Mother's Day With Mindy and Gang, 2013

Back in Houston

Oh, man, does the good food down South ever end?

We got to Mindy's home in Houston after midnight Friday night from our Gulf Coast adventure,

 so we slept in on Saturday morning.  

Jeff had gone on business to NYC, and arrived home just before noon.

His company had a Crawfish Boil for the families at a park way across town, so they hurried and got ready and away they went.

That left us free to go to Market Street, a wonderful outdoor shopping area about 15 minutes from Mindy and Jeff's home.  We all took the kids there last year when we came to Houston for Charlie's birth.  It's the place that has the fountains squirting up from the ground and we took lots of pics of Jack and Addie playing in the water.

Anyway, there are cute stores and restaurants there, so Dad and I did some browsing and Mother's Day shopping and had lunch at Tommy Bahama's. 

We had a late lunch, so we only had about a 20 minute wait, and it was so worth waiting for!

We shared the fish tacos (above), which were outstanding,

 and a most delicious salad!

Mindy met up with me at Market Street at about 6, coming from their Crawfish Boil picnic, 

 Jeff and Dad took the kids home

 and Mindy took me to my Mother's Day surprises!

What do you think is on about the same scale of wonderfulness for me with yummy food?

A great back, neck and foot massage!

She and Jeff have discovered an Asian place called, A Plus Foot Massage.

Wow! Mmm! Ahhh! -

 (just a few of the interjections I felt during my blissful hour!)

Then it was time to eat again (you must be kidding!)

so Mindy took me to Hubbell & Hudson's, a gourmet food market and restaurant

where you walk up and custom order your meat or fish,

 how to season and grill it, and what side dishes you want with it.

My salmon was so good 

and I had gourmet brussel sprouts with bacon.

Then we picked our desserts and took them home

 to share with Roger and Jeff.

I picked a slice of coconut pecan layer cake and Mindy picked an almond crescent.

Do you blame me?

Roger loved it, too!

Mother's Day pics before church in Mindy and Jeff's backyard

Being with our youngest of five on this special day was a treat!

I love you, daughter of mine!

I kinda love this guy, too!

Mindy, mother of three

The Master Griller I raved about the previous Sunday 

grilled up a feast!

We had filet mignon, grilled to perfection,

 grilled sweet potatoes and yellow squash.

And perfect homemade oatmeal, chocolate chip cookies

 (Stacy's recipe) for dessert.

Jack couldn't wait to show us how he can ride his bike now 

without the training wheels!

And how can this post be complete without more Charlie mugshots!

Princess Addie

Mindy told us that there is no way we were going to come visit her in Houston

and not have tacos at Torchy's!

Monday we drove downtown,

 had the famed tacos for lunch (her raves about them were not exaggerated - picture portabella mushroom, Trailer Trash fried chicken, deep-fried avocado, pork, beef, chicken, etc. tacos). . .  

. . . then met up with Jeff.  

He took us to the tunnels under the city. The skyscrapers are interconnected underneath with walking tunnels, and there are a few restaurants and shops, too -

 a very practical, stay-out-of-the-weather and get-around-easier, idea.

Mindy then drove us on a tour of Rice University.

What a gorgeous campus in downtown Houston, and the neighborhood homes are so stately and lovely.

Alas, our wonderful visit was soon to end!

Tuesday morning, we packed, packed up the kids in the car, and Mindy headed us toward the airport.

But she had one more thing that she said we had to try before we left Houston.

Kolaches!

We stopped at the Kolache Factory and had her and Jeff's favorite, egg, jalapeño and Boudin sausage, and ham and egg and raspberry kolaches.

Jeff has lost some weight and really gotten fit, lately, and he said the most tempting thing he has fought is,

there are fresh kolaches brought in to his workplace every morning!

There are other yummy things brought in, too, but the kolaches are what tempt him most!

Addie shared one with her mommy,

but liked it so much that Mindy went back to the counter and ordered one just for her! 

Charlie shared Addie's enthusiasm for the yummy kolache!

And, again, this is an appropriate pic to end my post on.

As I said in the beginning, 

we ate our way through the Gulf Coast!

And, truly, even better,

we made some new memories with loved ones 

that we will always remember and cherish!

Here is a little P.S.
I had a nice surprise in the mail when we got back home.

Some of my kids gave me this funky black and white purse 
for Mother's Day, 
which I adore!

Old Haunts Revisited, 3

Pensacola Beach

These next pics kind of say it - white sand beaches and clear, Caribbean blue-colored water!

Here is our little family enjoying the Florida Gulf Coast beaches 40 years ago.

See, Jack, your Uncle Rick was into snorkeling, too!
(More about that in a minute)

 These pics were taken a little further south on the Gulf in Florida.
  Our family took a trip to Orlando right before we moved from Biloxi to Wichita Falls, Texas.

I was pregnant with Stacy and she was born in Wichita Falls.

Miss Adelaide is striking a model's pose in her cute suit and shades.

Her eyes are sensitive to the sun, like her grandma, and she wanted them on, even when she was swimming.

The property has three pools and a hot tub.

The kiddie pool was perfect for the kids to play in.

The kids loved the hot tub. . . 

. . . and so did Grandpa!

The pools were warm and we lucked out - the weather had not been good before we came and it was raining on Friday when we left, but while we were there, it was perfect!

For dinner the first night, the hotel desk clerk told us about a little casual grill, hooked to a motel across the street, that served fresh local fish.  It didn't look like much, but the locals know about it.  The seating is all outdoors, the prices were great, and every night a different band plays in the bar.

The fresh fish was absolutely deicious!

Mindy found a little shop after dinner where she purchased a turtle floatie, a kid's snorkel set and a ball. 

Next morning, we hit the pools!
Charlie's having a ball!
(Sorry, I couldn't resist!)

After awhile, we hit the beach!

The kids spent lots of weekends last year on the beaches of Galveston.

One of their favorite things to do was build sand castles.

So they got to work!

Pretty great castle - right?

Jack amazed us how he really took to snorkeling.  He would swim the distance of the pool, over and over.

The second night, we ate dinner at Peg Leg Pete's.

It was touristy, but the kids loved it!

iPhone pics, waiting for our food

Oh, sadness!

All great things come to an end.  When we woke up Friday morning to pack, it was raining, 

so we felt a little bit better leaving!

We had over an 8 hour drive ahead of us, or so we thought!  It actually took us over 12 hours to get home, adding in the several slow-downs and traffic actually stopping for an hour on the bayou out of Baton Rouge. And, at times, we drove through some serious rain! When you hear that it comes down in buckets, that is no exaggeration!  As we were coming into Houston, trying to see to hook up to freeway after freeway, it was scary!

Roger is a driving champ!

But, as we planned our drive home, we said, why not go back through Kenner, north of New Orleans, instead of the freeway that was north, so we could eat at Harbor Seafood again. It would just add a half hour to our drive time.

That's how great the food was!

This is the menu of the Specials of the Day.

They have a huge menu, including oysters on the half shell . . .

. . . and many kinds of fish, meat and seafood po'boys.

This is a soft shell crab and catfish combo.

This is the Stuffed Eggplant Pirogue (described above)

Oh.   my.   goodness!

This is on my top 10 dishes of all time!

I began posting this Old Haunts trip 
with a pic of food, 
and I'll end with it!

What great food we had, what an amazing trip down Memory Lane, and what fun we had revisiting our old haunts and sharing stories with Mindy and her darling children!

She wasn't even born yet in those Golden Memory days, 
but she asked lots of questions 
and now knows probably way more than she wants!