Christmas, New Years, Visitors............

Here is just a glimpse of an amazing 2007/08 festive season for us here in Houston

Cousin Shelda arrived mid December and with John still in Australia we were free to shop and shop and shop - Shelda was so excited about how cheap everything is here that I just couldn't keep up with her! I think there is something in the saying "shop 'til you drop" 'cos we certainly dropped a few times!

The 'holiday' season here was sensational - it seemed like a canopy of Christmas lights were draped over the city and surrounds and we took much pleasure in many night time drive-by's ooing and ahhing at each amazing display - no-one does it better than the Texans!

We attended the Houston Symphony production of Handel's Messiah with Pat & Sam & Anna.
John arrived back in time for Christmas Eve when we were guests of Lydia's at the Unity Church Candlelighting Service (where Shelda & I fell in love with one of the gospel singers!), followed by dinner where we celebrated John's birthday - he got to wear a sombrero while the restaurant staff sang him a birthday song with much gusto.

Christmas day - somehow John & I slept in, so with great difficulty Shelda waited patiently for us to surface so we could get into the true meaning of Christmas - gift giving! We had a wonderful day at Bill & Anna's - great food, great drink, great pressies, great company and lots of laughs.

On Boxing Day we attended a wonderful play - Charlies Dickens "A Christmas Carol". Of course it was also Blake's birthday so there were a few calls to New Zealand sending happy wishes.

Our son Josh and his girlfriend Chantal arrived here on Dec 28th. We picked them up from the airport and drove straight to the EDN Christmas party at Christiana's house and had such a fun time.

Josh was quite taken with this Texan sign which is right next to our apartment building....

The following morning we drove west to San Antonio where we stayed the night and soaked up the amazing festive atmosphere - lights adorned the riverwalk and we spent another night of oohing and ahhing! Our time there was filled with activity - saw the Imax movie about the Alamo and then visited the Alamo, had a cruise on a riverboat (which crashed into the bank and we had to climb overboard onto the walkway - no injuries sustained!), ate Mexican food, walked around town and then fell into bed at a local b&b. Before leaving San Antonio the following morning we managed to fit in some more shopping at a wonderful Mexican marketplace.

We drove back to Houston via Austin (the capital of Texas and Adelaide's sister city) where we visited the Capital Building and had a quick drive around town. I forgot to mention our stopover at San Marcos on the way to Austin - it is a huge outlet shopping complex. Words just don't seem to describe how big this place is - lucky we were on a time schedule otherwise we could still be there making our way through the shops! Amazing how much one can buy in such a short time - isn't that right Shelda!

Back in Houston we continued our personalised "discover Houston tours" - which still seemed to include numerous shopping stops (both Josh & Shelda had to buy extra suitcases for their journeys home!)

New Year's Eve - Josh & Chantal cooked tea which included an entree of asparagus wraps - tasted fantastic. Then John & Cheryl and Pat & Sam joined Josh, Chantal, Shelda, John & I to celebrate the new year with the highlight being to watch the fireworks from our roof at midnight. We all rugged up ('cos it was really cold) and just before 12 headed to the roof only to discover that Houston doesn't have too many big bangs to bring in the New Year (apparently they save it all for 4th July) - so we wished the security guard a happy new year and all went off to our nice warm beds. We said goodbye to an amazing year and just know that 2008 will be even bigger and better!

We started the new year off with a wonderful walk into Downtown (all except Chantal who was still sleeping off the excitement of the night before!) We went to the Aquarium and rode on the little train through the shark tunnel and then walked into the main street and caught the tram which took us past the University, Hermann Gardens, the Museum District and onto Reliant Stadium (a huge sporting facility). On our return journey we got off near Anna & Bill's and dropped in to say Happy New Year.

We ate out often but the favourite places would definitely be the Path of Tea and The Field of Greens - both places very much liked by Shelda, Josh & Chantal - in fact they all asked for return visits especially to say hi to Thea & Chris at the Path of Tea.

We toured NASA - interesting afternoon although perhaps a little slow in parts - great place to experience once (unless you are an Aeronautical buff maybe!)

From NASA we drove south to Keemah where we walked along the boardwalk and then had dinner at a seafood restaurant - great food and definitely the best dessert! Josh & Chantal had a ride on the "Inverter" - one of those rides you shouldn't do after a big meal!

On Saturday we visited Old Spring Town wandering around the many historic buildings and shops.

Saturday night Josh & Chantal went to Reliant Stadium with Craig (EDN guy) & Diana to watch the Monster Jam Trucks in action and had a great time - John, Shelda and I chose to stay home and have a quiet night.

Sunday morning we all went along to Lakewood Church to experience one of the largest church services in the world – around 15,000 people per service (and there are 4 services every weekend). It was definitely an eye-opener for our visitors – not sure any of us were converted though, in fact Chantal found it all a little scary!

Following our very reverent morning, we relaxed and ate at a wonderful little Vietnamese restaurant and then spent the afternoon shopping at Trader’s Village. (Shopping seems to be the theme running through this whole diary of events!)

And speaking of shopping - we shopped at The Galleria, Katy Mills, Bass Pro Sport (where you can buy guns or any kind of camouflage paraphernalia you may ever need!) as well as the local shops – everyone left Houston with a new wardrobe and new suitcases. I am so shopped out I don’t want to see another shop until next Christmas!!!

The day before Shelda was due to leave Houston, she attended a workshop EDN was delivering to experience the way the facilitators delivered their program and also the content of the program. She had a great day and that night we all attended the workshop dinner and interacted with some of the employees and families, most of whom were from Mississippi and Louisiana – a most memorable experience for Josh, Chantal & Shelda.

The next day we farewelled Shelda and all her suitcases after a wonderful few weeks. The holiday was not over for us though ‘cos Josh & Chantal were still here.






We went up to the 54th floor of the Williams Tower building and checked out the view – Houston is as flat as flat – whatever direction you look in all you see is flat, flat, flat! The roads are extremely long and straight - - it was a great view.

Feeding the turtles that live in the lake at the Arboretum was fun - as soon as they heard our voices, the turtles swam to the side of the lake where we fed them. We had a really nice walk through the nature park and discovered that they have 'owl prowl' tours at night - so we booked one happening in a couple of weeks.

Josh & Chantal came with us to a Raw Foods Pot Luck – another once off experience for them I’m sure!

They spent Christmas in Wales with Chantal’s family, then spent New Years with us and then flew to LA where they stayed with a South Aussie friend, Jodie. While in LA they hired a car and the 3 of them drove to Las Vegas for an overnight stay. After LA they flew to NZ where they spent a few more days with Blake & Jonno before returning to the Gold Coast in time for the Big Day Out concert. What an amazing holiday packed full of different experiences in several different countries – certainly a holiday to be remembered for a long time.

Everyone finally exited our house and it was a little sad to say goodbye – but does life slow down for us….. hardly! January and February are fully booked with lots of fun things including the Houston Marathon, theatre tickets for the Janis Joplin story, a friend’s 60th b/day, a movie night, 3 dinners, the Austin half marathon, an owl prowl ………. stayed tuned for the updates!

Seems we have seen "Love Janis" already - how time flies! It was sensational - Janis was a local Texan girl - the singing was amazing.

And all of a sudden Cheryl has turned 60 and it is already the middle of January 08 - how did that happen? At Cheryl's celebration we sent a little message to Shelda 'cos the life of the party was missed - no-one else could entertain us as well as Shelda!

Life is Good…………….