Houston
Houston was a very challenging city, that turned out to be really fun. Hurricane Beryl hit Houston the day before we were scheduled to arrive, and knocked power out to most of the city. The house we rented had no power, so we unloaded most of our stuff into a very hot and dark house, and checked into the company hotel for what we thought would be a night or two. After being in limbo, as the house still had no power for close to two weeks, we chose to stay in the hotel for the entire city. It turned out to be a really fun choice because we were able to spend so much time with the cubs and their families. Houston needs to get their power grid under control.
The sun was shining over Houston
But Hurricane Beryl left plenty of damage
We thought this was damage from the hurricane, but the locals told is it was actually damaged in a wind storm 2 months ago.
We checked the power outage maps every few hours
A local family that loves Broadway shows invited us to their country club. They actually had power!
Crews still working on restoring power on the block of our rental house that never was...
The hotel lobby was ours!
And the pool, too!
We went to see Malina's show at TUTS, a Lion King in Houston tradition.
Obviously!
One of the worst dinners we ever had...with some of the greatest people.
The coolest Orthodontist ever!
Hero came to visit!
We watched the Olympics Opening Ceremonies together
Another trip to NASA
Ariela was at camp and couldn't make it. She has a full schedule.
This is where the government tests their new top secret space suits for Mars. They pull the black balls over the top of that section of the pool to make it impossible to see.
These two astronauts are scheduled to be in space in 2026
The control center. They train underwater for 8 hours a day.
The new International Space Station that is being built and sent in to orbit piece by piece
Live feed of the International Space Station
We even were allowed to go onto the control floor for a photo. We had to whisper the whole time.
Me too
More lobby fun
Ariela and Alejandra went to TUTS camp together. The Lion King Houston tradition continues.
Aaydin & Autumn came to visit
Dress up day at camp
We all came to support Ariela & Alejandra in their " Through the Decades" show.
More lobby shennanigans
We had Olympic Fever!
Not another major storm on travel day!?!?
About 45 minutes outside of Houston, we got stuck behind a major accident for over an hour.
Houston, and it's problems, just didn't want to let us go.
We still had about 14 hours to go
It looked like 2 tractor trailers and 3 cars
We finally made it to Charlotte