Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo 2011

As another Texas March comes to a close, so does our fourth rodeo/mardi gras season!  (Whats really crazy is that I almost typed third and just had to count over and over that..YES, in fact we have been living here for what is going on our fourth year! WOW!) We love the Houston rodeo and as you can see from our posts back in March 2008 and March 2010 it has been a favorite activity for us each year. This year was no different! This year (just like in 2009) we were able to attend the rodeo on St. Patrick's Day! It made for a great way to celebrate two occasions in one! Since I am Irish, it was only fitting to celebrate St. Patrick's Day with a drink. This year since we were at the rodeo, I had my first taste of Cowboy Punch. 
I was actually surprised by how good it was! Here's what's in it:

2 cups half-and-half
2 cups milk
1 to 1 1/3 cups brandy
1/2 cup Simple Syrup
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 cups crushed ice
Ground nutmeg

It sort of tasted like Egg Nog! Not something you would want to drink a lot of because it was rather rich but it was good!

The band that was playing on the 17th was Zac Brown Band! They were excellent! Afterwards we went out to the carnival to ride some rides and wait until traffic died down. We almost lost our lives on the two rides that we rode on (or at least we felt like we might!) There is something about the thrill of carnival rides that makes you feel like a kid again! We had SO much fun.

This year we were not able to attend the San Luis Salute because that was something I was invited to attend through my old job. Sim ended up being out of town that week for work, so in the end it probably would not have worked out anyways! We did make our way down to Galveston for the first weekend of Mardi Gras and were able to watch a parade on Seawall Boulevard. We caught a TON of Mardi Gras beads and walked around to catch the sights before heading back up to the mainland.

It was a foggy February day, very typical for Galveston this time of year!

Another source of excitement for our household has been the purchase of a new couch. We finally have room for plenty of guests to sit when they come over! Our new couch is what I would consider HUGE...okay it actually IS huge...but what sold us on it, is how well it pulls apart into separate beautiful pieces of furniture without looking awkward like some sectionals can. We'll see, hopefully it will adapt to us and our homes through the years but in the meantime I can say that every member of the family has officially claimed "their spot" on the couch including chuckie. In fact he has claimed the entire ottoman but we gladly give it to him. (It actually makes it easier to vacuum up his hair when he sheds. Spoken like a true cat lover, huh?)

Speaking of the kitty....here is chuckie who climbed into my bag while Sim was away for work one week. I like to think his purpose was so that he could get in a bag and make his way to Sim because he missed him. haha.