Pearland Town Center

How sad is it that right now, I am really excited about the new shopping center opening up near us? Its grand opening starts tomorrow, which means we won't go there until at least next week but we drove through it last weekend and there will be a lot of places to go! It reminds me of a shopping center we went to in Kansas City. It is designed so the shops all look out onto pedestrian roads, and according to the map we got in the mail today part of it is even called 'downtown'. There are supposed to be places to live there eventually, but we'll just go down there to shop and eat. We've been seeing listings for the places coming in there, including: Macy’s, Dillard’s, Borders, BJ’s Brewhouse, Mimi's Cafe (went to one in KC, yummy!), and when we drove through it we saw that there will also be a Red Lobster, and I saw online that there will be a James Avery! There are a bunch of other places too, some I'll go to (Yankee Candle, for one) and others I couldn't care less about - Jared's, Aeropostale, etc.

I know I should be more concerned with whats going on in the world, but yep...right now its mostly excited about the new stores.

http://www.pearlandtowncenter.com

Batman, Birthday, and the Beach

This weekend was even better than I expected. On Friday we saw The Dark Knight with Laura. We bought the tickets to the 8:10 show before we went to eat (at Johnny Carino's), then got there just after 7:30 to get our seats. I'm glad we got our tickets (and our seats) early - the theatre was packed. The movie was great, and lived up to everything I'd heard about it before it came out and during the week that it was out before we saw it. Heath Ledger was scarily convincing as a loony Joker. It was about 2 1/2 hours long but kept my interest the entire time. Only gripe, sometimes I had a hard time hearing what the people were saying over the background music, especially at the end, but such a great movie!

On Saturday I had to go to get my procedure done at the dentist, and it went pretty well, it was quick at least. I'm still taking some pain medication and have to remember to chew on the other side of my mouth, but am glad I got it done and hope it heals quickly. I had "redundant" gum tissue removed from the back of my jaw where it was higher than it should be, allowing it to catch food and making it difficult to brush the back tooth as well as I need to. Kevin and I ran errands - got my prescription and went to the store, and I did laundry then we went to the other side of town to see Kaden for his birthday. The party started at the water park where we got to watch Kaden play in the pool, including one that is pool meets playground - slides and netting to climb, and a huge bucket that fills and dumps water all over everyone and everything. Kaden went down the slide lots of time - first time he's done it by himself! He and the other kids there are fun to watch, and Kevin took a bunch of pictures of him. Afterwards we went back to their house to eat, and to have cake and gifts. Kaden's reaction to his first gift, "its not Thomas (the train)" was funny, but after that he liked his gifts, even the clothes we gave him - and the model Hummer car that Kevin found for him. His last gift - a bicycle, didn't get as big a reaction as we thought it would, but I think he'll like it eventually. His favorite gift that day - I think was the bubble bazooka.... oh, and I got to hear him say Aunt Carol :) awwww so sweet.

Sunday we went to the beach. Unfortunately, none of the friends we invited could make it, but Kevin, Smokey, and I had a great time. The canopy that Kevin bought made the day - its 10'x10' once its up, and is really easy to put up! We had shade the whole time we were there, and would just move our chairs as the shade shifted with the movement of the sun. The shade plus the breeze at the beach made it really pleasant, and we spent the whole afternoon out there. We grilled hot dogs, and would go out in the water for a bit, then sit back under the canopy and relax. It was as relaxing as an all-out vacation, and a great way to do it on the cheap since we could just spend the day there, with the only real expense being the gas to get down there, and no hassle of hotels, etc. We did pack a lot of stuff for one day, some of it we didn't use - too windy for frisbee, but we were well-prepared. Here is a photo of our set-up.

The first thing Smokey did when he got out of the truck at the beach was roll around in the sand, it must feel good because he kept doing it and exploring all over the area, always keeping us in sight, and was a mess by the end of the day. We bathed him when we got home. I did get a little sunburned, but did much better than usual. We re-applied sunscreen, I think I just missed some spots - including the very tops of my legs. I must've still been wearing shorts when I put sunscreen on my legs, live and learn, but we are getting better - I'm not beet red on my face like I have been before.

Ready for the weekend...

We finally got some rain this week. Yesterday I had to cut short my walk with Smokey because we were getting rained on, it was sprinkling off and on but was getting harder so we called it quits. Of course when we got home, he wanted to go back outside, so I got to towel him off again when he wanted back in. The rain is part of Hurricane Dolly which hit South Texas. I don't wish for anyone to have to deal with a hurricane, but was glad to get some rain. All told, we got about an inch and a half of rain. It was also a little cooler, but the stupid drivers freaking out for rain makes me frustrated and cranky when I get home.

Tonight we hope to go see The Dark Knight, I've heard great things and am looking forward to seeing it.

This weekend will be another busy one. I have to go to the dentist on Saturday morning to see their oral surgeon that comes once a month. I went for my cleaning this week and didn't have any cavities (yay!) but have extra tissue on my gums in the back that is annoying and that traps food, making a cavity back there more likely. So I'm going there to have it removed. We'll have to run errands on Saturday right after that so that in the afternoon we can go to celebrate Kaden's 3rd birthday (I really want to hear him call me Aunt Carol, but he gets shy around me). I can't wait to see him open his gifts from Keith and Julia, he'll be so surprised.

We plan to go to the beach on Sunday. Kevin went and got a canopy so we can have some shade, and we set it up on Tuesday night - it is easy to put it, just like the brand name - EZ UP - says. It should make for some nice shade when we're out there, especially good since the forecast calls for it to be about 100 degrees this weekend.

Dog Show and Rice Village

Saturday we went to the dog show, and had a great time. We watched the agility and frisbee demonstration, and also wandered a lot around the grooming area. It is ridiculous how much time and effort goes into getting the dogs ready to show, people with hair dryers and flat irons are working on the dogs’ fur to get them picture-perfect. I am sure they get more primping than I do, even on my wedding day....oh well, it makes the owners happy to do this and the dogs are pretty well cared for I'd assume. Now the puppy mills that operate to provide purebred dogs, thats another story for another post. We were about to leave the show and saw a sign for "flyball" so we went to check it out. The best description I can give is a relay race for dogs, complete with a referee and lights that remind me of drag racing. It looks like controlled chaos. The owners hold the dogs back then when they let them go they fly to the other end, jumping over small boards, grab a ball and come back, and the next dog goes into the jumps just as they cross the line, for a total of 4 dogs on each team. I saw one woman with a rope to entice her dog to run back to her and he'd grab it and she'd pick him up with it - so it worked as brakes too! We videotaped it, but need to see how it turned out. Some of the dogs even had little sweatbands around their wrists (I guess that’s what you’d call it – just above their front paws). We bought Smokey a green camouflage bandanna from one of the Lab Rescue groups – their booth was featuring “war dogs”, I had no idea that dogs had worked in each foreign war the US has been a part of – as tunnel dogs, bomb sniffing, mine sniffing, etc. But they are treated as equipment, or were at one time, so when the US pulled out, they left the dogs in Vietnam! So sad.

Later that night we went to meet Sharon at Two Rows. She was in town for the weekend from Colorado. She is a Cubs fan, so had tickets to the Sunday game against the Astros, but we watched the Saturday game at the restaurant. She and her brother were the only ones cheering when the Cubs did something good or the Astros did something bad. I really don’t care one way or the other, but feel like I should root for my hometown team. We had a great time visiting, and even stuck around to go to the Bronx Bar. Poor Kevin drank one drink then saw something in his drink, he had something in one of his ice cubes, eww! They replaced it but then charged us for the replacement drink, so when I called them on it they offered a free shot. I was driving so I couldn’t take it, and K wasn’t sure but then Sharon said she’d do one with him, so they each got a shot. It had been quite a while since we’d been to Rice Village, and was good to go back with friends.

Travel Preparation

We are getting ready for our trip to Nicaragua . Yesterday we went to the travel clinic to get immunizations. Kevin and I had consecutive appointments (10:30 and 11) and Laura had the one right before at 10, too funny since she made her appointment completely separately from ours. It took longer than I thought it would because we each spoke to the doctor about what to be aware of and what to look out for when we're on the trip (good information to have), and also consulted with him on what vaccines to get. Turns out we could've all had this consultation at the same time, who knew? When I made the appointments they gave us separate times, oh well.

We each got two shots - hepatitis A and tetanus (which I really needed to get a booster of anyway). We also got a pill regimen for typhoid fever (we have to take each of 4 pills every other day) and several prescriptions - one for anti-malaria medicine (take weekly starting a week starting the week before we go, 6 pills total), and preventive and if it happens diarrhea medicine. I definitely want to avoid getting that if I can! I also plan to bring over-the-counter medicine with me, those go pretty much everywhere we go. I'm glad we realized it now, it was really sort of out of the blue that I thought of it when we were at friend's house talking about our upcoming trip and I thought, shots? do we need shots? We might be ok, but I'm pretty cautious so would rather just know that I'm covered.

I've started reading a guidebook on Nicaragua too, Lonely Planet from the library. I haven't gotten very far since I try to read it at bed time (bad idea), but I'll sit down and read it, maybe this weekend. This weekend shouldn't be as busy as last weekend, though we do plan to check out the dog show! Reading about where we're going, and hearing about the planning thats gone into their wedding is getting me excited about the trip!

Last night we went to eat with my parents at the Indian place we like in Pearland, Moksha. mmm, love it! My parents actually re-arranged what day they were coming (originally Monday) so that the place would be open - they are closed on Mondays, and between about 3 and 5 most days of the week . We've forgotten that and gotten there hungry and excited to eat only to see that we came during the time they were closed, but not this time. It was very good.