Houston - Day 2

The next morning we checked out of the hotel and found an I Hop for breakfast. Then we went to the Downtown Houston Aquarium.
It’s a really big aquarium, and they have some really cool exhibits. I took several pictures of an alligator and turtle display up front – partly to figure out if the animals were real or fake! They were real…just incredibly still!
They have 4 white tigers at the aquarium, and we were just in time to see a show. Very cool – Asher, especially, loved the tigers. During the Q and A session Tessa asked a question – she wanted to know how the tigers watched the fish – because the lady had mentioned that they did that. She told her that they just sat by the side of the water and watched them. She seemed satisfied with that answer, though I think she had another question. The lady moved on fairly quickly, maybe she could tell that Tess was one of those kids that would ask a million!
After we saw all the animals we went on the tram tour. It takes you through an underground tunnel through the shark tank. There were so many sharks swimming around! We happened to go through during feeding time, very interesting to watch.
They had some other rides, too. Matt took Tessa on The Lighthouse, which is a miniature version of those ones that take you in the air and drop you to the ground. It was only 20 feet tall and Tessa watched it run once before going on it…she said it looked kind of boring. They went on it and it terrified her – I watched her little face go from smiles to screams, and I couldn’t help but giggle at her! It’s awful, I know, but she looked just like I feel on those damn things!
She decided against the Ferris Wheel, but we did go on the Carousel.
I took lots of pictures at the Aquarium, of course J

After the aquarium we went to the new hotel – a big improvement over the last, save for one bathroom issue.
In the bottom of the bathtub – maybe the front quarter – there was some strange dirt stuff. About half an inch of it. It looked like all the stuff that collects on top of a swimming pool when the wind is blowing…
Matt called the front desk and they said they would send housekeeping over.

Then we went out to the pool for a bit, Tessa was dying to swim. We were the only ones there, which was kind of nice. The weather was very warm, between 90 and 95, but there was a fairly strong wind, so it was easy to get a chill while wet. We were hopping back and forth between the hot tub and the pool.
While we were in the hot tub Tessa stepped off the bench, not knowing how deep the center was, and sunk to the bottom. Since the depth was 3.5 feet, she was under water! She flailed around for only a second, of course, since Matt and I were right there, but it was still worrisome for me. Especially since just a week before I’d read all about “dry drowning” – where a child drown several hours after inhaling a small amount of water because their lungs fail.
We stayed to play some more, and a bit later I decided to lay on a lounge chair for some sun. I lay on the closest one, just about 4 feet from the edge of the pool. Matt was in the water with the kids, but after a minute he came over to say hello to me. He was all bent over me, we were having a kiss, and about 10 seconds in I thought “where’s Asher?” at the exact moment I heard Tessa yell his name. I pushed Matt off and sat up – he turned around and saw Ash in the water, his head below the surface, his arms waving.
He jumped in and pulled him out, Ash took a deep breath and started to scream, of course. He seemed much more angry than anything – but I was scared to death! And now the dry drowning thing was really on my mind!
Asher was fine, but his daddy sure got yelled at!

We left the pool just a minute later and went back to the room to get ready for dinner. We ate at a Mexican place called Pico’s – very good food, very good margarita - though very strong for a girl who’s used to drinking in Utah! The liquor laws at home are so strict that anywhere else in the country the drinks are about half again as strong. They are also bigger! Our waiter made the margarita table side and left the shaker for me. One margarita cost $9 at Pico’s, and was the equivalent of probably 4 drinks here at home!

After dinner we stopped at a Blockbuster and bought some previously viewed movies to watch in the evenings after the kids were in bed. The movie store was a fun trip…I was still a bit tipsy from my margaritas and Matt thought I was hysterical.

When we got back to the hotel the tub still hadn’t been cleaned. I wasn’t happy and phoned the front desk, but didn’t get an answer. We decided it was late, anyway, and put the kids to bed without a bath.
That night we turned on one of the movies we’d bought – Freedomland. It was all right…but a major downer.