Near Northsider – Houston

We went to the Zoo last weekend and Eli had a great time.  That’s what we had hoped for.  It’s real easy to keep your kids at home and inside watching TV and cartoons, especially when that’s all they ask for.  But you also want your children to have some sort of real life experince every now and then.  We ended up getting a family membership to the Zoo so that we could just go and not have to worry about having to pay admission.  That’s a big deal.  It somehow makes it less of a special outing, and more of an option that you know is available ot you anytime you need it.

I hear more and more how Houstonians are pretty fortunate to live in the city that we do.  Folks who live around downtown, like Northsiders, are even more so.  We have easy access to parks, museums, libraries, sports stadiums, the Zoo…etcetera.  All less than a ten minute drive away or a short trip on the bus or light rail. Whether or not you can afford the admissions and other fees is a different story, I guess.

We went to he opening if Discovery Green last weekend. I don’t think we would ever have imagined that this could be Houston. There were people and families out enjoying the park even though it was in the middle of Downtown. It wasn’t a festival or Rockets game, it was just a park that so many people and families wanted to visit and spend the day in. the weather couldn’t have been better either. We had a great time and were very happy to see this kind of development happen downtown.

A few weeks ago, we went to the Lights in the Heights. It was the evening of course, so I apologize for all the dark and blurry pictures. We live so close that we just had to go over I45 and turn at Houston AVe, but we drove because it’s a longer walk than we would like to make otherwise, and it’s not a very safe walk since once you get to the park side of the bridge, there’s no sidewalk and no lights until you get to Houston Ave anyway. Plus, we had Eli with us and he can’t walk very fast yet.

The event was extremely well attended. There must have been thousands of people walking all up and down Bayland, Woodland. Dozens of different musical performances played on the porches or driveways of some of the homes. Lots of kids, lots of parents, and lots of other adults in santa hats pulling little red wagons with coolers from which they would stop every now and then to grab another beer as they continued to press on. Families of vendors pushed carts selling little glowing bracelets and other toys. We saw at least three HPD Mounted Patrol officers and few other officers using their vehicles to block off the streets from car traffic. I heard there was also a Police armored tank on display, but we didn’t see it. We saw artcars that were decorated with poinsettias and garlands and lights. Parents would put their kids on the cars and take pictures. I overheard one old guy say to someone else that this was turning into some kind of festival.

I do believe it originally started as just a community get-together. Word got out, and others began to attend. I heard somewhere that this was the 20th anniversary of the event. Personally, I think it’s one of those great, local ideas and events that remind us Houstonians that there is something to be proud of in this city and something to love about ourselves. I hear all the time about how Houston doesn’t have an identity. I think we do have an identity, but it’s probably not something that the tourism industry can promote. Just something that we are and don’t think much about.

The other day we went to a birthday party for a very young person. We brought our own very young person to the party. It was at this place, I think it was called Gymbore. It’s a place that has padded mats all over the floor, short plastic slides, and all kinds of inflatable, bouncy, soft things. Like an indoor playground. The Party was organized by this place, but it seems like they regularly do business by teaching movement classes for toddlers and their parents. The party was lead by an employee of this place who sang, blew bubbles, passed out plastic toys, and did all of this while holding a 3-foot tall stuffed clown in front of her.

Normally, this kind of thing would not be my cup of tea. No big deal, cause it’s for kids. Before having a son, this kind of place would have nearly disgusted me. For one thing, even one clown is too many, and there was a repeated theme. I actually think the clown was the mascot for the place. The way the program was led would have seemed to me to be too condescending to the kids, even the toddlers. The music would have been so cliché and mindless to me that I would have looked down upon any parent that would subject their child to this kind of consumerist socialization practice.

However, now that I have a son my perspective on this whole event surprised me. I found myself singing the songs for him and encouraging him to participate in all the activities. Nearly all of my elitist prejudices about this place slid right off of my greasy ego once I saw how much fun this little boy was having. He was smiling, running, climbing, sliding, and chasing bubbles like there was no tomorrow. He was having such a good time and it took a moment for me to realize that he didn’t have any preconceived connotations for all of the music or the imagery or even for the way that the group leader was speaking to him. For Eli, it was only a new experience with lots of color and abundant padded play-space. To him it was all good fun. It really made me open my mind and remember that it’s not about me, it’s about Eli.