Because we couldn't pass up the opportunity to watch history being made, we headed down to Houston yesterday to watch Baylor play St. Mary's in the Sweet Sixteen. Chachi graciously offered to keep Grace and Ella for us (or else we wouldn't have brought them :)), and Poppy and Dory came down to spoil Sutton and give him some one-on-one time. Within five minutes of getting into the car, I looked back and saw this:
It's Ella under that blanket, and that's her "I'm in the car, so I'm taking a nap" pose. Grace doesn't usually nap in the car unless she has to. She'd much rather stay up so she won't miss anything.
Like clockwork, Ella fell asleep before we got out of Dallas.
And, she slept all the way until we made a snack stop at Buc-ee's. Have any of you been there? I've heard all about it, but since we don't travel that very often (it had been 5 years since we'd been to Houston). It is the king of all convenience stores, and we were all just amazed. We got all kinds of samples and left with sweet tea, beef jerky and Cheetos. Mmm-mmm. We don't keep junk food in the house, but travel is a different story. The girls were quiet and content the rest of the way.
They liked driving by Sam Houston, or "the big white man," as Ella called him. We didn't even have a television in the car, and they were awesome travelers. Grace looked out the window the whole time, spotting every horse, cow and American flag along the way. At one point, she asked, "Why do they have American flags here?" She must have thought Houston was another country!
After stopping by Chachi's house, we began a tour of our favorite Houston spots. Chachi surprised the girls with Princess Tiana dolls, which they insisted on bringing with us. Ella calls hers "Ti-nana." Too cute.
While we love Dallas, there are certain things we miss about Houston, especially these places that we visited so often while Travis was in dental school, pre-babies and pre-marriage. It seems like a lifetime ago. We stopped here first:
We ate here almost every Saturday afternoon, and the owner and his employees didn't even have to ask us what we wanted. As soon as we'd walk in the door, they'd call out, "Reuben on pumpernickel, split." It's still the best sandwich we've ever had, but unfortunately, it's not the same now. It was a family deli that lasted 60 years, until they sold the business to some corporate people who don't have the same friendly touch. And, the food isn't as good. And, the atmosphere wasn't as good. I almost cried. Travis handled it much better.
Chachi and the girls didn't feel so nostalgic.
Ooh, they're such stinkers sometimes.
After lunch, we walked across the street to a children's boutique and Ella found her heaven on earth. It was a shoe mecca!! She was beside herself with excitement. She hurriedly took off her shoes and socks and asked to try something on. We left with two precious pairs of hot pink patent sandals and a much more manly navy blue pair for Sutton.
My Gracie looks like a little girl now.
From there, we headed to a fabulous candy store, which provided lots of eye candy for my camera.
Next stop was the grocery store to pick up pizzas and ice cream for the girls' night in at Chachi's house. Grace and Ella didn't seem too concerned that we were leaving them, and I'm so glad they got to have a special night. Before heading to the game, we stopped at another favorite Houston hangout:
and had a couple of these:
Not a couple each. Just one for me and one for Travis, which was plenty. They should have come with a warning: these margaritas are stronger than they appear. Or, maybe I just have a much, much, much lower tolerance after abstaining from alcohol during these past five years of being pregnant and having many small children.
We arrived at Reliant Stadium and were surrounded by a sea of green and gold. It was wonderful to be a part of such a special game for the Bears. And, we got to see old friends, which is always nice. They played some seriously awesome basketball and pulled off an impressive win.
Instead of sticking around for the Duke vs. Purdue game, we ventured down to Rice Village to our favorite tapas bar:
This place hadn't changed at all. We enjoyed sangria and lots of delicious little plates of food, including our all-time favorite prosciutto-wrapped salmon and marinated olives (plus five other things). It was a lot of food, and it was good.
Genny kept texting me, and at about 10:30 the girls were still awake. We thought about calling it a night, but she insisted that we enjoy ourselves, and so we did. We stopped by Kay's, a place Travis spent many Wednesday nights watching his cousin play the guitar. It made for really good people watching, and we even saw one girl wearing a Texas flag life jacket. Interesting.
As if we hadn't eaten enough already (and I forgot to mention the cheese nachos during the game), we made a late night stop at this place:
It's much fancier now, after an extensive remodel and upgrade, but thankfully, the food is just as good. It was the perfect end to a busy and fun day.
Unfortunately, when we got back to Genny's house, it wasn't as much fun. Ella couldn't sleep, so we put her in bed with us, which means that none of us slept all night. Ella is a total homebody and doesn't like to be away from home. She kept saying, "I no want Chachi's house. Let's go a Ella's house. Ella's bed." Then, about 7:00 this morning, Travis finally took her downstairs to watch cartoons. I got dressed and joined them around 7:30, and Ella sat down in my lap. About 2 minutes later, she puked all over herself, then said, "I feel much better." We cleaned her up, and after Gracie and Chachi woke up, we gathered our things and headed out for yet another indulgent meal--breakfast at Cracker Barrel. Yum!
It's hard to believe we packed all that food and fun into a 24-hour trip!
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