I thought young Charity was pulling my leg with all this, the sort of hi-jinks I enjoyed playing on my elders when I was a whippersnapper. But then we were being served by another 16-yr-old holiday-job-lad at the NASA gift shop who, when discovering we were from England, asked "are y'all into Dad shoes over there?" I then twiddled my thumbs for ten minutes as Charity and said boy compared footwear. I was lost and alone in a land where I could only watch the locals converse in a language I did not speak. "I'm going to marry him," Charity informed me as we left. I'm not sure, even in Texas, Godfathers can legally grant permission for that.
I'm trying to make sure the cultural exchange isn't all one way, so we've been to art galleries, movies, restaurants, and shops. Mainly - to my delight - thrift stores, where Charity has been buying up much "on trend" clothing that she says is very cheap here. She's going to sell whatever she decides she doesn't want to wear for a massive profit when she gets home. Suffice to say, as I'm bankrolling her I'll be looking for a sizeable cut of profits.
Pete has been loving all this, overjoyed to have an older sister who will play with him but is not interested in his toys, and is trusted by his parents to serve ice cream way more generously than them. But there has been some confusion. "Why does Charity hate you?" he asked. "What?! She doesn't hate me!" I replied. "But she keeps saying 'I hate you'," he - correctly - pointed out. "Oh. Er...it's a teenage thing," I explained weakly.
I always complain that life goes back to boring when guests leave, but it's seldom so true as when we have to wave Charity off in a few days...
Finally got that Texan look down.
Surrealism in Houston Fine Art Museum.
Hmmm.
More excellent Godparenting.
A small intro to Tex Mex.
Explaining how I should hold the camera so she doesn't look short.
First attempt at what young people refer to as a "selfie".
Megasloth.
Kids today.
Bling bling.
Down at NASA. "Before you were born, people went into space a lot!"
National pride.
Selfie attempt #2.
Always in control of everyone.
We crashed one of those gender reveal parties! NOT Charity's. And it's going to be a boy.
The actual party we were at - Levi's fifth birthday.
A little more Mexican.
Down at George Historic Ranch. "It's so hot!" is Charity's constant refrain. These Northern softies!
Lady of the house.
Picking out the dress for her and NASA shoe boy.
Barrel riding.
Selfie attempt #3.
Lunch at Torchy's Tacos. Peng ting!
