Any Shark Week fans out there? I don’t know why I even watch those Discovery Channel programs. I have a completely irrational fear of sharks.

I blame Jaws.

Jaws is the reason why I don’t like to swim in anything other than a nice chlorinated pool. I’m a wimp. And Open Water is the reason why I will never, ever go scuba diving.

So what better way to celebrate Shark Week than to head to the beach! Ha! We took advantage of a nice, work-free Friday by packing up and driving to Galveston. Funny, my husband didn’t realize they had ever had a shark attack in Galveston. And of course I took great delight in filling him in on the recent attacks in July and the attack that took place the very first time I visited the island back in the 80’s.

From what I understand, we don’t have many shark attacks near Galveston, but just the thought of a bull shark chomping off a hand or foot is scary enough to keep me in mid-calf deep water. Told you I was a wimp. And I didn’t realize this until we were already home, but the two people that were attacked by a bull shark in July were swimming at the exact same beach that we were today.

We had a nice time. The scariest thing we saw in the water today was a little jellyfish that was a few feet away from Daphne. And a whole bunch of tiny crab parts that kept washing up on the beach around us. As usual, Daphne enjoyed chasing the birds, playing in the sand and collecting shells.

And unlike her momma, Daphne is not afraid to get completely filthy.

”

Her mouth was full of Nutter Butters.

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The really sad thing is that Daphne has been asking to go to the beach since January and today was our first opportunity to go all year. It’s only an hour and a half down the road! And it’s doubtful we will have another opportunity to go until later this fall. Seriously, what happened to this summer?

Next year- long weekend road trip to Port Aransas (outside of Corpus). I hear they have better beaches. I’m sure Daphne can’t wait!

While Grandpa Denbow was in town, we visited Space Center Houston, which is NASA/Johnson Space Center’s official visitors center. We’ve wanted to take Daphne for quite some time, since she’s always been obsessed with space. Daphne was thrilled!! She got to see rockets and “space planes” and even “where the Space Buddies live” (yeah, her words).

Here’s Daphne and Grandpa in the shuttle cockpit:

Landing the shuttle:

Or, maybe not. Like how they say, “You didn’t quite make a successful landing.” ? Better than “Good job, you killed everyone!” That wouldn’t fly (pun intended).

I hadn’t been to Space Center Houston since late 2001, not too long after September 11th. And the only reason I remember that is because we weren’t allowed to tour Mission Control due to extra security measures. Anyway, it’s changed a bit and made for a fun afternoon. I really enjoyed the Johnson Space Center and Rocket Park tour, even though I swear it was 100 degrees outside. Ack! It’s going to be another hot summer.

Here’s the beginning of the tour:

And historic Mission Control. It’s crazy to me that we were able to achieve space flight/landing on the moon with the technology available in the 60’s. Our tour guide said that these mainframe computers all had a 1 MB capacity and for each mission, 2 computers were dedicated. Since my photos were shot in RAW, they were all 10 or 11 MB each. He also mentioned the pneumatic tube system used to pass messages throughout the Johnson Space Center. My, my, how times have changed. This visit inspired me to watch When We Left Earth again. A great series!

And the red phone:

My husband did the tour a few years ago with my brother-in-law and they allowed them into the current Mission Control room. We didn’t get to do that this time, I guess because they were actively supporting Atlantis while it was docked at the ISS. I wonder what it would be like to work at NASA. Insanely cool, probably.

And here’s Daphne at Rocket Park. We are inside the building that houses the Saturn V rocket.

Daphne, Daddy and part of Saturn V:

And since we hadn’t spent enough time outdoors sweating, we decided to head to the Kemah boardwalk for a little refreshment and to watch the boats go out.

We didn’t see any huge boats, but then again, it was a Friday afternoon.

Daphne really enjoyed watching all the activity and kept asking me for fish food. Really, Mommy, don’t you carry everything in your purse? Well, not this time. Sorry kid. The Kemah boardwalk is pretty much a tourist trap- shops, restaurants, carnival rides, etc. Fun, but overpriced in my opinion.

That splash pad looked pretty inviting after a hot day in the sun. I was so hot that I even volunteered to fish her out of the splash pad. Normally I make my husband do that. But we had a great time!

Recently, our local news posted a slideshow 33 things to do in Houston for $2 or less. I was delighted to see so many free or practically free museums on the list. You know I’m a museum junkie. So we are making it a point to visit as many as we can.

Last weekend we visited the Art Car Museum. I think they normally have some pretty wild cars on display, but this time they had a special racing exhibition. Here are a few of Daphne’s pics:

I think Chris and Daphne plan on going to the Art Car parade on the 8th. I will be at a ladies retreat and won’t be able to go. Bummer, because it actually sounds like fun! Dan Aykroyd is the grand marshal.

This weekend we hit 2 museums. The Museum of Fine Arts Houston and the Holocaust Museum. Easy to do since they are both in the Museum District. In case you didn’t know, Houston actually has top notch museums. The Museum District alone has 18 museums in a very small area.

We go to MFAH all the time since we have a membership. Always a lovely visit with great traveling exhibitions. Our only problems? The grumpy guy at the membership check in desk in the Caroline Wiess Law building. I’ll walk across the street to the Beck building from now on. As usual, today he hassled us about our address (our membership address doesn’t match up with our driver’s license address, mailing vs residence thing) which no one else ever does. He also asked how old Daphne was, to assess if she needed a ticket. Again, no one else ever asks. Kids are free until they are 5 or 6 years old. Does my shrimpy 2 year old look 5 or 6 to you, Mr. Grumpy? Oh well. Normally Daphne really enjoys visiting and she’s a very good girl. Today she realized if she spoke or stomped loud enough that the sound would echo. Oh crap. We were walking around the Alice Neel exhibit with Daphne yelling out “BEACH!” And everyone turned around so we hustled to an area with fewer people for her to bug.

The Holocaust museum was new to us. In fact, I didn’t know Houston had a Holocaust museum. I was very impressed. For being a small-ish museum that is free (but accepts donations) I thought it was great! Very powerful. I also liked how the main exhibit was personalized with photographs and stories from concentration camp survivors who later immigrated to Houston. Gut wrenching stories. Stories that are so hard to hear. And the architecture was powerful as well (image from the HMH website):

I think we’ll go back, next time without a stompy 2 year old. Also on our immediate list of places to visit- Houston Center for Contemporary Craft, The Contemporary Arts Center Houston, maybe the Beer Can house, and the Rice Gallery.

While my sister and her family were in town, we decided to head to the Houston Zoo. Here are some of my favorite funny pics:

Surprised in the groundhog exhibit:

Another silly pic, courtesy of Poppa. Like how he’s trying to disappear behind Daphne? So now a headless, one legged creature is holding Oliver.

Of course Daphne had to take her camera:

Daphne showing off her Umi Goggles (any Umi Zoomi fans out there?)

Daphne and the big monkey:

And all the little monkeys: Avery, Oliver and Daphne

Daphne got invited to her first non-family birthday party. Her little friend, who I talked about a few posts back, is turning 3. And yeah, Daphne still talks about him all the time. I admit, I have no idea what to buy little boys. Little boys just aren’t on my radar for crafting and gift purchases. I have a lot of catching up to do, especially since I’ll need to start collecting great ideas for my little nephew Oliver.

Knowing that the birthday boy’s mom is very creative and likes crafty things (and would probably appreciate a handmade gift), I decided to make him a car caddy from Homemade by Jill’s tutorial. I’d fill it with Hot Wheels and tuck a few car stickers and Hot Wheels coloring books into the gift bag too. 3 year olds like Hot Wheels, right? Gosh, I hope so.

Here’s the interior:

And the exterior, all folded up and ready to go:

Here’s what I did differently than Jill, and a few things I wouldn’t do again. First, I didn’t use duck cloth for the interior. I had duck cloth, bright red, staring me in the face on the table. I just didn’t want the super blue denim, the red, black, yellow and white to look like it came from an early 90’s Gymboree outfit. If you know what I mean. So I used some Heather Ross cotton. I like the look, but it was way too light and flimsy. So I decided to fix that problem by using a thin fusible fleece on the back. Nice idea, but the fusible fleece puckers where I’ve folded the caddy. Crapola. I notice it, but I don’t think it will be a big deal to the gift recipient. So, don’t do what I did.. just use a thicker fabric to begin with.

Also, I only have 12″ squares of black felt, not long enough to span the 17″ cozy. I guess I could have pieced it together, but I didn’t want to do that. So I made a grassy area and a bridge (yes, that’s a bridge not a butterfly bandage or a squared off maxi pad). I stitched the green felt about a 1/2″ from the edge and fringed the edges with my scissors to give it a grass look. I think I like it.

On the exterior- I was trying to answer a question from my husband while I was cutting out the main denim piece and being distracted, cut it an inch too short. Crap. I solved that problem by stitching a little extra to the end to make up the difference, and tried to give it that “I meant to do it” look by just going ahead and stitching the ribbon into the seam. The ribbon was from the handle of a Cars gift bag, and as soon as I saw it, I knew I was going to do something different with the front.

The ribbon strap wraps all the way around to the back and is secured by Velcro. Since it looked like a road, I thought it would be cute to have two little cars “driving” on the front. The cars are from Jill’s original tutorial, just reduced by 50%. And I just used super strength Heat and Bond and didn’t bother stitching down the edges. I think it will hold.

And I suck at topstitching. I so want my topstitching to be perfect, and it never is. I have to remind myself that the imperfections add to the homemade charm. Yeah, that’s the ticket. I thought I was going to have a problem sewing through all the layers of denim, but my machine didn’t hesitate. I don’t even think I put in a jeans needle. And I was not sure what color to use on the topstitching. I like my topstitching to match my fabric, so I just used a denim color, but now I wish I would have used a tan or something on the interior. I know it would have shown up more on the road and denim caddy area, but it wouldn’t have been so distracting in the center. Oh well. I’m not upset enough about it to rip it all out and do it again.

Anyway, it was a great tutorial and I hope the birthday boy enjoys his gift.

We decided to take a little road trip today. The weather was gorgeous, Daphne was getting stir crazy and it had been a year since our last road trip. A year. Wow! We thought about just running down to the beach and then we remembered “oh yeah, spring breakers.” So, armed with our book, Day Trips From Houston, we picked a direction (west on I-10) and hit the road.

First stop, Columbus, TX. According to the book there were a lot of historic homes and buildings, quirky museums and even an interesting cemetery. It ended up being a somewhat cute little town, and surprisingly busy. They’ve done a good job with signage on their historic district and even have a radio tour. But it certainly didn’t take long to check it all out. And the cemetery? The guide book said it contained the gravestone of Ike Towell, on which he had the following engraved: “Here rests Ike Towell - An infidel who had no hope of heaven nor fear of hell, was free of superstition, to do right and love justice was his religion.” Ok. Wonder how that worked out for him. Anyway, we couldn’t find it. Total bust.

I think living and traveling in the SE has spoiled me for places like Columbus, TX. When you’ve been in the cemeteries in Savannah, GA and seen hotels that housed pirates in the 1700’s and traveled to St. Augustine and been through buildings over 300 years old, it’s hard to be wowed by small town Texas late 1800 stuff. Unless something really important or interesting in Texas history happened on this spot. Yeah, I know I’m jaded and annoying. I think I was just really impressed with the older areas we’ve traveled too, because growing up in Oklahoma, you just don’t have that sense of history as far as buildings and landmarks. I mean, I was in elementary school when Oklahoma celebrated 75 years as a state. And back to Columbus, you know it’s a small town when you are reading the Wikipedia Notable People from Columbus entry and one of the men listed was a contestant on the Price Is Right. Yep, being a contestant on the Price Is Right was enough to get him on the notable citizen list. Hehe.

After our tour, I saved my husband from an unfortunate meal at a local BBQ joint. We like to try out local restaurants when we travel, and stay away from chains. Normally I research places to eat before we leave, but without knowing exactly where we were going, I couldn’t. In that case my rule is, if it’s not packed, we don’t try it. If you see a bunch of good ol’ boys at the local Whataburger, then you know the random BBQ joint next door is crap. Once we went to Oklahoma Joe’s in Kansas City, a BBQ joint inside of a gas station. Yes, a normal gas station. The line for BBQ went all the way through the store and out the door around the building. Yeah, you know it was good. When we got home I did my research and sure enough, the place my husband wanted to try wasn’t rated well.

Even though I know I sound whiny, we did have a good time. It was just nice to get out and look at new things. Our next trip? Back to Brenham for bluebonnet pics. This was little D in the bluebonnets last year:

Oh, the bluebonnets? That’s a Texas thing. Last year I was immediately attacked by fire ants, so we only got about 10 or 15 shots of Daphne. And she was really unhappy sitting in the scratchy field. This time I’ll come prepared with real shoes (and socks!) and long pants for Daphne. Wish me luck! Does DEET repel fire ants?

Yesterday, my husband won tickets to a Tweet Up at the IMAX inside the Houston Museum of Natural Science. They were showing a preview of the new Hubble 3D movie. I suggested he take Daphne, since she’s been obsessed with space lately. In fact, just the day before she wouldn’t leave the house without her “space monkey”- a monkey in a space suit that we bought her at NASA a few years ago. And she watches Space Buddies every. single. day. Childless people, if you want to annoy your friends and relatives with children, buy them any of the Buddies movies. Daphne calls Space Buddies, “Puppy Paws in SPACE!” Emphasis on the space. And Puppy Paws is from the Santa Buddies movie she watched at Christmas.

Daphne was thrilled with the IMAX experience. She got a Hubble patch and pin and settled down in her huge seat with her 3D glasses. My husband said there was a scene in the movie where the shuttle takes off and Daphne couldn’t stop saying things like “Wow!” “Yay” and “Blast off!”, as loud as she could, all while clapping. She also had to point out the moon, stars, and space planes (what Daphne calls the shuttle) and probably bugged all the adults sitting near them. And I think they even met an astronaut who had worked on the Hubble.

What a fun evening!

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…