Thursday, July 12, 2012

A "little" sister time

My "little" (she's 2 years younger, but 6 inches taller) sister Sierra came to Houston for a week to visit. We had quite the adventure with REAL Texas BBQ, the Zoo, the aquarium, and just being the dorks we are when we are together.

First stop: REAL Texas BBQ

The Umphrey family doesn't really try new things when it comes to food because my dad likes his food cooked a certain way and that's the way you get it. For example, Every one gets their steak cooked well done. I didn't even know that you could cook a steak less done and it would be the best steak in the world until I met Brad. But anywhoodles, We are talking about the real, good stuff smothered in barbecue sauce with a side of coleslaw and green beans. Brisket and Ribs. (Though we still haven't found anything even close to as good as Ron's brisket and ribs.) But Sierra thought it was ok which meant more for us.







Yeah...It was scrumcious.

Adventure number 2 brings us to the Zoo!

 We decided to go on a day when Brad didn't have work til 3 so we could all go together. The day started out super hot. We rode the Metro down as close as we could go, then walked a ways to the entrance but found out that they only use that entrance on the weekends so we had to walk aaaaaaaaaall the way back to where we first got off the Metro and walk through the park and....well it was a long unnecessary walk to finally get to the zoo. It was a really awesome zoo! It started with a not-so-mini aquarium which I am always excited about, and there were all sorts of snakes which Brad loves... 




Sierra got to swim with the piranhas



Brad likes the big snakes


Then we went and saw all the monkeys and One of them started moving around in a way that looked so familiar to me. I kid you not, this is the exact way that Brad sleeps:


Scratching his shoulder and everything. 


We then went and say everything else in the zoo, took a few pictures, and headed back home so Bradley could go be a working man.





And last but certainly not least: The Aquarium!

We tried to find another day that Brad could come with us but no cigar. We went the morning that Sierra had to leave which worked out quite perfectly. This place wasn't just an aquarium, it was also a small theme park and restaurant. we bought the day pass so we could ride the rides as much as we wanted because the actual Aquarium part was pretty dinky. But definitely cool. 









Sierra eating a lionfish



Kiss and make up



Sierra touched a shark



I freaked out...then touched a shark.



We went on the shark train into a shark tunnel



with some sharks

Oh yeah... and did I mention that they have a freaking WHITE TIGER there? Just for funsies. You're thinking, "well that's random.." chyea, it was pretty random, but atleast he had a little swimming pool to himself so I guess he counts as a water animal?



I might have gotten a little excited



Crappy picture but perfect timing

And then we went on the rides, really there were only two but still fun.



This is getting ready to be shot up in the air and dropped a few times...





...And this is when we got stuck because the protector things wouldn't unlock for 15 minutes. People had to come save us. The ride was closed for the rest of the day.



And of course, the carousel

Then it was time to take her to the airport. I had so much fun with her here. It was really nice to have someone around to keep me company and who better to do it than my lovely "little" sister.