Lazy Danes: Our Adventure in Texas: Dr. Suess, Armadillos, Wagon Trains and Mardi Gras

What do all theses things have in common? Houston, Texas.

First up- Dr. Suess. The third graders at Willow Creek Elementary put together a wax museum this week and became one of their famous heroes. W chose Dr. Suess. She created her poster and memorized 5 facts about Dr. Suess to recite as parents and other kids walked by. It was really cute, and she did a great job.

W as Dr. Suess

Armadillos? Well not a real one. In my runnings this week I made it back to Ottos Emporium in Tomball and chose a metal armadillo to add to the decor in the great room, I had planned to put him on the coffee table. Well….

"No momma- don't put my friend on the table"

"Thanks momma- I'll sleep with him on the floor"

The rodeo starts this weekend, which is so huge here. It's hard to grasp how huge. The Wagon Trains are a good example. I read some of the literature that the wagon trains roll in to Houston for the rodeo. Well, folks- they really do. From all over Texas, even Mexico- horse and riders and covered wagon make their way to down town Houston. My sighting was Thursday on 249- I was on the freeway and they were on the frontage road. I got so excited I called Chuck at work. "IT's REALLY a Wagon Train!!" I yelled. How cool! I couldn't really get pictures so I stored that as -next year find the route and wait for them to come by. Then on Friday, Chuck was leaving work and right there in down town rush hour traffic was a wagon train! since he spent some time stuck behind and beside them he got a couple of pictures.

From behind

Horses downtown

Friday was also Go Texas day and W's school and Chuck's work to celebrate the start of the rodeo. So they dressed the part.

Go Texas- I made W's shirt- I'll have to get a better picture,

Today we went to the town of Magnolia, Texas, which is about 30 minutes up northwest of us, to a Mardi Gras celebration and a cajun cook off. It's a small town, and there's a gravel path behind the building on Main Street that the call The Stroll. Along it are benches and banners and paintings on the fence. Today it was also lined with booths offering gumbo, jambalaya, etouffe and other cajun creations to sample and then vote for your favorite. All of it was good- some was very good. It was $5.00 each well spent. The event was family friendly and the kids had fun catching beads and coins when they weren't sampling. There is also a craft brewery, The Lone Pint, along the stroll that was open for sampling. I got the souvenir glass with 3 different pints of ale. The yellow rose was a too fruity for me IPA, the Gentleman's Relish was an OK dark beer and the most interesting was a mead-ale hybrid braggot. There is actually a meadery in Magnolia and they mixed mead and ale. It was odd- Chuck made faces at first, but it really was pretty good.