it's a rainy day

It's been rainy the last couple days and all I can seem to think of is this song Dad always sings when it's rainy. And then I found the Sesame Street version today and thought I'd share. I love rain and I love Sesame Street. Thanks Dad for always getting songs stuck in my head.

If nothing else....NASA!

Our last day together was spent mostly at church, as Ben had meetings from 9-1 and then the church black began at 1. But we did have a little break to go walk around the grounds of the NASA Space Center. Along with the awesome jet/space ship things shown below, there is a scale model of the galaxy that circles around the park. It's as if you are a giant walking through the stars or something. It was kind of neat to see just how the planets are space. Oh and according to the Space Center, Pluto is still one of the planets. Hee hee...

Fields of Blue Bonnets

One of Ben's friends took us out into the country to see these fields of blue flowers called blue bonnets. It was amazing to just look out on fields and fields of blue. Some of the ranchers down there open up their fields so people can come and take pictures, have picnics, and whatever. So we did, as well as many, many other people.

I love these next three pictures. The girls we were with wanted to take some nice sibling pictures so we let them have one. Then the sequence just follows the natural course of siblings. I LOVE IT!

Day of Culture

One day we went to Houston to visit the Rothko Chapel and the Museum District. It was a very cultural experience and we saw a lot of art that day. I don't think Ben loved it as much as I did but he was a good sport for my art fetish. But we did see one dinosaur fossil before the museum of natural history closed.

The city is full of beautiful oak trees so I had to take a couple hundred pictures. Don't worry i won't share them all here. There were also so beautiful churches that Ben patiently waited for me while a took some pictures. He's a good brother.

Under the Sea.

On the island, there is an aquarium in a giant glass pyramid. I mean, it wasn't any Boston Aquarium but I really enjoyed it. Plus they had a whole shark exhibit, so it completely won me over.

Notice the shark behind me, hence the scared face.

Mmmmmm.

One of the best things about cities is all the restaurants. Ben took me to some real winners too. He will show you them when you come down.

This was the most amazing little dessert place ever. You think of anything chocolate, they have it. You walk in and they have three sides to their counter: cake, ice cream, chocolate covered anything (fruit, candy, etc.). It was amazing! I got the Tuxedo cheesecake and a chocolate covered banana and Ben got the largest piece of chocolate cake I've ever seen, mint girl's scout cookie ice cream, and the most cholately drink ever. Death by chocolate, no joke.

This was a nice little family-owned Greek restaurant. The food was really good and the pita was amazing.

This was such a fun little place! It's the most sought after restaurant. The food there isn't amazing but they make the whole interior look like a rainforest with a talking tree, moving monkeys and butterflies, aquarium of tropical fish, waterfalls and fountains, and the sounds of a thunderstorm.

So, this doesn't technically count as a restaurant but it was one of my favorite eating experiences. We packed ourselves some tuna and cucumber sandwiches with chips (just like lunches from Israel field trips) and went down to the beach.

Surfing in the U.S.A.

Or maybe "boogie boarding" in the U.S.A. This is one of my favorite things about Texas, I mean besides my brother. It so easy and when you catch that one wave that takes you all the way back to the shore it makes me want to live there all the time. We are indeed masters now.

I love to see the temple.

"I'm going there someday"...that's what you should say about the Houston Temple.

I think I'll just go down to the beach tonight....

After spending a day working his brain off remembering the name of all the different types of medicines there are and poking people in the face with cotton balls, how about we just go down and play on the beach? Ok.