Railroad and Lone Star Flight Museums

Trains and airplanes topped the list on my boys' Christmas lists. One year, we took them to "Day Out with Thomas"! They were thrilled! We didn't tell them where we were going, until we were at the place. It was priceless to see their faces when they saw Thomas huffing, and puffing into the station! Of course, their excitement doubled when they learned that we were actually going to ride on Thomas!

My older boy had a week off for Spring Break last year. We didn't really want to take a long trip because of rising gas prices. So we went to the Railroad, and the Lone Star Flight Museums in Galveston. Parts of both museums were damaged by Hurricane Ike, but it was still fun for the boys. Anything life-size was awesome to little boys! We actually got to get onboard some of the trains. They were not moving, and mostly dirty (due to the hurricane), but we could still see what they were like, back in the days when they were still running.

Who would have thought there was so much fun stuff to do so close to home?

Buying The House

When I bought this house I wasn’t thinking about things like high speed internet service and plumbing, I was thinking about things like how pretty the moldings were and what colors I wanted to paint all the rooms. I think the realtor said something to the effect of "good bones" and I was just sold – it was a great house and it was so cheap for what it was! Well, I’ve come to find out that the reason it was so cheap was that it needed thousands and thousands of dollars worth of work. Oops. Guess in the future I’ll have learned to look into things more before I buy. Anyway, I’ve spent the last few months trying to get everything together for the house of my dreams but it’s really just making me crazy. Everything has to be special ordered or put in after I get a permit from the city and all in all it’s just the biggest hassle ever. I don’t think I’d do it again!




Guest Post by Olga Quinn

Fishing Trip

Ben was very excited about the weekend! We might even be more excited than his 6-year-old son Seth. He was going to introduce his son to his favorite sport - fishing! Ever since Seth was born, he had been planning this day. Father-and-son quality time - fishing together! His wife, Adela, finally gave her consent. She didn't think Seth was big enough to go fishing for the longest time! Ben was ready to take Seth on a fishing trip since he turned 3!

Of course, Ben planned way ahead! He was going to make sure Ben's first fishing experience would be a wonderful, and memorable one. He turned to his favorite website for all the fishing gear he needed to make the fishing trip a success. Adela could not suppress a smile seeing her husband's gleeful face as he ordered cool fishing stuff on the computer. His expression was mirrored in her little boy's face, as he listened eagerly to Daddy explaining to him all the fishing gear appearing on the computer screen.

Adela hoped her 2 favorite boys would have the best fishing experience ever during the weekend. She almost wished she was going along! However, she knew Seth would feel so grown up, and happy to be doing something fun with Daddy, without Mommy. She felt happy, and a little sad at the same time. Her little boy was growing up so fast!

New Life

I feel like the transition from being a full-time student in college and having a full-time job has been rather difficult. First, I can’t sleep as late as I use to and I can’t stay up as late watching thankless videos on the Internet till all hours of the night. Furthermore, I don’t get any afternoon naps and my day doesn’t end at noon. Although, I do like making a steady income and I feel like working has some great benefits that I didn’t really see when I was thinking about getting a full-time job. The major things I didn’t think about were mainly focused around amount of benefits my company has like dental and medical insurance and the two week paid vacation days. In college, I always got a lot more vacation days but I didn’t get paid while I was taking them. Plus, I’ve finally gotten out from under the watchful eye of my parents and I finally have my own place. My dad recently sent me a link to http://shopElectricityRatesTEXAS.com/ that really helped me understand the importance of having fixed energy costs. Now I feel like this is one less thing I have to worry about and something I wish I would’ve known about in college.



Thanks to Roman May

Naruto

One of the shows that first got me hooked on Japanese animation was the show Naruto. So when I realized that I could watch it here in the states on satellite TV, that I got after seeing these directstartv.com, I was thrilled to say the least. Catching the first few episodes that night swept me with a feeling of nostalgia. I'd forgotten how much I loved the characters of Uzumaki, Naruto and Uchiha, Sasuke. The show focuses on these two young ninjas as they form a brotherly rivalry through their shared experiences and one of their team's biggest missions. Naruto is the main character and basically plays the role of the hard-working underdog with a big dream. Sasuke, on the other hand, is considered a prodigy. His character has both an inferiority complex and a desire for revenge against his last remaining family member, his brother Itachi. Itachi has been banished from the village for the murder of his clan members, including his own parents. The beginning parts focus on Naruto's incredible growth as a ninja after he comes under the tutelage of Kakashi, the team's leader and an upper ranked ninja. This fosters both a growing respect and a feeling of inferiority in Sasuke as the two compete in every mission. They begin to look upon each other as brothers, but everything changes when Sasuke's brother returns for a visit.

(Guest post from: Issac Bird)

Lockhart

One lazy afternoon, we turned on the TV and saw a show introducing different parts of Texas. It was called the Daytripper, and we found it very interesting. My 6-year-old son who watched the show with us, loved it, and was always begging to go the the places introduced by the host. Ever since I saw the show on Lockhart, I had been craving for some good, greasy barbecue!

This Easter weekend, I had the chance of visiting Lockhart with my family. We drove to all the "famous" barbecue places introduced on the show, and finally chose one to satisfy our hunger. We didn't really know what we were doing, and ordered our food "ignorantly". The food tasted good, but we wished we knew what we were doing while we got in line. We passed by the jail museum, but didn't go in, much to the disappointment of our 6-year-old. He was hoping to meet the ghost who craved barbecue introduced on the show.

Anyway, it was interesting! We may visit Lockhart again, and try one of the other 3 famous barbecue places.

Hawker Fair

The traffic was bad! It was worse than the evacuation traffic when we were fleeing from Ike! Who would have expected that? With a four-year-old and a 9-month-old baby in the car, it was not very pleasant. It took us two hours to reach Bear Creek Park. We were going to attend a gathering organized by the Malaysia-Singapore Association based in Houston. The theme of the gathering was Hawker Fair.

Needless to say, my mouth was watering, and my tummy growling, by the time we reached the park, and the designated pavilion. The aroma of the familiar food smell of home washed my fatigue away instantly. There was already a big crowd there, busy devouring all kinds of food found in Singapore and Malaysia. We bought our coupons, and I made my way to the Nasi Lemak store, and got myself some lunch. Then my husband got some Fried Noodles (Cha Kway Teow). Since we were late, most of the stalls were already stripped of their yummy food! However, the Nasi Lemak was so tasty I did not even mind that! I was even able to get myself a bowl of Laksa after sharing the Nasi Lemak with my four-year-old.

After settling my tummy, I started to look around. It was our first time at an activity organized by the Malaysia-Singapore Association for Malaysians and Singaporeans. I talked to one of the organizers, who was extremely helpful. He introduced us to some Singaporeans who lived near us. However, like typical Singaporeans, the majority of the fellow Singaporeans and Malaysians gathered there seemed a little unfriendly. Nobody came forward to introduce himself, or herself to us. Most of them already had friends they knew, and stuck to, throughout the gathering. I tried to strike up a conversation with some of the vendors, but got very little response. Guess not all Singaporeans living in the foreign country of U.S. were as desperate as me, to seek out another fellow Singaporean. I did get to know a couple of them at the gathering, and satisfied my craving of speaking "rojak" English!

I did enjoy myself at the Hawker Fair, despite it falling below my expectations, in terms of friendliness. However, I am determined to attend more activities, so that my half-American kids can get in touch with their mother's roots.