Nov 2015

Written and Illustrated by, Richard S.

Ashley turned... another year older!

Thought I was going to give it away that she turned 32, didn't you??

Make a wish!

*POOF* It came true! 

You are now transported to Houston, TX!

I had to come down here for a conference the week before Thanksgiving.

So Ashley and the kids came with me.

We liked it so much we stayed for 2 weeks.

Just up the street from our hotel, there was a delicious bakery called

Tout Suite!

I, personally, bought an all natural bottle of 

coconut milk flavored with cinnamon.

It was so natural it went rancid before I could finish it.

Thanks hippies for removing preservatives from my food supply!!

Next was lunch and playtime on the gulf of Mexico!

Britta isn't havin' this one, 

because she wanted to go on the much bigger one next to it.

I think Mitchell and Parker fell asleep!

Now that's more like it!

Cautiously look over the edge, because you're so high...Check!

Hold hands, because you're so high...Check!

Through the looking glass!

This looks like it could be an old time-y picture of some war general.

Mitchell didn't get the idea of looking INTO THE MIRROR at the camera!

A quaint little train ride around the park.

Super Beautiful Ashley!

This was Mitchell's favorite ride. 

He tried every color of monkey, 

there were seven, 

and his face looked like this the whole time. Haha.

On the other hand, Parker went on every ride they had.

He was Brave!

Ashley snuck 

(sneaked? Blogger is telling me snuck isn't a word. 

Well I snuck the word in anyway.)

Ashley [sneaked] her camera on the ride

even though the attendant to the ride told her not to.

It made Colette so upset that MOM disobeyed

that Colette told on Ashley when they got back down.

"LAST RIDE OF THE NIIIIIIGGGGHHHHTTTT!!!"

Nothing like riding a zebra and a sea lion out into the sunset.

Thanks Kemah Boardwalk!

There were literally 10 other people in the entire park, the whole day.

We had the place to ourselves, 

we stayed until dark,

and still had energy to pose at the end.

What do you get when you mix Indian food with Italian??

Bombay Pizza Co.

It was excellent.

Strawberry paste for sauce with curry chicken on top.

Artichokes with jalapeno peppers.

I lost count how many slices that was for me, 

but I did go back up to the register and order another pizza.

Does that technically mean I had seconds?

Just down the street from our hotel was this neat park

that changes theme every year.

This year, the theme was TOPS.

So, naturally, everything in the park spun.

That's Mr. Ghost Parker to you.

Beautiful Britta.

It was my Dad's birthday while we were in TX.

It's tradition to go to Macayo's on birthdays in my family.

So, we found this next best thing in Houston.

A little bit of Vegas, and a little bit of Macayo's.

Win - Win!

Time out!

Parker came up to me and asked, "Dad, what is a hypothetical nerd?"

I responded, "haha, where did you hear that?"

"I just made it up, and want to start calling myself that."

"Well, ironically, you're not very hypothetical if you call yourself that." I retorted.

Needless to say, Parker started to loose his mind, so the only remedy was...

MORE GRANDPA GARY!! and his trusty steed, Kubota.

Britta loves Grandpa Gary.

Ashley's step-sister, Erika, was in the live action play, 

Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer the Musical.

She did an excellent job as Rudolph's Girlfriend,

Clarice.

The play looked just like the claymation movie.

In Waxahachie, TX is a life-sized 

(that's right, that's not a hot wheels car off to the left)

replica of the Munster's mansion.

The most unique characteristic of this part of the trip

is that Ashley visited this same spot as a kid with her Grandma.

We wish you all a very merry Christmas,

and the best year you can have in

2016!