Went to Galveston Island last weekend

Hi all,

So this past Sunday we went to Galveston, it was really nice. It is only a little over an hour away and it really felt like we were away on vacation. We went and walked on the beach which reminded us a lot of the beaches on Jekyll. People say that the beaches there aren't crystal clear but we have never been use to any ocean being crystal clear so it seemed fine to us.

For lunch we went to "the spot" it was a very good (and busy) place that is very well known. Kelly and I split a fish sandwich and burger, they were very good. We got to sit on a second floor deck that was shaded and look out on the beach that was across the street.

Then we decided to drive around the island, it is still recovering from huricane IKE but it is doing pretty well overall I think.

We went to the Moody Gardens which has 3 pyramids that have different exhibits in them. We went to the aquarium and that was very interesting. I will post pictures of that and link them here shortly. We both had a very good time doing that. A lot of walking though but the air conditioning was welcomed. Pictures here

Finally we walked about Old Galveston which has about 3 blocks of shops that are open. This area is still being worked on to get things open again. Many traffic lights still have no power, buildings boarded up, etc. But this part had horse drawn carriages, chocolate shops, and other interesting places. We stopped and got an ice cream before driving back home.

All in all this place will most likely end up being out get away for a day place to go. We can just relax on a beach. We can also bring Chance who loves the waves :)

This weekend we are considering Shliderbaun waterpark but it might rain so that may be out we will see.

Hope everyone is well.

-Mark

4th of July in Houston

I love the outlets...have I ever mentioned that? Now, they are only 15 minutes from our house. I really needed to update my work wardrobe a bit so we hit the mall this morning and we scored big time. The outlet near here has a Jones of New York outlet, I got $650 worth of clothes for $80 including a brand new suit that I can wear as a suit or as seperates. Mark went the more casual route and bought a couple of breatable shirts to hang out in. All in all a pretty good trip.

For the evening, we headed to the race track to bet on some horses and to watch fireworks. The first race we bet with the odds, and got nothing. The second one went better and we picked the winner. Overall we did pretty good, I guess that happens when you only make $2 bets.

When the fireworks started, we were really impressed. There was music, we were really close and they were huge! Then something must have broke, because they stopped and the announcer pleaded with people to wait for "part 2". When part 2 started it was okay, and it did not end with a grand finale. We think the grand finale was in the middle!?! They were pretty good, but not as good as we have seen in New York!

Holiday Weekend :)

So we both got today off! We completely unpacked our garage today and put what seemed like hundreds of collapsed boxes in the garage. We have a deadline of this coming Friday (the 10th) to get our our boxes unpacked because a company is coming to take all of it then. If we don't have it all done by then they can come back but it will cost us (currently Kellys office is paying for this).

Tomorrow however we are not planning on doing a lot of unpacking. We may stop over at an outlet mall in the morning before it gets too hot. Then in the late afternoon/evening we are planning on going to the horse race track (about 10 miles away). They have races and fireworks tomorrow and Kelly has never been to the races so it should be fun. Lets hope we at least break even on the betting ;)

Sunday we are back unpacking but we are doing good. Kitchen, dining room, garage, and a lot of boxes in other rooms are all done.

Hope everyone has a great 4th of July and long weekend.