Texans

On our 'Houston Bucket List', there was still a visit to the Houston's American football team the Houston Texans. By the way, very original name in my opinion :)

Now, what better match to pick than the season opener against the Miami Dolphins! My dad was in town so he didn't mind joining the party. First we walked the parking lots to watch the tailgating (more about that in a separate post)

The Texans play their home games at Reliant stadium. It seats 71 000 people and has a retractable roof. Last year the Texans made it to the playoffs and it seems that they have kept their form as they beat the dolphins 30-10!

 

Space shuttle

As you will probably know the space shuttle program has been retired and the space shuttles have been divided among different locations, one in Florida at Kennedy Space center, one at the Smithsonian in Washington DC. Space Shutlle Endeavor was on its way this week from Florida to its final home in Los Angeles.

On September 20, the Shutlle had a stop in Houston. That morning, while having breakfast, we heard a very heavy plane come over. Unfortunately we were not aware this was the shuttle and we didn't go outside.

What a shame, because we would have seen this fly over Katy! (apparently much lower than in this picture too!) Pretty impressive!

 

Astros again

Another trip to the Astros, this time courtesy of Halliburton. Again, they are not having their best season, at the moment it is 48 wins to 99 losses.

Fortunately we caught them on a good day and in an exciting game the Astros beat the Phillies by 7-6! Famke was very pleased :)

Weekend away

With my parents here for a visit, Thijs and I were able to take advantage of a weekend away together.

One of our favorite bands, Train, was in Houston for a visit so we got tickets to go and see them. Great concert!

I really love how the lead singer gets involved with the audience: taking pictures with people's iPhones , running around the venue, getting people to sing on the stage, giving away a guitar and tweeting pictures taken from the stage!

The rest of the weekend was spent enjoying food, looking at food at the amazing Hubbel & Hudson market, lounging by the pool and enjoying a few drinks. Nice!

 

 

Thijs' business and pleasure trip

 

As Thijs had a business meeting in Amsterdam (location conveniently chosen by Mr Rademaker himself) he decided to make the most of the long labor day weekend and add a few days at the end of his trip. This allowed him to meet up with his mum, have a night out with Maarten and Harry and play a round of golf (followed by more than a few beers) with Marijn.

Happy weekend!

 

 

Humid

Texas can get a bit humid from time to time....

Dutch elections

Even though we are probably more up to date of election issues in the US than In Holland we did exercise our right to vote for our home country. Even though the elections are not until the 12 of September, dutchies living abroad get to vote by mail before that.

I found this example of a US presidential election ballot from a few years ago.

Now, this is what our Dutch one looks like! (only slightly larger)

Thijs' ballot.

Mine.

And no, we did not vote for the same party :)