Hey,
This Christmas two of my siblings are off having adventures of their own on their missions. So, we had my two younger brothers and the one who is married brought his wife.
The Christmas break started with a luncheon my mother and I had with our really really close friend and her mother who used to babysit my two younger siblings and me. Mom used the GPS on her phone to get us there, however we didn't want to go the "shorter way" because it included tolls. So, we were driving old-fashioned using the map to guide is through neighborhoods and back-roads. When we got to a point where we knew it would be shorter to just go the "non-toll" way we switched the GPS and started using it's directions, only to find out that it wanted to take us ALL the way back to the "toll way". I think there is a conspiracy between the government- using tolls, and GPS equipment. They just want our money.
Lunch was a lot of fun. I had not seen my babysitter in over 15 years. But I do remember her. The time was too short to catch up, but it was defiantly nice to sit and chat and have quite a few laughs.
Then the next day, I convinced my younger brother to use a blackhead removal sticky-pad for his nose. I can say it worked because I saw the gunk on the paper at the end, but it didn't get 3/4 of the needed gunk.
During the break we all went to see the Museum of Art in Houston. It was fun and there were a lot of things to see. I love art and painting, however, I think I am really picky. There were a few pieces that I loved. And then there were a lot of naked people, which I try to stay away from.
We were looking at classical and colonial pieces and noticed how thoroughly detailed they are. I have never noticed it before. I am horrible at painting people and as I was looking at these pieces I could see how the "shading" to depict people isn't necessarily shading, but using an array of skin colors to depict the 3-D nature. It was an eye opening moment and I realized how novice my painting skills are.
We also went to the Science Museum in Houston. OH MY GOSH, Loved it! there was so much to see and so much to learn. It is a little sad that science museums mostly cater to children, but there is still knowledge to learn as an adult. I got to see a few cool things about the elements and I got to see a real periodic table with compartments to hold the actual element in what we see every day. However, most of the periodic elements had just bottles with labels because their element is unstable.
AND WE GOT TO SEE DINOSAURS. I never really could conceive mentally how HUGE they were. The bugs back in the day were the size of humans. there was a bear skeleton next to a dinosaur for size reference, granted it wasn't a Kodiak grizzly, but the Dinosaur's skeleton would fill up 5 rooms. And there were a lot of tree rounds. I have always loved learning about really really REALLY old things. It was awesome and I wish we had more time, or rather more feet stamina.
We also got to see a TON of Gems. This one above is called "the dragon" it is a dragon naturally made out of pure Gold. I learned that I really really like dark colored gems. The ones that are dark blue, sapphire, or purple.
Then, the next say we drove to San Antonio.
I always assumed that the Alamo was in the middle of the dessert. You had to drive 40 min out of the city to get to it.
But no, it was right next door to the hotel we stayed at. It was pretty awe inspiring. There was so much death. It was sad and reverent as we walked through.
We also got to walk around the river walk. We walked the river-walk twice. Once during the day and once at night. We also got a boat ride. I thought it was worth the money to ride. We got to learn about the buildings and the city during the ride. It was a lot more interesting than just walking around. And it was more entertaining. Our guide (Michael) was pretty darn funny as well.
We went to go eat at this place called Chris Madrid's, because we wanted a heart attack. Just kidding. Someone had told us about it and so we waned to try it out. When we drove up, it was sketch, but the food was awesome. My mom and I shared a burger with re-fried beans and a tortilla on the cheese and beef. Looked weird, tasted AMAZING.
My brother has some difficulty processing food. SO I had to make him jog in place to release gas before we got into a metal tube that would quickly become gas filled and we would all die from the stench. He didn't believe that it would work, but at-last he complied, and it took 5 seconds of jogging to release the toxins. And it worked, boy it worked.
We just so happened to be in front of a cathedral at the time. It was quite disrespectful.
we also went to another mission in San Antonio called San Jose. That mission was huge, and it was pretty darn cool. There was a mill in the back that was engineered pretty ingenious and the shape of the mission was pretty cool too. But mostly it was peaceful. It was just a calming homestead like place.
Oh, and we visited this place called Bucc-es. It's everything you could ever dream of in a gas station, and more. There were red and green lights above the bathroom stalls. It was a gas station the size of a grocery store.
The next day, when we got back, we had a thousand dollars of fresh salmon and halibut thawed on our front door. It was supposed to arrive 5 days before, and it was supposed to stay frozen. However, it arrived on a Sunday and it was thawed. Which was weird and also upsetting. We spent about 10 hours canning it, because otherwise it would go bad. My new sister in law got quiet the lesson about canning and subsistence living. And she got her hands fishy.
We also went shooting. We have a few pistols and I am determined to become a good shot with mine. However, I shot with our 44 mag revolver. It screwed up my shots for a bit. That thing kicks and is supper loud!
Today is Christmas,
we got to talk to my siblings who are away from home at the movement. My sister loves Germany. Apparently they still put candles on the tree. Her tree caught fire twice during our Skype session.
My brother is struggling in Az a little bit, but I think he is learning and having quite some experiences. Today he went to a catholic mass. It's the first thing he said. "I dunno why people think Mormons are weird, I went to a catholic mass this morning, it was the weirdest thing I have ever seen. Ever."
Merry Christmas Everyone!
An awesome Track I listened to today:
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