.  I thinking it should be a beautiful section of the city.  Most importantly we are both happy to be able to go somewhere and have fun together, able to take a break from the traditional grind.  

The Return of Football!

Ahh yes!  The start of September also means the start of regular season football!  Welcome to September folks! 

I nearly did a few cartwheels as the teams rushed onto the field last night in Seattle. Whew, it was a long wait but finally football has returned!  I couldn't be happier.  Last night's game went exactly as I picked it to go.  Somebody I know though did not pick the correct winning team and will go into Sunday's games a game down to his wife!  Beautiful!

Last night we kept the remote handy as tennis was on as well.  We were channel switching a lot.  We might have a bit of an issue on Sunday too since there's 2 tennis finals to go along with our football watching. I asked Brad if he wanted to invite anybody over while the Cowboys are playing but his response was that he's not sure the Cowboys have a chance. He's concerned the game might just make him mad!  So we'll see if we end up having people over for opening weekend.  We typically do! However in the past there's been more excitement for the Cowboys season.  Seems to be too much doubt surrounding them for the general public to be as excited as they usually are.

Speaking of excitement!  I'm over the top excited to see the Cardinals first game on Monday night. High possibility I will be doing cartwheels come Monday. ;) I think I got to see 2 games last year.  I'll get at least 3 this year: a MNF game, a Thursday night football game, plus they come to Big D to play so I'll definitely see that one. Lets go Cards!  Lets go Cowboys! Here's to good seasons!!!!

How to eat watermelon...according to Cody!

The boys get cantaloupe or watermelon when those melons appear to be slightly past their prime for human consumption.  Simon of course eats before checking out to see what it is I just handed him.  As for Cody, well he has his own unique style when it comes to eating a chunk of watermelon.

When I first lay it down for him, he looks at it then looks up to me.  His eyes seem to question me.  "Are you sure it's edible mom?" Is what I imagine he's asking me with his big expressive brown eyes.  Then Piper comes over to give the watermelon a sniff. Cody gives her a not so nice look.  A look that gives her a bit of a warning to not mess with this unknown object in front of him. He then licks the watermelon.  Then licks it again.  He never sniffs it.  Which I think is odd.  Especially since Piper comes over to sniff it every time he's given watermelon. But nope, no need to sniff it I guess in his opinion.

He licks the thing over and over again like it's an ice cream cone.  It took him, and I'm not kidding about this, 30 minutes to eat one small chunk of watermelon.  His thought process was obviously to lick it until it had zero flavor then consume it.  Unbelievable!  He most certainly knows how to savor things!