The back of their house:
Never got a chance to be in the pool, since it wasn’t very warm, but we did use the hot tub:
This is one idea for kitchen cupboards:
This is one of the views that they have from their house across the pond (I have my zoom lens, so that’s why the house looks so close):
Now for a picture of the front of their house:
Their house is in a small cul-de-sac and on the water side, they sit on a point, which gives them a great 180+ degree view. Since they sit on a point, Sue had a brilliant idea. Although no boats are allowed on the waterways, she found this cute lighthouse that does light up at night:
After eating breakfast and getting ready, we decided to head over to their son, Eric’s house. They are building in the same neighbor hood as his parents, but in a different section. By water, his parents are just around the corner from him, but it was a drive to get there. I think by the time we left their house for Florida, I had an idea of how to get around the neighborhood, but don’t ask me to find my way back there. The rice patties (ponds) are all connected, so some roads go over bridges but other ones have to circle around the ponds. Which is the case to get to Eric’s house from his parents. Here’s the kitchen cupboards of their house:
John told us that Eric got to chose what kind of kitchen stove they would get, so Kristie got to choose what type of tub for the master bath. I have to agree with her choice, because I’d love to have one of these too:
Here’s the view from their upstairs computer room:
Celebrating the Lone Star State (the front door):
Now a view of the front of the house:
Since we weren’t going to have enough time to see too much, Mom wanted to do a little driving around Houston, so we could see some of the city. Mom’s plan for us was to then go to the Houston Museum of Natural Science. They had a great exhibit about the Americas that she wanted to see. We were hoping to see some stuff on Honduras, since she was going there a few months later with our church. We didn’t make it into the IMAX Theater there, but we were able to see some Texas Wildlife, African Wildlife, Gems and Minerals (these were so beautiful to see, especially all the purple ones). These were both in jewelry and by themselves. Many of them were very expensive and they were actually in a dark vault that you were able to walk through. I’m assuming it was locked every night. The most expensive jewlery piece was millions of dollars.
We really enjoyed the Americas exhibit and wandering through the other ones. Mom and I decided to then split up. There was an exhibit called Lucy’s Legacy that Mom wanted to check out. We found out that it is coming to Seattle too, so she wanted to see if it would be worth it to go when it comes here. It is about some of the history of Ethiopia over the last 5 million years. It will be at the Pacific Science Center from 10/4/08 through 3/8/09. I wasn’t too sure I wanted to see it, so I decided to try out the CSI Exhibit. I have to say that it was so cool. First they put you in a room to watch a short video clip that includes messages from the actors on the orginal CSI (which is the only one that Mom and I watch). You then go to another area where they give you a sheet of paper that has certain questions and places for notes. After that you go in to look at your crime scene and try to solve it.
WARNING: These next pictures aren’t for the faint of heart!!
Here’s my crime scene:
After checking out the scene you go into their “Crime Lab” and get to solve the mystery. I got to learn about getting digital evidence out of cell phones. Checked out how to match finger prints, tire tracks, and DNA. Also got to check out toxicology and entomology. After all of the tests, you get on a computer and enter your findings, which are then reported to Gil Grissom. After watching a lot of CSI and Murder She Wrote, it was pretty easy for me to solve. Right after solving, I saw the list of sponsors and found that the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry (OMSI) was one of them. If you want to check out their website, go to: www.csitheexperience.org. It also shows that the exhibit is going to be at OMSI during the summer of 2009. I highly recommend going to it.
After leaving the Museum, we drove around downtown Houston to check out some of their older homes, see their church, check out some of the old buildings, and whatever else we could see. We ended up at a little Pub for dinner, which was really good (hamburger!!). We headed back to their house to watch some tv, which I forgot to get a picture of (it is a 72 inch tv). Many of you know that Mom does a lot with our family history and Sue had a bunch of old pictures that Mom didn’t have, so they had me take pictures with my camera. I’ll put a few here, but I won’t say who they are of:
After awhile, we headed to the Hot Tub for some relaxation. Then to bed for our last night in Houston. We got up early the next morning to head to the airport. On our way in, I took this picture of two of the domes in town. I took this picture, because after Hurricane Katrina, many New Orleans people came and lived in these buildings. We also passed the Convention Center, which housed thousands of evacuees, but I couldn’t get a picture of it:
Next up--Florida!!
