A movie with the kids and lots of eating

We had to wake up early today to make our 6 a.m. flight to Houston, but luckily all went well and the flight was uneventful. I even got upgraded, which Barbara was not happy about, but I did offer her the seat and she refused.

Once we got to Houston, we stopped in at one of my favorite burger places, Southwells. The original is a few miles from my parents house, but they have opened a second one by my old high school. The menu at Southwells is pretty straight forward. They only make burgers and grilled chicken sandwiches. The burgers are old school and very tasty. They also serve skinny fries and not so skinny shakes. The restaurant is pretty nondescript. There are a few booths and a few dozen tables, not much to look at, but the burgers are great.

After lunch Barbara and I took my nieces and nephews to see Fantastic Mr. Fox. This is the new stop motion animation film by Wes Anderson (Rushmore, Bottle Rocket). The voice talent is amazing, George Clooney is Mr. Fox and Meryl Streep is Mrs. Fox, Bill Murray, Willem Defoe, and Owen Wilson also play roles. The story is pretty simple. Mr. Fox is a hen thief, but he promises to stop when he finds out Mrs. Fox is pregnant. After a few years he falls off the wagon and is relentlessly pursued by the farmers he steals from. I thought the animation was amazing and the kids, ranging from 5-11 all liked it too.

The evening ended with a Tex-Mex food at Armando's. I have been there before, but it was not as good this time around. The margaritas tasted watery and my fajitas were over cooked. Worse yet, a couple of others at the table had cold crab enchiladas. Overall it was very disappointing, as our previous meals have always been good. It also made me sad that this was the one Tex-Mex meal we had on the docket.