eager little mind

Today we played in the snow. In Houston, TX!!! In the snow. Ok, for those of you not from around here, you might be wondering why that’s a big deal. In fact, it was even a trending topic on Twitter. Hahaha. It doesn’t snow very often. I mean, last year at Christmas we were ice skating on an outdoor rink in 75 degree weather. And after a freakishly (record-breaking) warm year, we have the earliest recorded snowfall in Houston’s history.

Daphne loved it. Checking it out when it was just a few flakes:

And an hour later, in our proper winter wear. I say proper, but honestly, this is last years coat, hat and gloves. She wore them for a few days in Tulsa over Christmas, but it was too warm to wear it in Houston. Which is why Mommy didn’t buy her a coat this year, or any sweaters. Fail!

Stay tuned. Maybe we can make a snowman later.

I don’t think I’ve ever heard anyone say, “Move to Houston. You’ll LOVE the weather here!” Maybe I’m wrong. Perhaps there are people out there who love our brand of swampy humidity.

Don’t get me wrong. It’s not all bad. We do have beautifully mild winters. When our relatives were stuck in the aftermath of an ice storm in OK and MO, I was still wearing my sandals and playing outside with Daphne. In capris. No coat needed. (I’d rather be here, just drinking a beer, than freezing my… BTW, if you do follow the link, Schooner Wharf has some killer conch fritters. Must eat in Key West.) But, I do miss being able to buy cute fall/winter sweaters and coats. It’s still 80 degrees here.

Last week, it was still warm enough for people to run through the splash pad at Discovery Green in their bathing suits. Daphne and her friend Torah even got in on the action:

Did mommy bring extra clothes? Um, nope. Daphne rode home in her diaper. Hey, at least I brought a diaper!

I hope you are enjoying the fall weather where you live.

We interrupt retro week for a quick U2 concert post. It had been a LONG time since I went to a big arena show, and this one was worth every penny of the $252 ticket fee. Our seats were great, the stage was impressive, Muse was amazing. And U2? They were exactly what you’d expect. Incredible showmen and artists. Here’s the review from Houston Press.

My husband had his Flip, while I took pictures. I really thought my old point & shoot had a digital, as well as optical zoom. I was wrong. I saw people next to me with cell phones that had better zoom. Argh. This is about as close as I could get:

I don’t feel as bad now that I’ve seen some concert video from people sitting at the top of the stadium. We were very lucky to get free tickets so close to the stage.

And here’s the rest of the photos:

Until the next tour…

I’ve been a U2 fan for more than 20 years and have never seen them live. That all changes tonight! Woohoo!! I’m so excited, I think I’m going to burst!!

So, in keeping with the retro theme this week, here’s the video for one of my favorite songs (sorry it won’t embed, you’ll have to click through). In fact, I bugged the hell out of my roommate and suitemate in college playing this single and at the time, their new Achtung Baby album over and over.

I love Bono. Love, love, love, love him. But the serious guitar swinging at the end of the video really makes me laugh now.

So, this is where we will be around 7pm. 6 rows up to the left of the stage. Yippee!

I love a rainy weekend. Around here, sometimes a rainy, cloudy day is as close as it gets to fall weather. Actually, fall weather gets here eventually… in November (if we are lucky). I do miss fall color. And being able to buy cute fall sweaters.

This weekend started off with a trip to the Museum of Fine Arts Houston. If you haven’t guessed, that’s our go-to destination on days we want to get out of the house and don’t want to spend a lot of money. And I like to use the artwork as a learning experience for Daphne. We point out colors and shapes, animals, etc. I really wanted to take Daphne to the new Moon exhibit. She LOVED it. And she loved the gift shop, where she got to pick out a new picture book full of different works of art and color names. Here’s a pic of our girl, hanging in the sculpture garden. She was in no mood for pics:

After the museum, we attempted to go to the Hobbit Cafe. Yes, a LOTR themed cafe. Too busy. So we settled on Beck’s Prime, home of the greasiest (and one of the tastiest) burgers I’ve ever eaten. Later in the day, I finished up a top and felt clip for Daphne. Excuse the crappy indoor flash pics. I had to bribe her with Pirate Booty. In this pic I took the bowl away, hehe:

And another owl clip. This isn’t shiny, just bad camera flash reflection from the Eco felt. I don’t love this one as much as the pink owl I did a few weeks ago.

And today, after church and lunch at the Berryhill Baja Grill in Katy, we came home and napped. So nice on a rainy day. And just a comment about Berryhill… what the heck?!? Every time we have eaten at that location they have had awful live music. The worst lounge singers ever. A few weeks ago it was a band playing nothing but Eagles songs (yuck) and today the lounge singer actually played things like the theme to Love Story and other soft sounds of the 60’s and 70’s. We might have to stick to the Memorial City location

I’m going to try and get caught up on posts this week, before I head to Missouri on Friday for my little sister’s baby shower. Easier said than done, since we’ve been so busy lately. Anyway, last week we met up with our friends Meghan and Torah and went to the Children’s Museum of Houston. It’s amazing we made it, since I spent an hour looking for my keys and my GPS couldn’t connect with a satellite. I pretty much knew how to get there, since I’ve been to the museum district at least a dozen times in the last 6 months. It’s just I normally make my husband drive and I don’t pay any attention to what lane I need to be in to exit. And when you live in a city as large as Houston and you are stuck in 8 lanes of traffic and you suddenly realize you have to exit… hahahaha… that really freaks me out. I’m not an aggressive driver. Oh, and after tearing apart the house I found my keys in the side pocket of my purse. I hate it when I do that!! I swear I looked in that pocket.

I think the girls had a great time. They are only 4 days apart, and it was fun to see them play together. Here they are shopping in the grocery store:

And building an arch. Ok, they were really just moving the blocks around:

Hanging out in the Buster hand chair. (I love that Meghan and her husband are Arrested Development fans and get the references.)

Cruising:

Laughing:

A really fun morning!

We had a great time in Galveston today. Daphne absolutely loved the beach. I think she could have stayed there all day. Here’s a slideshow:

Galveston isn’t the best beach. In fact, I hate the sensation of being sandblasted with every wave. There wasn’t much I liked about Alabama, but at least they had beautiful beaches. For comparison, here’s Gulf Shores, AL:

But considering Galveston’s close to home, and my kid had a great time… I’d say it was totally worth it.

I hope everyone had a great 4th of July weekend. Ours started on Thursday, with a trip to the Museum of Fine Arts Houston to see the new Arts of India gallery and listen to the director of conservation talk about Anselm Kiefer’s Let A Thousand Flowers Bloom. Here’s a brief video:

Daphne spent some time doing an art project at one of the kids events. Here’s African Bird, by Daphne Denbow (haha):

I’m thinking about going back to the museum on Friday to hear Buzz Aldrin speak. Not sure I want to handle that trip with Daphne by myself. I wish we didn’t live so far out in Suburbia so it would be easier to get to the museum district/downtown. Ah, maybe someday.

Friday and Saturday we had a ton of errands to run, spent way too much time out in the 100+ degree heat and went to a 4th of July picnic. We spent Sunday with my dad (and those of you who are FB friends can read about that outing on my wall). And as usual, Monday is our “chill out at home and recover” day.

How was your weekend?

Today we woke up early and took Daphne to the Houston Zoo. I thought she’d really enjoy it, since Madagascar is her favorite movie (and we watch it every frakking day). And the last time she was at a zoo, she looked like this (little peanut):

5 months old at Zoo Atlanta, back when she still had one blue and one brown eye

I think she had a good time this morning. She liked the fish:

Checking out the giraffes with Poppa, wearing her giraffe shirt:

And the elephants with Daddy:

She didn’t enjoy the petting area. There was no way she was getting near those goats:

We ended up spending about 2 1/2 hours at the zoo. Which I thought was pretty good, since Daphne is still fairly young. She crashed right after the children’s area and decided to spend the rest of the time in the stroller. I will say that the zoo has improved since our last visit, 3 or 4 years ago. But, I won’t go back until it’s cooler, which means maybe November, haha!

This week just didn’t go as planned. From Tuesday’s flood, to swine flu hysteria (And yes, we do have swine flu cases confirmed in our area. The Jr High up the street is closed next week.) it was just one weird thing after another. Plus I was hoping to have some resolution to a few other issues. No such luck.

Today, we decided to get out of the house and headed to the Houston Arboretum and Nature Center. For being free, I thought it was a nice place. Lots of trails and outdoorsy stuff. They even had a discovery area for kids that Daphne enjoyed. And someday, SOMEDAY, I’m going to learn not to wear flip flops on walking trails. I do not appreciate lizards running over my toes. I have a tendency to scream. Yeah, if you haven’t guessed, I’m not the least bit outdoorsy. I just play along because I know my husband and daughter like it and I try to be supportive of their interests.

Here’s a video of Daphne in the kid’s discovery area. They had a learning tree installation with different phones that played informational messages about various animals and bugs. And since Daph is a big phone person, that was a hit. Oh, and just in case you ever wonder why we don’t post more videos. We suck. At making videos, I mean. Really. I’m not sure what is worse, my jumpy camera work, inability to stay focused on the subject being filmed (Wait, you’ll see. Just look at how often the carpet is the feature in this video. Which is not totally my fault. I was helping Daphne hang up phones, etc and couldn’t look at the video screen at the same time.), or my Minnie Mouse voice. Hmmm…