Things to do in Houston with Parents.

The long over due post about the visit from my parents...

My parents (Mary and Steve) got into town last Thursday (before Labor Day).  To kick off the weekend, we went to Boondoggles as is tradition.  There was a whole crew of us as we took Heineken and Stella.  The dogs were named after beers so it only makes sense that they go to bars with their lush owners.  This was Stella's second time at Boondoggles, and she did fairly well.  Heineken was perfect until another dog showed up.  After we had pizza and beer (St Arnold's Summer Pilsner), we went home and watched the wedding video.  This was the first showing of the video.  It was pretty good.  I really liked watching the ceremony and of course seeing my dress again.  Some of the videography was a little sub-par, but I'm happy to have all the footage.

On Friday, Brian took the day off so he was able to share in the fun.  We started off the day going to Walmart.  Not the best thing to do with visitors but it's pretty much mandatory as I never have time to grocery shop during the week, and people need food and beer.  This also gives us a chance to pick out steaks to grill out which has also become a tradition.

After shopping, we went to the San Jacinto Monument.  This was an average activity.  I would say a little pricey for what's there, but it was new and different.  I feel that my parents need to do something touristy each time they are here.  I was excited to be able to go up to the top of the monument to see the view.  This was slightly disappointing, because there were only about 4 viewing windows and all you could see was plants and refinerys.  I guess I should have expected that since we were on the ship channel, but I was thinking we'd be able to see downtown.  There's also a battleship there.  We didn't go on the battleship mainly because it was $10 and we were all ready for a beer.  The battleship was still neat to look at it.

Since it was 3 pm and we were all ready for a beer, we decided to head to Sherlock's for happy hour.  We spent most the afternoon and early evening there and took advantage of their free buffet.  After that we headed home and played games.  Brian and I won pictionary and trivia!

On Saturday, we stayed at home and watched Ohio State play the navy.  After that we played games and got dinner at Chili's.

Sunday was also a lazy day.  Brian made me run with him, but I wimped out and ended up walking mostly.  My parents walked to the pier while we ran so I finished my run by walking with them.  It was a long walk though, and I ended up sunburning my shoulders (oops).  After that we grilled out steaks and got ready for game night!  Game night was a huge success.  I think we had the most people that night for game night ever.  We started wtih Whonu, then we played Pictionary.  Next was Cranium.  Then we ended with Catch Phrase.  Most of the group left about 1 am, but one couple stayed and we played cards til 3 am!  I haven't been up that late in a long, long time.

Monday was recovery day.  I ended up going to sleep at 7:30 pm.  I was worn out from the weekend.  From all the drinking, but also from the lack of sleep.  I had to wake up at 4:30 am on Tuesday to take my parents to the airport so Tuesday morning I was really happy that I went to sleep so early.

The summary for the weekend: 6 Heineken kegs, 1 bottle of grey goose, 6 St Arnold's Lawnmowers, 12 St Arnold's Octoberfest, 6 Sierra Nevada Anniversary IPA, 3 bottles of wine, 8 Miller Lites, and a few of Brian's Amber Ale home brew.  This doesn't count the beers drunk at bars.  So not bad for 4 adults and 4 days.

A dog update for those interested: We went 3 weeks. This past Friday morning Stella had an accident in the house.  I am forgiving her this trangression and I think she's improving.  We woke up early Friday morning because she was whining in her crate to go out.  I tried to let her out, but it was pouring so she didn't really want to go out.  Not long after this, Stella pooped in the house.  This was slightly disappointing since she was just being wimpy about the rain.  We put her back in her crate.  Before Brian even left for work, she had pooped in her crate.  She was sick though.  We think she ate something not good (my money is on a frog) and it gave her diarhea. She seemed ok Friday evening and night.  Then Saturday morning she was still having the runs.  Brian and I went to soccer Saturday morning and Stella was crated.  When we got home, I went to let her out and she had pooped again.  This time was different than 3 weeks ago though.  She wasn't playing in it, not being bothered by it.  She was visibly upset that she soiled her crate.  She was crouched to one side of the crate trying to stay out of the mess.  I think she was embarrassed.  So I think we are improving.  It's Sunday and I think Stella is feeling better, but we'll see what happens tomorrow.