Our First Thanksgiving

Every year, Thanksgiving falls on the 4th Thursday in November, this year that was the 26th. Traditionally, American families get together to give thanks to God and watch the Macy’s Thanksgiving parade. But the first Thanksgiving is meant to have been held by the pilgrims of Plymouth harbour who famously sat down with the native Americans to share their harvest.

This year, as Noel and Lou have seen it all first hand, they offered to host us for Thanksgiving dinner. The traditional meal is a roast turkey with American style side dishes like green beans cooked in mushroom soup and candied yams topped with marshmallows. Between the two chefs the Phillips came up with loads of dishes incorporating the American classics with British staples like Yorkshire puddings and good old roast potatoes! The guys did a great job and we were stuffed by the end of it, which is all part of the tradition, of course!

The following day is always ‘Black Friday’, supposedly the day retailers go into the black for the first time all year as everyone makes use of their extended weekend to start their Christmas shopping. Here’s Glen getting into the Christmas spirit!

 

Heather

Snow in Texas!

Exactly as forecast, Houston had snow during the day today. Although there was a few flurries last year, a southern state like Texas doesn’t handle it very well and employees at our apartment complex were sent home early to avoid the busy roads in rush hour.

The cats were not keen on the unusually cold temperatures and refused to go out on the balcony today. Instead they have spent most of the day sleeping. Alright for some!

Heather

My 30th Birthday & Las Vegas!

I reached the ripe old age of 30 on the 11th November so to show how grown up and mature I have become I thought I would celebrate in Hooters!, well it was “Wingsday Wednesday” and the chicken baskets were on special..

 
After the meal was finished the girls of Hooters all came over and sung a birthday song for me and I got a souvenir photo:

(all Heather’s idea – honest! She joke’s that I told her Hooter’s was an '’Owl Sanctuary!”)

The best man at my wedding, was in Houston for the week so he visited NASA (Heathers third visit with guests in as many weeks!) and shopped till’ he dropped.  On Thursday we flew to Las Vegas to meet another old friend of mine living in Chicago.  We were all joined on Friday by two work colleagues and friends and has a really great, childish, barely sober time.  We stayed at the Flamingo – because it was a decent cheap hotel right on the strip and not because Donnie and Marie Osmond were playing!, but my favourite casinos were the Bellagio, Paris and New York, New York.

 

The spectacular fountains outside the Bellagio 

Somehow after three very late nights of eating, drinking  and a fair bit of gambling I managed to leave Las Vegas with $400 more in my pocket than when I left Houston! Must be birthday luck ;o)

Some more photos are available here

Now I am back in the baby zone and we are attending classes, buying everything we will need and we are both looking forward to January!

Glen ‘Lucky’ Chambers

Baby Shower Surprise!

Last Sunday after doing our chambermaid bit in the spare room, we picked up Neil from the airport as he was coming to stay for a few  days before the boys all went to Vegas for Glen’s birthday. Normally, when guests fly in we like to have a BBQ at home on the first night  to welcome them which Noel and Lou join us for. Only this time, Noel and Lou had just moved to their new apartment up the road so instead of BBQ-ing at Bayou on the Bend, they invited us over there. I thought this was so they could show us round the new place, but Lou was secretly planning a baby shower and had invited Mike and Laurie over as well.

Baby Showers are an American invention where, typically, ladies get together to shower gifts on the new expectant mother. None of us had ever been to one, so Lou had to research what you’re actually supposed to do! This shower took the American traditions and added a few new ones… like the guys! They were allowed to come too, which was nice.

Glen was in charge of supplying a list of the sorts of things we needed and hadn’t yet got for the baby and he  did a great job, even if he didn’t grasp the concept of a baby shower straight away! He even kept the whole thing completely under wraps so that when I walked in the door I had no idea what was going on!  It was the best surprise ever!

Lou had decorated the cabana area, which is an outdoor covered patio with a fire place, with balloons and banners and prepared some games for us to play, as is customary at a shower. One of these games was ‘guess the size of the bump’ which involved each of the guests cutting a piece of string to the length they thought would fit around my widest point. Glen went for the ‘safe’ option and cut his  so small he couldn’t get it round his own waist, let alone mine! Everyone else guessed a little big, so we  have some predictions for full term size already. The winner was Neil who accurately judged it to within about 10cm.

Kylan (Mike and Laurie’s 1 yr old) enjoyed the chance to run around the outside space and provided us with a few insights into what to expect a year down the line. We were impressed with his sign language skills which are currently way better than mine. I must read up before our baby arrives!

As you can see from the photos (thanks Lou for helping with the photography!), the gifts were amazing. Mike and Laurie, Noel and Lou and Neil all went to town in Babies R Us and Next mixing the practical and the cute to ensure we had everything we needed to prepare for the baby’s arrival. We were astounded by everyone’s generosity, so thanks again everyone!

Heather

Jacqui flies in for a visit

The day after Johnno left, Jacqui flew in from Dallas where she’d been staying with friends for a visit. Jacs is familiar with Texas already, so knew exactly what she wanted to do and see and peanut chocolate ice cream from Baskin Robbins was high on the list!

Being a big country music fan we also spent some time in the CD section of my local Walmart super-center where she picked up a few of the new releases while I browsed the baby aisles!

Jacs enjoyed pleasant 75f sunshine while she was here which was nice for November and a vast improvement on the previous week which saw heavy rainfall and flooding. It was the perfect temperature for a bit of winter tanning on the roof.

The finale of the visit was a night out at Wild West where Jacqui got to do some drinking and cowboy bothering!

 

Heather

Houston in Houston

For the last two weeks in October, John Houston came out to see us. After a brief delay at the airport where security had trouble getting their heads round the idea that someone called ‘Houston’ was coming to Houston, we were ready to go have some fun, Texan-style!

There was plenty Johnno wanted to do while he was here so we packed in as much as possible. First off was an American football game down at the Reliant Stadium. As you can see from the picture above the cheerleaders were out in force to welcome him! And there was plenty of Bush on show as both former presidents took to the field as well. Just a couple of days later there was more sporting action for the boys when they went to the ice hockey. This time it was downtown at the Toyota Center. Luckily it was a quiet game as I managed to book them seats which were a little too close to the action!

I thought Johnno might like a little bar I found in Rice Village where they do nothing but Chocolate. And indeed, it seemed to go down rather well. This is Mr Houston with his ‘starter’ a chocolate drink and cookie. He went on to indulge in a brownie as well, but had to admit defeat half way through! To the right of the shot is my ‘Snowberry’ ice cream. Chocolate dipped strawberries blended into white chocolate ice cream – amazing!

For John, no trip to Houston would be complete without a trip to the Space Center that bears his name. He hears ‘Houston we had a problem’ all the time in the classroom, so it made sense to check out where the magic happened for real. As you can see, he seemed to enjoy himself! 

Heather

Birthday Weekend in San Antonio

As it was my 30th the other week we decided to take a trip out to San Antonio with Vicky and Jon while they were here. SA is about 3 hours away to the West along a very straight road, so it wasn’t hard to find! It’s also a well travelled route, so we had no problem finding a smoke shack on the way down for some lunch Texas BBQ style!

As we made our way down there the weather took a turn for the worse and Glen had to drive through torrential rain. Although the skies cleared later in the day, the cloud cover brought chilly temperatures, the lowest we’ve seen since arriving in the spring.

Shortly after arriving we headed straight out in search of the largest cinnamon roll in America. We’d heard that a 3.5lb roll could be found at Lulu’s which was a short walk away and it didn’t disappoint. I’d like to tell you we ate it all, but even between the 3 of us we hardly made a dent in it!

Once we’d all eaten more sugar than is medically advisable we headed back to downtown to see the sights. The Alamo was smaller than I imagined, but I guess a lot of people say that? However the exhibition and museum inside were entertaining if a little tiring to walk round. I spent the last 15 mins on a bench resting my feet while the others finished off. Next up was the Riverwalk where restaurants and bars line the river. It’s a very pleasant place to visit, but extremely  touristy. I was quite glad we didn’t get a hotel along it. Also, in the cooler temperatures we were experiencing all that shade wasn’t as necessary as it might have been in the height of summer. We popped down there for happy hour hoping to get a good deal on appetizers and cocktails but it was tricky finding a menu Vicky could eat. Most things were deep fried which didn’t appeal to any of us, but we got there in the end.

While we were there we decided to visit some theme parks and that it would be best to split up for that. Vicky and Jon did the white knuckle rides of 6 Flags and Glen and I went for the more sedate setting of Sea World for our day out. Glen was still able to ride a couple of really big  roller coasters (with the advantage of skipping to the front of the line because he was a lone rider) and I could enjoy the shows from the comfort a nice seat! And the shows were spectacular. I don’t remember them being any where near as good in Florida, but that was a few years ago.

The weekend was finished off with a birthday visit to Fogo de Chao, San Antonio. We love the restaurant in Houston, so decided it was a good place to go for dinner. Turns out it was even better than we thought as the one in SA is cheaper than the one in Houston! Always tastes nicer when you’re making a saving!! This slightly rubbish picture (below) was taken by the waiter. Don’t quit your day job, mate!

Heather