Houston and the Family

It has been roughly 4 months since I've seen my brother, mother, father, sisters and nephew. This past weekend was great. We got a chance to see my little sister (she had a rough start to 3rd grade, but is adjusting well), my mom (who I was really happy to see), my brother (who is always funny, doing well at his job and bought a sweet car), my dad (who is currently remodeling his townhouse - I'm hoping he hires the guy who designed the Door County cabin as his assistant), my sister (who is 4 months pregnant and found a job!), and my nephew (who is running around, cute as can be).

After 7 weeks of teaching kids Spanish, math and science and trying to convince them that it will benefit them a great deal later on in life, Chelsea and I were spent! We had planned on going to Houston at some point between the beginning of the school year and Thanksgiving and we also happened to find out that Chelsea's two favorite bands were going to be in concert, so this weekend worked out really well, especially since it was a 3-day weekend.

As far as culinary adventures go, Saturday's cuisine consisted of Whataburger and fruit salad my mom made us when we got to Houston. Before the concert we went to Berryhill in The Woodlands, TX for some good Tex-Mex. During the concert we resisted buying overpriced food items, but did meet up with one of our co-workers and her husband, who were really nice and bought us a beer!

Saturday night ended really well, and Sunday we had a very relaxing day. We started our day with a light breakfast at La Madeleine, a bakery/french cafe (it's chain restaurant, but I don't think I've seen it outside of Texas...WEIRD!!!). Chelsea had some eggs and an iced coffee and I had some iced tea and oatmeal. For lunch, we went out with my mom, my little sister, and Chelsea to the wonderful Olive Garden, where my sister pointed out that although my mom likes the Olive Garden, she doesn't like olives (my mom ate everything in her salad BUT the olives!)...she's a jokester! Olive Garden was great and afterwards we went to the grocery store for dinner ingredients.

Although it was vacation my parents wanted to have a sit-down dinner but no ideas on what to make. We normally have fajitas for coming-home occasions, but we weren't really feeling the fajitas and neither were my parents. So Chelsea and I volunteered to make dinner. We made the Stoplight Pepper Soup on our blog and it turned out great. My parents loved it and my little sister did as well. We also got to see my little nephew who was walking!!! He turned 1 year on September 23rd. He's not only walking but running, which is sometimes a concern.

After dinner we went to the park where A LOT of my uncles were playing soccer. I also got a chance to see my cousin who I'm really close with. After the park we went back home where my brother and his wife joined us. We hung out for a while and talked about life, work, the city imposing a 40% increase on everyone's water bill, and ideas for Thanksgiving... rumor has it my mom will make Salvadoran food which we'll try to post on the blog! The night ended with a gift from my sister. She had these bracelets in her little jewelry box that she gave to Chelsea and I... I was really touched and happy that I have a thoughtful little sister. Chelsea had some Thank You cards in her backpack and we left her one before we left.

Monday morning we had breakfast with my cousin who I mentioned above and this great restaurant named "The Egg and I". Very good egg dishes and French toast. Our drive back was long, but we finished "The Shack" which we started in August. We had mixed feelings about the book as we listened to it, but in the end we both agree that it was a good book, and we like the overall message that it has. We got a little lost due to some car dancing to Glee and missing our exit, but we found our way back! At 4:20 we arrived to the Valley and started getting ready for tomorrow. The weekend was too short, but full of happiness. UNFORTUNATELY, we dropped the ball on picture taking, but my mom did take some so hopefully we can get them from her. Countdown to Chelsea's trip to see Brady and the Jets as well as Thanksgiving has officially begun!!!