Month: August 2021

Alex made some friends in the apartment complex, and there was a group of 3-5 boys from the ages of 4-13 who would come by to ask if he could come out and play. One boy was his age and would be “going” to the same school in the fall of 2020 together, although not in the same class. They hung out everyday and even now we’re working on getting them together on a zoom call.

As a mom, I always worry about Alex making friends and being welcomed into new groups of kids- realistically, it’s never a problem. He has a magnetic personality and the kind of empathy and compassion that is well beyond his age, and he befriends anyone in his vicinity. It was nice to see him creating the best of a bad situation and making new friends.

There are so many amazing things to do in Houston, however, during covid, everything was closed or we were not willing to risk going. We decided against the Johnson Space Center, but decided that a trip to the zoo would be better since mostly it’s outside where we could safely distance ourselves. It was also nice because we don’t really visit zoos in Asia and we hadn’t been to a zoo in a long time. The downside of the Houston zoo is that parking is an absolute nightmare, I ended up dropping the boys off and driving a bit further to find a spot. Unfortunately though, Mark had the tickets and wasn’t answering his phone(maybe it was dead?), so I thought I’d never find them. My great guys waited by the gate for me, even though it was hot and they were losing time at the zoo.

I felt like this gorilla knows how to live life, he was pressed up against the cool wall in the shade. The gorillas were a little hard to see as for the most part they were all hanging out in the shade or inside the building. It wasn’t particularly hot that day given Houston’s summers usually, but the sun was pretty intense that day.

The great ape habits at the zoo were really nice, very big and with lots of natural plants- and plenty of shade for them too! I don’t know why I didn’t take pictures of the lions, but their habitat was great too, you could actually walk underneath in a tunnel and look out observation windows to see them up close.

The giraffe section was also home to this one really pissed off looking ostritch. I don’t know what his deal was, but he had the grumpiest look all the time. The giraffes had a feeding time where you could buy some leaves and get right up close with them, I didn’t think we were going to be over there at the right time, but we caught it just at the end.

I love giraffes, and even after seeing them out in the wild in Uganda, I’m still happy to spend time seeing them at the zoo.

My grumpy ostritch friend, he looks a little better in the sunlight.

I did not take pictures of Alex feeding the giraffe this time, I wanted to feed it too! Sometimes it’s good to get to experience the moment without the camera.

This zebra was also in the giraffe section, I guess it makes sense since those animals are all from the same general areas. But only one zebra with no zebra friends.

There was also a wounded Bald Eagle, I can honestly say that I don’t think I’ve ever been as close to an eagle as we were able to get. It’s one of those… “I know it’s big, but I forgot how really big it is” kind of things.

All in all, the zoo was a hit- almost every one around us was wearing masks, and we just avoided the ones who weren’t. We got to see all our favorite animals, and get out of the house for a bit- I actually think this might have been the longest Mark was out of the house the whole time we were in Houston.

There was obviously a lot more to see at the zoo than is pictured here, and if you’re ever in Houston and looking for a good outdoor activity – this is a great place to start.

Due to the pandemic, we didn’t explore that much of Houston, but one thing we did do was order delivery from some of the truly amazing ethnic options around town. We had Ethiopian food(which admittedly loses something with delivery- it’s best enjoyed fresh at the restaurant), Indian food,Ramen, Soul Food, Thai food, Carribean food, and my most favorite of all…. Afghan food. Afghan cuisine has some overlap with Persian or Lebanese, in so much as there are kabobs and really tasty rice. Afghan Village in Houston (https://www.theafghanvillage.com/) had fantastic naan, and the best hummus…. and finally got me over my hatred for all things eggplant. There is a dish called Bouranee Baunjan- which is tomatoes and eggplants simmered for a long time and drizzled with yogurt, it’s a dip/side dish that is great with naan or put over the rice after your kabobs are all gone. This dish completely changed my perspective on eggplant, I’ve even tried to find recipes to make it myself at home.

There was also an Indo-Pak restaurant , Aga’s (https://www.agasrestaurant.com/ ) that was lovely. This was maybe the first place we ate in a restaurant in Houston, and as is often the case, Alex made a friend in the manager- he was very inviting and interested in what Alex was eating and if he enjoyed everything. Again, if you’re in Houston and you want some fantastic Indian food, Aga’s is the place to go!

We tried lots of food, and I’ll mention one or two more stand out places in the next post!

For the first time in a very long time, we were in the US for the 4th of July, and of course, because of the pandemic the local fireworks shows were cancelled. So my Uncle Mark, and my cousin Dan took Alex and went to buy some appropriate and totally legal fireworks to use in the backyard. Alex was pretty thrilled because he had never used a sparkler- they weren’t allowed in our area in California because of wildfire risks and we just never bought any in Illinois for some reason.

This kid was rocking the sparklers, he would have done it all night every night-

I apologize for all the blur, it’s hard to capture the wild nature of the Houston clan when they are holding firesticks! Above is Uncle Mark, gracefully parading around the yard, and below… waving for joy?

Uncle Mark hasn’t been mentioned on the blog yet, but is geniunely one of my favorite relatives. He is a pastor after 30 years of teaching 5th grade- which means he’s totally equipped for all of Alex’s shenanigans. I loved that Alex got to spend time with his cousin Logan and his aunts and uncles- and that they got to get to know him a bit better too!

So while we didn’t get to see a big fireworks display, we made our own. And a good time was had by all!

One other thing that we wanted to do in Houston, since we didn’t get a chance to go to the bigger version in Austin, was watching the bats fly out from the Waugh Bridge Bat Colony. Not too far actually from Voodoo Donuts, there is a nice park with walking/biking paths that lead to the bridge. We ordered take out from a highly regarded but slightly disappointing BBQ place, found a picnic table and ate out enjoying the sun and each other’s company… and honestly just being out of the condo for a while. Then we walked around trying to find where the bat area was, in the end we walked way farther and in a very winding way to the bats. It was a pretty walk though, and again, probably very needed after a couple months not leaving the apartment unless absolutely needed.

We knew we were in the right place when we found the crowd, the hill here is a little steep so we didn’t bother trying to sit over here– plus we were still trying to keep our distance. Unseen but directly to the left of this picture is the bridge that all the bats live under.

My patient kid waiting for the bats— who don’t arrive on a time schedule- so we had to wait for sunset.

The bats are all the blurry spots that look like dirt on the lens. There were thousands of bats flying out, sometimes they would be in big batches, and then a break, we would think they were all out and then boom, another flurry of bats.

In addition to all the bats flying around, there were some hawks who were also waiting for their nightly meal. While the bats were hunting mosquitoes and other bugs, they were also being hunted by hawks. The big blur in the picture below is a hawk.

Mark laughs about all this now because when we first started dating I was terrified of bats (and snakes, and spiders) and now I ask to go see bat colonies and snake farms… and if I’d realized it was also in Texas, I would have dragged the boys to one of the biggest bat colonies in the world, Bracken Cave in San Antontio, Texas. 20 million bats fly out of the cave every night at sunset. Next time we’re in Texas, it’s a must do.