Houston Homecoming

Helloooooo, Texas! We have arrived!

We got in Monday evening, right on time at 6 PM. JB picked us up at HOU, we went home, explored the house, snuggled Bonnie, and just crashed together on the couch. :-) ♪ ♫ Reunited and it feels so good... ♪ ♫

JB surprised us by getting to take Tuesday off, so we explored out and about:
*Black Walnut Café for breakfast - apparently Texas is obsessed with kolaches: warm, slightly sweet, fresh-baked pastries traditionally filled w/ meat, cheese, or fruit. (They're not Mexican; they're central/eastern European.) I had ham & mozzarella = delish! I am on board with the obsession...
*tollway EZ Tag procured for the van - holy toll fees! They seem higher than Chicago... Not that I will be spending much time on toll roads, but JB does going into work. It's nice to have the option to avoid the traffic, if I need to. :-) Also, the road system here is HUGE!!! Every highway is raised (flooding is a big deal here; there are flood gauges at the bottom of every highway hill) and there are frontage roads on both sides of each highway with access to the local roads. Every exit has a u-turn lane back under the raised highway, in case you went too far. :-)
*reveled in the Houston Galleria (and bubble tea!!!) - the largest mall in Texas (and y'all know, everything's bigger in TX! :-P)
*rejoined beloved Costco - ♥♥♥
*Katy Mills for Brave - Daddy's been waiting so long to see it w/ the kids :-)
*Chuy's for dinner - the best tortilla soup I've ever had in my life. Like I'm still craving it. Kind of out-of-control. If this weren't such an insane land o' plenty, we would've gone back by now; but with SO MANY amazing new dining options, I can't bring myself to double up...yet.

This place is total abundance overload - in a good way! :-)

On Wednesday, July 4th, we did more exploring before an afternoon unpacking session. I made JB hit the brakes and pull over for a pic in front of the big grocery store here, H-E-B. Why? They had BEYONCÉS out front!!! :-D

We celebrated the evening of the 4th at LaCenterra. The kids climbed on a fire truck to kill time before the fireworks. :-) Central time is the best for TV, but our body clocks were thrown off waiting so long for it to get dark...

It was MORE than worth it, though! That was the closest I've ever sat under a huge fireworks display - completely breathtaking!!! Such a rush!!! (& so sweet w/ the kids snuggled close enough to feel their heartbeats :-)) While we were waiting to exit the parking deck, we heard Phillip Phillip's "Home" on the radio - a poetically sweet confirmation we're in the right place for our fam, and a happy Leesburg shout out! :-)