Houston, We Have Lift Off...

Okay so apart from familiy visits, what made October such a busy month this year? Well I did get to spend a week in Houston, Texas, home of Long Horn cattle, Stetsons, and an event which the company I work for organises every two years called Stainless Steel World. Come on, tell me that name doesn't make you want to grab your passport and jump on the next plane??!

I won't go into details of the event here save to say it was a lot of fun. I didn't really get to see much of Texas; in fact I didn't even see Houston at all as we were located in a brand-spanking new town which seems to have risen up out of the hot-baked earth like a shiny new button, Woodlands. It's kind of a purpose-built community with artfully placed canals, swathes of evergreen trees able to withstand the hot humid summers and the freezing cold winter, and an absolutely HUGE shopping mall. So guess where I was headed when I got a couple of hours free?

The only thing I was really keen on getting was a little something for the kids. I travel for work fairly infrequently and this is the longest I've been away, so I figured I'd have some making up to do when I got home. And boy, did I more than fulfill anyone's expectations!

Have I ever mentioned how much the kids (and, ahem their mother) love Star Wars? Well if you've ever been to our house you would know. Also if you've ever read this or this . Suffice to say we are all huge fans and when hubby's at sea we often save impromptu Star Wars Quiz Sessions during dinner to test each other's general knowledge, and they are closely-fought competitions indeed. Back to Houston; one fo the first shops I came across was Build-A-Bear, an old favourite from Singapore. The kids each have a toy from there - a bear for Niels called 'Beary' and a monkey who is officially called Triceratops Transformer but is now known as "Monkey" for Carl. Let's face it, in the originality stakes their name choices do let them down a bit. The coolest part about Build-A-Bear is that you get to dress your furry friends in some of the cool outifts they sell there, and they've just released a range of....Star Wars outfits! Above is Carl proudly showing off Monkey dressed as Captain Rex (from the Clone Wars series for those not in the know out there).

In the top picture he's also sporting a particularly cool set of Buzz Lightyear pyjamas, from the Toy Story 3 merchandise which is swamping Disney stores in the US at the moment. "To infinity and beyond...!" For Niels I found some very cool Phineas & Ferb sweatshirts AND the soundtrack on C.D., which is doubly-cool!

And finally, who could visit America in October and fail to notice the Halloween accessories? Here you see the boys drinking I.V. bags of blood (strawberry flavoured!) which I picked up to go with the collection of Frankenstein brains, Zombie body parts, and eyeballs from a local store.

In all a very successful shopping trip, which was topped off by a set of Star Wars cookie cutters and even a hand bag!! (SSShhhhhhhhhhhhhh!). But those aren't nearly as interesting as Zombie eyeballs.