Brazos Bend State Park

 Friday Grampa Karl was coming and everyone was so excited.  We had a fun weekend planned.  His flight was a red eye scheduled for a 12:30 am departure and arriving at 5:30 am in Houston.  Chad was going to pick him up.  Now with the 2 hour difference between Vegas and Houston, midnight in Vegas is really late (or really early) in Houston and the last thing I remember is a text saying he was at the airport and his flight was delayed.  The next thing I was aware of was Chad standing by my bed showing me a text on his phone.  Flight CANCELLED!!! Thank you Spirit airlines.  We tried to figure out other flights to get  Grampa Karl to Houston but nothing worked.  No Grampa this trip.   We were all so disappointed...But the fun must go on with or without Grampa Karl. 

One thing I really appreciate and admire about Chad is that when it comes to family fun nothing is too much work or too inconvenient.  He has the time, energy and engineering skill to make it happen...even when he's worked all day and is exhausted. So loading up five bike on a minivan and driving an hour for a bike ride is worth it.

So he did and we went to Brazos Bend State Park. An amazing network of  trails..and water filled with alligators.

So off we rode 3 adult, 2 beginner bikers and Ben in a bike seat.

 Minute in the the ride we came to short but kind of steep downhill.

Moments before the crash.

Little Lucia passed me just as we came to the hill.  I kept saying  "Lucia use your brakes" as she was gaining speed and going too fast. As her little legs flew off the  pedals I realized she didn't know how to use her brakes.  Her front tire must must have hit a rock or a rut and her handle bar suddenly twisted to one side and she flew off right on her head/face.  It was scary to see.  I tossed my bike and ran up.  Janet saw it happen right to the side of her.  She just about tossed her bike in a bush but then she remember she had Ben on the back of her bike and had to find a stable place bike lean her bike.

It was unnerving to carefully inspect this poor little creature to figure out where the blood was coming from.

No obvious gashes on her face...teeth seem to be all there (as she's screaming her mouth is wide open)

Injuries seem to be confined to some cuts in her mouth.  

Now what to do?

 Lucia needed some ice for her cut mouth and some love.  And continuing to ride her little bike was out of the question.   Do we cut the bike ride short...before it even got really started? 

Chad decided to go back to the car with Lucia and Ben and sent us on our way.  We took a short little trail around a pond and went back to the car to check on Lucia.   She was doing much better but not ready to hope back on her bike so Chad said he would drive to the interpretive center and  meet us there.  That would give us a nice bike ride.   So off we went again

 

  '

There's a gator in that greenery.

 And another.

 And another.

 And another

 And this one was looking right at us with his mouth open.

We moved on quickly.

  Then there was this one under this deck.  It looks quite a ways down but it wasn't.  This guy's snout was 18 inch under our feet.  That was a bit unnerving.

Interestingly the park info says stay 30 feet away from  the gators.   Okay...but some these guys were just 10 feet off the trail.  What were we to do...turn away and go back?   So we just biked on by...after we snapped a few photos.

 We met Chad at the Interpretive Center (it was closed) 

 and decided to walk to the Observatory.

 This point Lucia was pretty happy.

Can you see them.  There's about five in this photo.

 We spotted a few baby gators along the way.

 

Playing up on top of the observatory.

Heading back.  It's getting late and everyone is hungry.

Pollo Tropical for dinner.

Houston...the last day.

 The last day at Chad and Janet's is always a bit sad.  Nine days went by so fast.  We had so much fun and also squeezed in several projects (Mending done. Closets and cupboards de-junked and organized.) But now it was time to say good bye and that is always sad.

 

The last night we decided to go for a bike ride to 

old downtown Seabrook.

 Love the pelicans.

 

 

 We finished up our bike tour at the park just before dark.

 

 

Careful Chad...don't hurt yourself.

The morning of my departure 

Chad ask if I wanted to see the lab at NASA where he works.

YES!!!!

 

 

 Finally meeting Valkyrie for the first time.

Chad office complete with the AT-AT from his childhood.

 I was a bit surprised to find out they had a sewing room
...but of course. Someone has to make Valkyrie's wardrobe.

Now that is the stuff dreams are made of.

 Good-bye Valkyrie

 

Still raining.

Next stop Costco in downtown Houston for a quick...very quick lunch before I catch the mega bus to Dallas.

Yes.. the Mega bus.  Airline prices for the short flight to Dallas were ridiculously expensive ...so I decide to take the Mega bus.  I've solo navigated the Boston Subway and bus system in a snow storm; Philadelphia's light rail and commuter train; Baltimore's light rail.  The mega bus and Dallas' light rail system was a piece of cake!   Beside I love the adventure. It will definitely be my way to travel between the Houston and Dallas in the future.

Thank you Chad and Janet for the wonderful time.

Houston Day 6

Monday...my last day in Seabrook  and we had so many things to do.

 Annual School pictures for the girls:

 

 

The pool

 This is a beautiful hotel pool

 that Janet has access to with her gym membership.

Nice benefit.

 These girls are just little fish

....Mermaids to be exact.

Then we crammed laundry, packing, party prep and sewing into the rest of the day.

When Chad got home from work he wanted to know what fun thing we were going to do for my last evening there.  Decided we had time for a short bike ride.  It was going to be just a short, quick ride that I didn't take my camera or my phone. Mistake.  Such a fun ride over trails and to the water  Then to old downtown Seabrook where we kept spotting the Seabrook Pelicans.

New goal for my next visit.

A photo hunt to capture photos of all 37 Pelican.

 ( I snagged these photos from the internet)

   On the bikes of course. 

And we will remember to bring some money for Dairy Queen too.

Houston Day 5

Sunday...Of course we went to church.   And Violet gave her first talk in Primary. Her assigned topic for her talk was "Fun family activities helps as draw closer as a family."  They assigned that topic to the right family.

After church and lunch Chad loaded the four bike the bike trailer into the back of the van and on the bike rack .  We drove 5 minutes over the Kemah bridge to Violet's school where he re-assembled the whole menagerie so we could ride through this beautiful resort  neighborhood on the water.

 The kind of neighborhood where the homes have their own private docks in their backyards or they can walk to their boat slip in the harbor.   I could be extremely happy there.

 The homes were soooo charming.  Every size and shape.

 Chad even remembered a cooler filled with cold beverages

...what a man!

 

 This is what heaven looks like.

 Then we rode our bike UNDER the kemah bridge, parked them  and rode the worlds shortest ferry

 

 ...over to the  Kemah  Boardwalk to watch the boats come into the harbor of the evening.

Got to see the Boardwalk Beist.

 

Bike trailer doubles as a stroller...that was handy.

Just another fun day with Chad's family.