Weekend in Houston

Erika and I traveled to Houston without our kids for the whole weekend! It was so much fun and we got to see a ton of art. We left on Friday and didn't return until Sunday afternoon. I talked Erika into seeing the Terra Cotta Warrior Exhibit that was at the Natural Science Museum. I loved the exhibit. Seeing something that was created almost 3000 years ago was incredible. What I love about ancient art is that we learn so much about a culture through their art. Sometimes their art is all we have. There were 15 terra cotta figures and 120 artifacts.
We also visited the Menil Collection, which was all free:
The Rothko Chapel - Franc Rothko was commissioned by the Menils to paint large scale paintings to fill the non denominational chapel. It was very interesting to see.
Byzantine Fresco Chapel - An original fresco from a chapel in Crete, dsiplayed in a unique way. I loved this because I have never been able to see Byzantine art in its' intended environment.
Cy Twombly Gallery - Some of the work was very powerful but it wasn't my favorite.
Menil Gallery - This little museum was a gem. Not only was it free but it held some real treasures. There was a great deal of surrealism which isn't my favorite but was still a powerful art movement. There were so many ancient artifacts that it had Erika saying, "I can't look at any more artifacts!"
Dan Flavin Enstillation - The neon light picture pretty much sums this up. Huge empty room with neon lights on the walls. It would make a great night club.
After all this art we ate Greek food and then caught the Relief Society Broadcast. We stayed with Erika's grandparents who were very nice to us and fed us the biggest breakfast I have had in a long time.
The only stressful thing about the trip was that on Thursday Sam called me and said that he had to work late on Friday and that he also had to work on Saturday and Sunday. Jeff, Erika's husband volunteered to watch the kids until Kid's Club starte at 5pm on Friday night. On Saturday I hired a babysitter who was there almost 12 hours. I included a picture of the instructions that I left her. Alycia let the kids sleep over on Saturday night and took them to church. It all worked out but it was crazy getting ready.