The Roberts Visit Houston

This week we had visitors! My mom, dad, and sister came out for a few days during Spring Break. It was the first time they have visited Houston since we moved. Unfortunately I had to work Thursday when they got here but they met us at the classic Houston favorite Pappasito's for mexican. To introduce them to Houston cuisine we ordered the quail - which have an sweet ancho chile glaze on them and surprised my dad on how good they are, fajitas and the absolute best the Brochette shrimp. They are stuffed with poblano peppers, wrapped in bacon, grilled and then the waiter pours hot melted butter on them at the table. They are my favorite! Needless to say, none went to waste.

The next day I had to go to work but Justin and the family headed to NASA space center. They spent the day there eating space ice cream and watching the live feed from the shuttle that just went up to the space station. They came back to Houston to meet me for dinner after work at our other favorite, The Taste of Texas. It has a such a wonderful story. This Christian couple opened this years ago and all the waiters are college students. As their ministry they help their waiters with college expenses. The service is fabulous but the beef is to die for! We had a really nice dinner and then headed home to watch some basketball and movies and rest up for our Saturday of sight seeing.

We woke up Saturday morning bright and early and headed to the Houston Museum of Natural Science. Justin and I had seen it several times but not visited. The museum is on Hermann Memorial Park which is gorgeous. The streets are lined old oak trees with huge limbs that reach all the way across. The area is near Rice University and is one of the most gorgeous areas of Houston. We visited many exhibits including dinosaurs, different animals, oil and gas, gems and jewels, and The Special Exhibit was The Birth of Christianity. There were Old Testament artifiacts on display including some Dead Sea Scrolls and items from King Herod's palace. The adults found it really interesting, Gracie was a little bored but did great. We also saw Sharks in 3d in the Imax Theatre. I kept reaching out and trying to "catch" the little fish swimming right by.

After wrapping up at the museum we took our snack bag and visited the park. The day was perfect! Gracie and I took our shoes off and tried wading out on the rocks. She was tougher than me! The rocks were really pointy and hurt my feet. I decided to just man the camera so she could explore the water.

Of course, we had to hit up the shopping in Rice Village. The girls walked around and the boys headed to the Sports Bar to watch some basketball. After a couple of hours we headed to a restaurant Justin and I had been wanting to try. The Mardi Gras Grill.. our friends love it and this is the best season to go for "bugs". So we got a table outside and Justin and dad got 3 lbs of the little suckers. I can't believe they ate them all! Our friends the Galloways stopped by to meet the parents and Gracie. It was a beautiful day to hang out on the porch and eat seafood. Had to get reinforcements for our big trip to the Outlet Malls. So my "community" Fairfiels is attached to this new outlet mall called Houston Premium. It has Kate Spade, Coach, Cole Haan, BeBe, True Religion, Lucky, and more more. It is awesome. So we got there around 7 and we closed it down!! They came to pick us up at 9:00 and they had already put the bars down and locked up for the night. It was fun but we were exhausted! Sadly, the family headed home Sunday morning.. they will have to stay longer when they come back.. We loved having them here.