Hello Houston

When Dad came home from work Friday night, we hopped in the car and headed for Houston.

One of Dad's college buddies, Mike, lives in Houston with his wife, Jess. They have a dog with the same name as our old dog, but spelled differently -- Pippa. They were nice enough to let us all crash at their place while we were in town.

After stopping mid-route for dinner at Denny's, we got to their house pretty late Friday night, so after a tour we went straight to bed. They have two guest rooms, so the girls and Turner stayed in one room and I bunked with Dad. Mom and Dad know better than to let Hazel and I sleep together alone in the same room - we'd keep each other up all night and wreck the joint.

We had a nice al fresco breakfast on Mike and Jess' patio, then headed to the Houston Children's Museum. They have signs posted all over the place saying it's the number one children's museum. Mom was skeptical but after visiting, we all believe it's true. It was fantastic! There were so many fun things to play with. Some of the highlights were different types of real vehicles (a Mustang, a VW bus, some kind of Asian bike/car); face painting; a city where you could go to work, get paid and go spend your paycheck; a playground; a sandbox; a water structure; baby chicks and fish; and a huge man made of old telephones. We were there for more than two hours but we are pretty sure we didn't even scratch the surface. We were all really sad to leave, but everyone was getting hungry.

We headed back to Mike and Jess' place for some lunch, then headed out to Amy's Ice Cream and Houston's Memorial Park for a quick walk with Mike, Jess, and Pippa. After dinner and a bath, we went to bed. We had a hard time falling asleep, then were surprised when a lady named Sandra came over and Mom, Dad, Mike and Jess left so they could have dinner at a nice restaurant. Hazel told Sandra she wanted to watch football and talked with her for a while (Hazel told Sandra Mommy loves her, which Mom liked) before falling asleep. I finally relaxed and fell asleep and Turner slept the whole time -- he never even knew they were gone!

Sunday was a pretty fun day. We did our best to turn Mike and Jess' house upside down while Mom packed to go home. Then we went to the zoo. We saw lots of great animals, including meerkats, bears, lions, tigers, elephants, giraffes, and rhinos. We also saw lots of monkeys eating bugs from their friends' fur. Tonight Mom noticed some stuff on Hazel's head and Hazel told her next time we go to the zoo, the monkeys can get it off.

We spent the afternoon driving back to Austin. We went out of our way to stop at Bruster's for more ice cream on the way home. At one point, Mom came back with us to try to feed Turner while Dad was driving. Hazel and I pointed out that it wasn't safe. Mom said she knew and it was a bad thing to do, but she wanted to take care of Turner. I held on to her arm and said, "I'll protect you, Mommy."

By the way, I am doing a great job of not using my pants as my potty. I went the whole weekend without an accident, although I have been dropping my drawers and going outside a lot, including once at Chuy's and once in the middle of the zoo. We're working on it.

We had a great trip and can't wait to go back sometime soon! Here are more photos from our fun weekend.