Over the River and Through the Woods

We had a lovely visit to Houston, although it didn’t warm up until our very last day. We got down on Christmas night, after a slightly delayed flight, and got to see my family briefly before they headed off to Colorado.

Mark’s parents bought tickets for the four of us to see a play on Sunday, and Sunday night hosted friends of all 3 boys for a scavenger hunt. After we had soup (tasty and economical—my favorite! I even liked them, and soups not my favorite), we got in a circle and counted off for the scavenger hunt. I was paired with Mark’s brother Chris and Chris’ friend. Apparently we are all competitive—but we won! It was a really good scavenger hunt. First floor, yard and art studio, so spread out but no going all over the place. And it was all items you had to pick up and put in the bag you gave them, but not something impossible like “make a stranger do a chicken dance” or “find a four leaf clover” where you just end up frustrated.

Later in the week we saw Bayou Bend, an old home with lovely gardens. We toured the house too—it was all decked out for Christmas, but of course Mark and I spent half our time trying to find the 14 felt mice hiding on the first floor. We did ok with a total find of 10, but the security guard said 2 of them are pretty impossible, so I’m giving us a B. We also went to Discovery Green, a downtown park, similar to Millennium Park (just a bunch smaller). It was really nice. They even had ice skating, which cracked me up. We had burgers at the little restaurant, and walked around. There were even listening pods, which were super fun. I’ve seen this before, but they still always fascinate me.

I also had the chance to spend some time with Mark’s mom. We got our nails done and went to Michael’s (the craft store). Mark told her I make cards so she wanted to buy me some card-making stuff, which was super sweet of her. She wanted to get it for my Christmas present, but wasn’t sure what exactly to pick out. She also got me a platter, which I love and am very excited to use. My current platters are really random—three of them are lightweight silver covered plates shaped like stars. Cute, but not really formal. So this one will be great.

So the trip was good, but the return? Not so much…

How was your holiday break?