Houston Aquarium

Around the middle of February, we found out that Kelvin had been offered a full time position with the Facilities Dept in Grand Prairie to start the second week of March.  We were excited about the offer and that Kelvin was now done with his OLDP training.  We accepted the position and then tried to prepare for a move when we got a call that they were going to move up his date of hire and send him to Kentucky for a special assignment for a couple of months.  Though a little shocked, we decided that this would be good for his career and decided to go for it.  It was then that we toyed around with the idea of me staying in Lufkin while he was in Kentucky or just moving like we planned and stay with his parents for those two months.  We decided to go ahead and move to help save money and then I could look for a place to live.  This left us with only a couple weekends left and so we called up our kindred friends and asked if they wanted to go to Houston with us that day (Sat).  They readily agreed and we all packed up and headed to Houston for the day.

We decided that it would be better if we could all take one car so we piled in the van.  Poor Lydia Martin sat on the floor in between the two captains chairs the ride there and back.  I offered to change her seats but she said she was fine.  We did put a blanket under her so it wasn't too uncomfortable.

The original plan was to go to the zoo, but Mark wanted to buy us all lunch at the restaurant which was at the aquarium.  He had heard that it was a great place to eat so we headed there first.  Well, seating took forever and then actually getting the food took longer.  All in all we waited for about 3 hours to eat.  The food was great though and the scenery was super cool!  We were basically eating surrounded by an aquarium.  The kids loved it even though they were extremely tired and hungry (not to mention ornery) by the time we got our food.

Pictures outside the aquarium

Inside the restaurant

We decided that since we were already there at the aquarium and our food had taken so long that we might as well stay there instead of going to the zoo.  The aquarium itself was quite a let down!!!  It was so short and only had your average fish.  It was somewhat saved by the end though where they had a huge white tiger!  Although the tiger was a little out of place being in an aquarium when there were no other non-aquatic animals to be found, it was still pretty awesome.  We sat and watched it for about 10 min.

Our tickets included carnival rides that they had on one side of the aquarium and we took FULL advantage of that since the actual aquarium was pitiful.  The carousel was a big hit with the kids and we rode it probably 4 or 5 times.  Then we did the faris wheel which was rather terrifying for me.  I hate heights!!  My friend Lydia also hates heights and we were both closing our eyes and holding on for dear life the entire ride.  Lastly, we did the train ride.  It was pretty cool but we were glad we sat near the front because you go through a tunnel and everyone in the back gets a big ole' whiff of carbon monoxide!  Then as you are nearing the end, a big shark jumps out of the water on the side.  It was very startling and if having a shark jump out at you wasn't enough, there was blood dripping from it's mouth!  Who in the world thought that that was appropriate for kids????  Lydia talked about it for weeks and constantly said how scary it was.

Faris Wheel of Death.....

Please don't die, please don't die, please don't die...

Train!!!!

Mark and Payton

Sweet Nathan!!

She was so mesmerized looking at all the sharks. 

Yeah, this thing was FREAKY!!!

It was a great day and we were so happy to have that time with our dear friends before we moved away!