It is Spring Break here in Texas so after church we headed up to Round Top to stay at the Simmons Ranch about an hour and half away from our house. When people use the word “ranch” to describe the destination, I assumed that the home would look like a ranch house with a wrap around porch. Nope, that is not the case at this house. It is what I would liken to a Frank Lloyd Wright designed home or mid century modern that has expansive windows that connects the outside with the inside. It also had tall ceilings, doors, cabinets and I'm sure very cutting edge upgrades for when it was built. I would guess most of the house is original from its creation in 1974. The property had the feel of being in the forest and areas of vast openness like a ranch. Unlike Houston, Round Top has rolling hills and at this time of year the area is covered in blue bonnets and Indian paint brush flowers. We were able to enjoy spending time in the pool, playing tennis, horseshoes, playing cards and reading Jessie's intriguing book Peter Nimble. No working tvs could be found and only the wifi worked on mine and Aaron’s phone. The kids would watch Full House or Fuller House on my phone before going to bed. I never was into those shows but they think they are hilarious. Every morning Aaron and I enjoyed running around the rolling hills of Round Top. First hills we have had since arriving. Lets just say our bodies could tell a difference.
We had planned to eat dinner each night in town but who knew that the whole town closes down on Monday nights. We headed to the next town of Burton to find the same phenomenon except a gas station that was also “Short Stop” restaurant. We ate great hamburgers. We would all recommend it. Don’t be scared off by being a gas station like I was. ;) The next evening we ate at Los Patrones, a great little Mexican place. We ate outside to enjoy the beautiful weather and take in the town that is know for antiquing. Too many antique shops to count. So big for the town they have a two week festival that is the last week of March and first week of April. We headed home Wednesday morning. We wanted to go to the Blue Bell factory for a tour but tours haven't been reinstated since the close down. We did go into Brenham to eat at a poplar sandwich shop, Must Be Heaven, that Bode and I tried in November when we watched Zac at a game at the local high school. A nice family getaway.
After cleaning up after the getaway and eating a home cooked meal, the boys headed to the Rockets game with Aaron and gpa. Apparently everyone got a pink beard because Trolli was the game sponsor and James Harden is a spokesman for them. Check on the pic below.
Zac is now a permitted driver. Yeah! This is one giant step towards having another driver to help me out or least get himself around. The weather has been wonderful! The June bugs are out which is early for them. Apparently this is not the norm but I will take it.
A couple other fun activities we enjoyed during the spring break was driving down to Alvin to do some strawberry picking at the Froberg farm. The farmer in Gpa came out as he tried to pick as many red strawberries he could find. I reminded him we have to pay and eat all the strawberries we pick. Even as we walked back to the market he still had to get just a few more. Happy to say our $20 worth of strawberries were delicious but we did have to freeze some to make smoothies later.
We also went to the Bayou Wildlife Zoo that is also in Alvin. This was a fun adventure as we got to see many different and exotic animals. We actually got to feed quite a few of them too. As we rode around in a tram we saw emus, giraffes, bongos, rhinoceros, ostriches, watasuti cattle, edads, alligators, miniature horses, pigmy goats, 3 types of camels, horses, 2 kinds of zebras, a zebra horse combo, peacocks, bison, water buffalo, gazelles and a mirad of other antelope like animals. It was kind of chilly but a fun unique experience. A fun spring break week in Houston for the Hall family.