playing Houston tourist.......

This morning, Chris had VBS play practice til about 1:00. The girls & I were sitting around doing nothing much more than watching tv & playing on the computer, so I decided we needed to do something more constructive.

I made a plan (somewhat anyway) and we headed to the Houston Arboretum with a text to Chris to meet us there when he was finished with practice. It was a pretty neat place; I want to go back & spend more time. Inside the Nature Center, Gracie & Katie enjoyed finding animals in the artificial tree and listening to information about the animals. Ellie enjoyed walking around and pushing buttons, etc.

I had packed a picnic, but one of the workers said they don't really have places for picnics, so we planned to eat somewhere else. Meanwhile, Chris called & said he would head that way which wouldn't take long at all from the church. The girls & I headed out to walk one of the trails. We had forgotten mosquito repellant, and they were swarming! I was also a little nervous of getting lost out there with 3 girls (one being 2 years old and a sloooow walker) or getting on a trail that was longer than we were prepared to walk. So...we just walked 1 trail and Chris was there when we finished it and the girls were hungry! I liked it but we just got a little taste of it today. I will plan to go back. I took a list of some classes; I know the girls would enjoy them!

We headed to a nearby park to have our picnic, but after driving the wrong way on a 1 way street (that wasn't clearly marked) and not knowing exactly where the picnic areas were (obviously) we decided to head to another place I'd been wanting to explore: Discovery Green, a park in the middle of Downtown Houston. We found it and found a place to park and finally got to have our picnic. We were ready. We were pleased to find that in the shade, it was really quite nice weather. Even later in the sun, there were some nice breezes that helped break up the heat.

Our view from our picnic bench. Gave us an idea for later in the day........

This sidewalk where we ate reminded us of a street in Aiken, 'South Boundary,' that is lined with Live Oaks.

When I was looking online at information about Discovery Green, I saw that they had one of those water areas, so I had the girls pack their swim suits just in case we found it and they wanted to play in it. Of course.......once we found it, they wanted to play in it! :)

Poor Ellie. With so many kids running around and how big of an area it was, we decided not to let her participate since one of us would need to be with her and we didn't want to get that wet. She watched & fussed.

Chris decided to take her for a walk with the hope that she would nap. Of course, she didn't. ;)

I've been hearing about Discovery Green and wanting to visit it. It was......okay. The girls had a great time playing in the water, and it was neat to see it and be downtown. However, like I told Chris, the girls can play in water in our own suburb where we don't have to pay for parking. :) I'm still glad we went though!

We went back to the Arboretum to pick up Chris' car then decided to be spontaneous and go to the Astros game! Why not, right?! We dropped off his car somewhere else so we could ride together and headed to the stadium. We got cheap seats ($7 seats!) and the kids are FREE! Of course, we had to pay for parking and pay for food....but at least the seats were cheap! They were high up in the stadium, but it really was a nice view. It was just the climb that was a bit bothersome! LOL

So fun to sing, "Deep in the Heart of Texas" during the 7th inning stretch.

Eating hot dogs before the game started.

then some ice cream & popcorn

Ellie was restless.....then she was OUT! :)

I thought it was funny to see people watching from a rooftop next door, outside the stadium.

Gracie, not being quite the sports enthusiast, enjoyed her time playing on her daddy's iPhone! :)

It was a fun day!

We plan to go back to see the Astros play the Cubs in a few weeks when my parents are here. My dad is a huge Cubs fan. I think Katie is already planning to be unloyal and root for the Cubs with her Pappy! Forgive her....she's young! :) (and that was the name of her softball team, so she has a shirt & visor already! LOL)