2/13/2008

Nia and her Mommy: like two humps on a camel. Isn't she darling?? Nick snapped this picture the other day during a family outing to Sam Houston Park. We are about 5 city blocks from the Sam Houston Park, so it is easily within walking distance. The park doesn't have any play structure for the kids (or, at the very least, none to my knowledge), but it does boast a huge grassy area, a pond with friendly/hungry ducks, and a restored historic village. I'll expound more on this in the rest of the post...but first take a look at the Queen:
This picture was snapped almost literally outside our back door. You have to walk to the main road to get this view without other houses in the way, but this shows you how close we are to the heart of the city. We adore being right in the middle of things. Today was Nick's day off and we spent the majority of our time exploring. We found an awesome Mediterranean restaurant where we ate lunch (delicious!). We also ate at a little place called HOP (House of Pie) for our mid-afternoon snack. This was a treat for us as we almost never eat out. I hope that we will keep exploring the many unique restaurants, shops, parks, etc., that Houston has to offer. If I decide to get posting with vigor this week, I will add some pictures of the aforementioned outings.
Here is one of the many restored buildings in Sam Houston Park. This one is a house. Wouldn't you love to live there? I know I would! Plus, it has the most amazing view of downtown from right on the front porch. The public are welcome to walk around all the restored structures, peek in the windows, etc. for absolutely free. I think there is a fee to see the interiors. I've never cared enough to look into it. I'm perfectly satisfied peering through a window and meandering on the walkways. Also, as a new feature, each building has a toll-free phone number that you can call to hear information about the history of the house/church/school...you name it! Sometime when I go to the park without my kids I will listen to each of these recordings.
Nick is 100% delighted to have his camera back in working order. He has such a knack for capturing moments, doesn't he? This was just a flower in a somewhat disheveled barrel, but he makes it look like a million bucks.
A little run-down of our day to catch you up on our activities:

-Nick is driving home with an upright freezer to keep in our garage. We were offered this working freezer for practically nothing, and I can't wait to cook and bake in bulk again!

-We stopped at Lowe's and picked up lots of different vegetable seeds, pots, and soil today. Nick was inspired by a radio show which advocated vegetable gardening in containers (for those of us without large plots of land). We were advised to purchase particular varieties of many different veggies and are looking forward to our first flower-pot-garden.

-I located my nearest Half Price Bookstore and buzzed inside to figure out my way around. Found a HUGE clearance section and can't wait to go back by myself to browse, and browse, and browse...

-I'm going to curl up in bed underneath the covers (it's cold here tonight--50 degrees--sorry to remind the folks in MI that we find this to be miserable) and look through a whole collection of recipes that Mable gave me. Nick will be working tomorrow, and we seem to have hit a cold front, thus leaving only one reasonable thing to do: hold a Nathan-and-Mommy-Baking-Extravaganza. Yummm..