Tuesday, April 19, 2011
Fun things to do at the Woodlands, Houston, Mall — MidWeek Blues —
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Click on any picture for a larger size view. Your back button gets back to here.
We had a fun couple of hours or so to spend at the Woodlands, Houston, Mall (link) the other afternoon. Karen, Billy, and KP have been visiting us and Mrs. Jim had a need to run to the mall. It is twenty-seven miles and forty minutes towards Houston from our home. We ended up doing three fun things.
The first fun item was to visit the Disney Store. We wanted to see KP when she saw all the Mickey Mouse stuff there. That was Mrs. Jim's purpose in our coming to the Mall.
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Here she is just after giving Minnie Mouse a big hug. Of course Mickey came first but my picture of Mickey and KP only has her holding hold of Mickey's hand.
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And then NOBODY leaves the Disney Store without spending money. We bought a organic cotton tee shirt and a pair of Mickey Mouse flip-flops.
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Second on our list was to eat. After a little thinking and talking we picked Wendy's at the food court. I like Wendy's because they have free drinks for the seniors (a few offer a 10% discount instead). Mrs. Jim and KP had a vanilla Frosty of which KP drank most of it. I had a chocolate Frosty all by my self. They were both the small size.
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Also Mrs. Jim and I each had a Crispy Chicken Sandwich with lettuce but "hold-the-mayo" with a serving of BBQ sauce on the side. We shared a small order of French fries. Our free drinks were senior sized (small) Diet Cokes.
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This was a fine meal for three at the cost of one for two. We did get everything off the 'Value Meal' menu for reduced sizes and costs.
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We all decided that Wendy's should take lessons from MacDonald's in making French fries. MacDonald's definitely are the best FF's, Wendy's were probably the worst. In fact I will remember that and stay away from them next time. Generally we do not have fries but with KP we decided for the variation.
Last but not least on our list was to ride the Merry-Go-Round, or Carousel as some call it. Mrs. Jim calls it a carousel.
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KP loved her ride. We were pleasantly surprised too. This Merry-Go-Round ride is the best bargain in Houston as it only cost ONE DOLLAR for KP and Mrs. Jim was free.
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Since this was a good thing, it had to end. KP definitely was not ready for it to stop even though I suppose her ride lasted at least five minutes. It was LONG!
After the ride we bummed for a bit. Going out on the balcony was a good thing to do on a nice warm Spring day. At the end of these stores is the Valley parking area and on the other side of the few restaurants there is a stream with a boat taxi to take on around to various places in the Woodlands.
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The party was not for us but the food court was decked out for a party. I am not sure which restaurant was hosting.
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Oh yes, Since KP liked her Carousel ride so much and it was at a bargain price we all decided that one more ride with be one more good thing. This time KP opted for the green frog (it had a blue riding blanket for the MW Blues post).
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This time she didn't cry when it was over and she had to leave. But she did leave one tired little girl. The grandparents were almost that tired too.
Click on any picture for a larger size view. Your back button gets back to here.
We had a fun couple of hours or so to spend at the Woodlands, Houston, Mall (link) the other afternoon. Karen, Billy, and KP have been visiting us and Mrs. Jim had a need to run to the mall. It is twenty-seven miles and forty minutes towards Houston from our home. We ended up doing three fun things.
The first fun item was to visit the Disney Store. We wanted to see KP when she saw all the Mickey Mouse stuff there. That was Mrs. Jim's purpose in our coming to the Mall.
.
Here she is just after giving Minnie Mouse a big hug. Of course Mickey came first but my picture of Mickey and KP only has her holding hold of Mickey's hand.
.
And then NOBODY leaves the Disney Store without spending money. We bought a organic cotton tee shirt and a pair of Mickey Mouse flip-flops.
.
Second on our list was to eat. After a little thinking and talking we picked Wendy's at the food court. I like Wendy's because they have free drinks for the seniors (a few offer a 10% discount instead). Mrs. Jim and KP had a vanilla Frosty of which KP drank most of it. I had a chocolate Frosty all by my self. They were both the small size.
.
Also Mrs. Jim and I each had a Crispy Chicken Sandwich with lettuce but "hold-the-mayo" with a serving of BBQ sauce on the side. We shared a small order of French fries. Our free drinks were senior sized (small) Diet Cokes.
.
This was a fine meal for three at the cost of one for two. We did get everything off the 'Value Meal' menu for reduced sizes and costs.
.
We all decided that Wendy's should take lessons from MacDonald's in making French fries. MacDonald's definitely are the best FF's, Wendy's were probably the worst. In fact I will remember that and stay away from them next time. Generally we do not have fries but with KP we decided for the variation.
Last but not least on our list was to ride the Merry-Go-Round, or Carousel as some call it. Mrs. Jim calls it a carousel..
KP loved her ride. We were pleasantly surprised too. This Merry-Go-Round ride is the best bargain in Houston as it only cost ONE DOLLAR for KP and Mrs. Jim was free.
.
Since this was a good thing, it had to end. KP definitely was not ready for it to stop even though I suppose her ride lasted at least five minutes. It was LONG!
After the ride we bummed for a bit. Going out on the balcony was a good thing to do on a nice warm Spring day. At the end of these stores is the Valley parking area and on the other side of the few restaurants there is a stream with a boat taxi to take on around to various places in the Woodlands..
The party was not for us but the food court was decked out for a party. I am not sure which restaurant was hosting.
.
Oh yes, Since KP liked her Carousel ride so much and it was at a bargain price we all decided that one more ride with be one more good thing. This time KP opted for the green frog (it had a blue riding blanket for the MW Blues post).
.
This time she didn't cry when it was over and she had to leave. But she did leave one tired little girl. The grandparents were almost that tired too.
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If you want to post a MidWeek Blues picture, go get directions from Rebecca by clicking here. She has a Mr. Linky and good directions . Just do what I did. Or do less. All she requires is a BLUE PICTURE or BLUE THOUGHT, you don't have to write.
Labels: Fun, Grandchildren, Houston, KP, KP driving, Midweek-Blues
Friday, January 15, 2016
Friday’s Hunt v1.3 -- "C"is for ...
[click on any picture for larger view]
1. "C" is for cooking and cookbook. One of our Christmas presents for KP was a cookbook. Not just any cookbook, but a Disney Princess Cookbook. KP loves it and Christmas Day she began planning her breakfast menu. Kp is six.
She consulted with Mrs. Jim who helped KP decide that only one item would be good for a start. It would be Miner's Mini Muffins with Blueberries. And they could cook the next time KP was to come to our house. That was Winter Holliday between Christmas and New Year's Day.
Everything went along without problems until Mrs. Jim decided that she didn't have the frozen blueberries like she was thinking. That all worked out fine though because she had a bag of large chocolate chips. KP found that chocolate chips were on the alternate ingredient. All was fine.
Their mini muffins were really good. We had several with our milk or coffee. The rest of the batch went home with KP. I'm glad they doubled the recipe.
KP is off to a good start in using her cookbook. My order for a nice 'large breakfast' is being considered.
2. Week's Favorite: Wednesday I had a dental appointment to replace a crown that had broken loose. Mrs. Jim and I carpooled, her bridge was before my dentist so I drove her over and kept the car. They played at the home of couple belonging to the Conroe (Texas) Sunday school class we left when we moved to Katy.
Fords, left to right: 1914 Ford Model T Roadster with pickup bed conversion;
1930 Ford coupe with 'rumble seat; and 1931 Ford 'woodie' station wagon.
John was instrumental in getting our Montgomery Early Ford V8 Club started. We both are charter members. I sold my 1950 Ford Custom Deluxe Tudor V8 when we moved.
3. Inside. Two Nativity sets out for Christmas. Above is a Fisher Price set that we ordered for KP last year before Christmas. This year she had it on the hearth in front of their fireplace.
Just about every time I was to her house she had a different arrangement. This one was after Christmas.
I would recommend you getting one for any of the little ones in your life. You'd be surprised what all they know about the birth of Jesus.
This is the Nativity set we bought in Bethlehem, Israel, in 1980 during our Holy Land visit. It was said to be hand made from olive wood. We get it out for display during every Christmas season but leave the manger, Baby Jesus, Mary, and Joseph, and the Angel out all year. Sometimes a camel and/or other figures also stay.
[click on any picture for larger view]
4. Poem for the week. I wrote it as a tribute to David Bowie who died January 10, this week. For inspiration I listened to and read his song, "Slip Away". It has a sad ending, I got really sad writing it. Also inspiring was remembering when KP, Mrs. Jim, and I did an afternoon paddle boat outing on the lake in Regents' Park, London, U.K.
You can read more on my other blog, Jim's Little Photo and Poem Place, where I first posted it. (blog link)
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The fine print: Teresa of Eden Hills is running this meme, Friday's Hunt. She has three alternatives for us to post about but this one, Alphabet series, will be the one I will try to follow and post about. - Her rules are: "Welcome to linkup for Friday’s Hunt. It’s very simple. Anyone can participate. The link opens at 7pm Central time and will close Sunday at 7pm, so you have plenty of time to enter."
- The Mr. Linky address here has others who are participating if you would to read what these folk are doing for the Friday post - For the week of January 15 our assignment was to post on any or all of these ideas: (1) Starts with "C"; (2) Week's Favorite; and (3) Inside; then (4) this one, Poem for the week, is lagniappe.
Labels: Alphabet Words, Cars, Friday’s Hunt 2016, Holiday Posts, Jim Does, KP, London, Poem
Friday, August 26, 2016
~~ Friday’s Hunt v.2.09 -- "I" is for ...
Friday's Hunt for the week of August 26th:
1. Starts with "I"
2. Week's Favorite
3. Pink
1. Ice Cream Starts with "I" : In my world of eating, and blogging (link to past SOME of my past posts), "I" definitely is for Ice Cream. I Scream for Ice Cream!!!
I'll do favorites here.
At the right is the neighborhood Gelato Mio store in St. John's Wood, London, U.K. (link) The store is on High Street, like the U.S. "Main Street", for St. John's Wood, this town in Westminster, is home for Paul McCartney not and the old London Stomping ground for the Beatles.
Their first recording school was on Abbey Road there, and only a block from our Daughter, KP, and SIL, who lived in London for five years, all but the last two months in St. John's Wood.
While we were in London, staying with the kids, we would make a visit to Gelato Mia more often than once a week, i.e., we were 'regulars'. The ice cream, European Gelato, was to die for. My favorite was Raspberry Amaretto in a Waffle cone.
Now for the ice creams that we eat here at home:
1. Blue Bell Light -- for a long time Blue Bell was shut down due to a bacteria run loose in their plants. Finally this was all scrubbed out and disinfected and things were back to normal. Almost. Our favorite flavor, this Light variety, was the last to start production, months behind the regular flavors. It was also Adi's favorite. (link)
2. This should have been "Dryer's French Silk" but I got the wrong kind and so we eat chocolate again. KP will help us with that, she has several kinds of chocolate that she likes.
Not very obvious on the package, but 'Slow Churned' flavors are also their Lite ice cream, of which classification French Silk belongs.
3. Blue Bell Dutch Chocolate is KP's favorite. It is regular ice cream, not 'light'. For chocolates, this is also our favorite.
We always keep chocolate on hand for KP.
4. Blue Bell Butter Crunch is sort of like having Butter Finger bars ground up and mixed into the ice cream. Not being light, we eat this one sparingly but it is really good.
Often with our Blue Bell Light we cut up a Butter Finger or a Reese's Peanut Butter Cup bar and sprinkle that on the top of the ice cream.
4. Kroger Chocolate is very dark and chocolatey, KP likes this one next to Blue Bell. Kroger's 'Private Selection' ice cream is very fine, almost as good as Blue Bell.
2. Week's Favorite: Not too much going on, lots of TV news: (I did get the car inspected get the license plates updated)
3. Pink: I like to take pictures of pink cars, I don't really know why.
1. Starts with "I"
2. Week's Favorite
3. Pink
I'll do favorites here.
At the right is the neighborhood Gelato Mio store in St. John's Wood, London, U.K. (link) The store is on High Street, like the U.S. "Main Street", for St. John's Wood, this town in Westminster, is home for Paul McCartney not and the old London Stomping ground for the Beatles.
Their first recording school was on Abbey Road there, and only a block from our Daughter, KP, and SIL, who lived in London for five years, all but the last two months in St. John's Wood.
While we were in London, staying with the kids, we would make a visit to Gelato Mia more often than once a week, i.e., we were 'regulars'. The ice cream, European Gelato, was to die for. My favorite was Raspberry Amaretto in a Waffle cone.
Now for the ice creams that we eat here at home:
In order of our likes:
1. Blue Bell Light -- for a long time Blue Bell was shut down due to a bacteria run loose in their plants. Finally this was all scrubbed out and disinfected and things were back to normal. Almost. Our favorite flavor, this Light variety, was the last to start production, months behind the regular flavors. It was also Adi's favorite. (link)
Not very obvious on the package, but 'Slow Churned' flavors are also their Lite ice cream, of which classification French Silk belongs.
We always keep chocolate on hand for KP.
Often with our Blue Bell Light we cut up a Butter Finger or a Reese's Peanut Butter Cup bar and sprinkle that on the top of the ice cream.
4. Kroger Chocolate is very dark and chocolatey, KP likes this one next to Blue Bell. Kroger's 'Private Selection' ice cream is very fine, almost as good as Blue Bell.
2. Week's Favorite: Not too much going on, lots of TV news: (I did get the car inspected get the license plates updated)
Floods in neighboring Louisiana were still bad.
Alligators had escaped from their habitat.
Our weather is cooling now. Mid 90's for highs, sometimes high 80's. We haven't been to Galveston for quite a while. It's about a 45 minute drive.
.3. Pink: I like to take pictures of pink cars, I don't really know why.
Both these are 1955 Fords, the one on the left was on a NAPA calendar, part of my collection. It might be red but I think it is a dark pink. Ford made more pink ones that red in 1955.
The one on the right is my car, a 1:18 scale cast iron model of the 1955 Ford Crestline hardtop. I bought it way back from the farm store in Tekamah, Nebraska, from their after Christmas sale for half price.
Here are a few more that I appreciated at least enough to take their pictures:
At left a toy plastic car in conjunction with the Big Breakfast celebration at our church, it was a place marker for its owner's lemon bars. I got the last one. On the right is a nondescript pink car parked in Friendswood (Texas) at a shopping center. Kind of pretty.
On the right here is a pink toy car for kids to ride in after the parents have loaded it with a few quarters. It was by the Merry Go Round at the Woodlands (Texas) Shopping Mall.
I am not KP's parent, just a grandparent, and I didn't have quarters for this car. We may have fed another earlier, I can't remember. We did feed the Carousal.
KP was about three here, home from London to visit her four grandparents..
This is a training vehicle belonging to the U.S. Navy at Christchurch, New Zealand. The Navy has a training facility there for Antarctic Exploration. One like this one took us for a bumpy ride through the snow at the training field. We were riding in a trailer-like vehicle being pulled by an Arctic Crawler like this one. I don't know why it was pink, not a regular Navy color for vehicles.
At left is a pink car on track in Peppa Pig Land, Southampton, U.K. We rode the train down from London. Our main purpose was to introduce the play-land to KP. She was three and loved Peppa Pig (Google search). Mrs. Jim was driving, Billy (KP's Daddy) was her passenger. Front seat passenger was KP. The car on the right was a Ukraine find.
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The Fine Print:
- Teresa of Eden Hills, (click) is running this meme, Friday's Hunt. Her rules are: "Welcome to linkup for Friday’s Hunt. It’s very simple. Anyone can participate. The link opens at 7pm Central time and will close Sunday at 7pm, so you have plenty of time to enter.
- Teresa of Eden Hills, (click) is running this meme, Friday's Hunt. Her rules are: "Welcome to linkup for Friday’s Hunt. It’s very simple. Anyone can participate. The link opens at 7pm Central time and will close Sunday at 7pm, so you have plenty of time to enter.
Labels: Cars, Food, Friday’s Hunt # 02 - 2016, Jim Bunch Eats, Jim Does, KP, London, London Fall 2012, London Spring 2014, London Summer 2013
Friday, July 15, 2016
~~ Friday’s Hunt v.2.03 -- "C" is for ...
Jim, KP, and Mrs. Jim -- Goes with item 2, "Weeks Favorite"
as this week KP played with my toy 1964 Mustang Convertible.
p.s. (July 16)
!!! KP is SEVEN YEARS OLD TODAY !!!
♪♪Happy Birthday to you,♪♪
♪♪Happy Birthday to you,♪♪
♪♪Happy Birthday Dear KP,♪♪
♪♪Happy Birthday to you.♪♪
♪♪Happy Birthday to you,♪♪
♪♪Happy Birthday Dear KP,♪♪
♪♪Happy Birthday to you.♪♪
KP's Happy Birthday Posts (click here)
[picture of a toy 1950 Studebaker Starlight Coupe, a cast iron model of my first car]
[I have quite a few cast iron 1:18 scale toy cars, this one included.]
1. Starts with "C"
2. Week's Favorite
3. Unique Perspective
1. "C" today is for Car. Pictured here is a 1:18 scale cast iron model of my first car. The Car is a 1950 Studebaker Starlight Coupe. It definitely was not a teenager car, it only lasted me a year.
The car originally belonged to my High School Principal and since I had borrowed Dad's pickup for over four months, he decided that I was old enough (until age 21 he had to sign for it) to have my own car. And that this one would be a good one. Elmer C. was a good friend of Dad's and had traded it in on a new one. Dad knew that this was a good car, and it was.
The reason that I had his pickup for so long that while I was in my second year of college, The University of Nebraska. I had broken a metatarsal in my right foot. Since I was walking a mile to college or taking the bus, I really did need the transportation. Then I dropped out in January and did not tell Dad about that until I had a job. But I also needed transportation to and from work even though Dad did need his pickup back for farming.
I still drive my cars hard but my 1998 Ford Mustang GT Convertible pretty well takes the punishment. A 1998 model, that makes it 18 years old with 108K miles.I have had to replace the transmission and wisely put in a beefed up model. Oh yes, we still buy used cars (my Mustang was two years old when I got it) and have never had a NEW car in the 43 years we've been married.
2. Week's Favorite: Below are four of my Cast Iron 1:18 Scale Model cars, front is a 1964 1/2 Ford Mustang Convertible, then left to right, a 1956 Ford Sunliner Convertible, a 1937 Ford Convertible Coupe, and a 2003 Ford Mustang GT Convertible.
I have others, still packed from our move last August. I have owned one like the 1956, only green and white, and a 1937 Ford Tudor, but only for a couple of weeks (another story here).
This week KP asked to play with these cars. At first I was reluctant but then relinquished and said that she could play with the red '64 Mustang. I do have two of these 64's. She enjoyed playing with it for about 30 minutes. She is also the only child who has played with any of my toy cars.The next picture is of where these cars are sitting right now, on my early 1900's Aunt Minnie Desk. The pitcher
and glass set was my Mother's, now possibly out for the July 4th Independence Day celebration but mor likely they will stay there for a while. The desk is in our Media area which we really don't use as it is upstairs.
The set should have eight glasses, two must have been broken or are packed in another box that we haven't opened as yet. eBay may soon have our attention to find two more.
3. Unique Perspective: Breakfast at Church with Themed Settings. We tried to set a record for the longest breakfast table. Duno, it was about 500 yards long. This was for Go Texas Sunday, you can see that theme always involves horses and cars and boots and western dress. We ate good, real good, that morning.
I have an affinity for eating breakfast, as you can see here (click). The next to bottom post will probably be more of the Church Breakfast that day.
[Click on any picture to make it larger, again for larger still. Back button returns to my blog.]
Our church is The Second Baptist Church of Houston, 1463 Campus (link). It is a large church with almost 6,000 members at six campuses. Ours on Farm to Market Highway 1463 has it's 2000 and is now one year old. Our Bible school class has over 100, composed mostly of people over age 60 and up.
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p.s. (July 16)
!!! KP is SEVEN YEARS OLD TODAY !!!
♪♪Happy Birthday to you,♪♪
♪♪Happy Birthday to you,♪♪
♪♪Happy Birthday Dear KP,♪♪
♪♪Happy Birthday to you.♪♪
♪♪Happy Birthday to you,♪♪
♪♪Happy Birthday Dear KP,♪♪
♪♪Happy Birthday to you.♪♪
KP's Happy Birthday Posts (click here)
The Fine Print:
- Teresa of Eden Hills, (click) is running this meme, Friday's Hunt. Her rules are: "Welcome to linkup for Friday’s Hunt. It’s very simple. Anyone can participate. The link opens at 7pm Central time and will close Sunday at 7pm, so you have plenty of time to enter.
- Teresa of Eden Hills, (click) is running this meme, Friday's Hunt. Her rules are: "Welcome to linkup for Friday’s Hunt. It’s very simple. Anyone can participate. The link opens at 7pm Central time and will close Sunday at 7pm, so you have plenty of time to enter.
Labels: Cars, Church, Eating, First Times, Friday’s Hunt # 02 - 2016, Jim Does, KP
