Happy 2017!

Finally getting to a recap of our HOU trip… Y’s car was taken to the shop — he had gotten sideswiped (on E’s side) by a dude that jumped three lanes. Thankfully, with a SUV, nobody was seriously hurt but the vehicle was not in good shape. They gave us a rental car so we thought a road trip would be a good getaway.

We headed out in the afternoon around E’s nap and drove straight to Chinatown for Singaporean food.

Banana Leaf! The place was pretty cramped but Y thought it was fairly legit.

Then, dessert! This one ate MOST of that bowl. Well, we paid for it by him tossing and turning ’til like 2AM! He informed us the next day, “I think so I had too much sugar.” :D

Daddy HAD to bring this durian smoothie back to the hotel. :P

We woke E up minutes before the breakfast closed down. Knew he would want his waffle — Texas-sized and shaped here. :)

Then, off to the Houston Children’s Museum. Another complimentary entry score…

This play structure was intense and extremely challenging, especially for adults. Daddy didn’t even dare try cuz his legs would’ve gotten stuck.

Of course, the stop at the LEGO build area was a long one…

Mommy made E a purse while waiting.

There was seriously so much to do there. Every time we thought we had just about seen everything, we’d stumble on another room or space.

Happy to see an old fave, discovered in SD. He was at this table for quite awhile, just throwing out rings.

More outside! It was literally in the 80’s and sticky as Houston can be…

Vegetarian place + the smooooooothest dou hwa for lunch.

Nap and Taiwanese food for dinner. Yes, it was also a culinary trip of sorts. ;-)

The next day, we went to NASA. It was a whole lot different than what we remembered it to be when we went as kiddies long ago.

We pre-scheduled a tram tour online. Good thing because for drop-ins, it was a crazy line.

We chose to tour the astronaut training facility which was massive.

Proud that he can wink and Mommy cannot.

Then they took us to another building to see some space shuttles.

Marveling at all the tiny pieces and electronics that go into the making.

After the tram tour, we took a short lunch break (with goodies bought from Chinatown the night before), and then went for our other pre-booked tour of shuttle replica Independence, which is actually mounted on top of an airplane!

Yes, son, we know you can wink. ;-)

We got to go inside the aircraft as well.

Then we went back inside for more exhibits and demonstrations.

Infrared boy. :)

We stayed ’til late in the afternoon and E was wiped out!

Before sunset, we made it to Kemah Boardwalk along the Gulf Coast.

Some sting ray petting went down after enjoying a walk by the water. :)

They are slippery and velvety.

E totally zonked out in the car while we drove to Sugar Land to eat at a particular Singapore Cafe…

Reunited with the Lion City Uncle! Hehe. So we knew he had moved here to be closer to his family but later found out he decided to open a resto here. The food tasted a tad different but Daddy was happy to see his go-to dishes.

We had planned to drive out to Galveston the next day but the weather was showing really strong winds at like 40mph+ so we decided to skip it this time. The 3D short film we tried to see at the natural science museum was sold out but we found a show at the planetarium for a slightly later time. We leisurely strolled through Hermann Park while waiting. The winds had actually cooled down the weather so it was actually nice outside.

After a spiral climb to the top of the mount, it gave us good views of the Centennial Gardens and beyond.

Then it was a race down!

First planetarium show. He enjoyed the 3D flick at Perot more as this one might’ve been a bit too dry and scientific for his age.

After the show, we walked around some more to explore the rest of the park.

He found a playground… and did not want to leave! But we wanted to pick up a few more things at Chinatown before hitting the road home. After running into some friends there (loitering a tad too long) and coming up on some traffic as a result, we made it back to the Big D safely.