Now that you have bought your rifle or handgun, you have to learn how to use it, right? Drive on out to League City and spend a few hours at The Arms Room, a gun store and range built inside an old Circuit City. Weekends get pretty hectic, and the wait to get a lane could be up to an hour most Saturdays and Sundays. The Arms Room now allows you to shoot your shotguns inside, but leave your ammo at home. You have to use the shells at the range. None of that homegrown-loaded stuff will fly here.

On the field, Connor Barwin was able to make Texans fans forget the loss of Mario Williams to injury. Off the field, we're not sure Houston's ever seen an athlete like him. He's intensely into the local music and arts scenes — he even wrote a Summer Fest review for us — and he's come out in favor of gay marriage. He's easily accessible to fans who wonder if they're hallucinating seeing a Texan digging the music at some dive, and — probably most important — he's become a key part of the team's vastly improved defense.

Kicks is 28,000 square feet of fun, including a multipurpose field, a gym and — praise Pelé — a full-on bar open seven days a week! (The sports extends to the bar, too, with billiards, beer pong, flip cup and FIFA PlayStation 3 competitions.) Kicks offers games for adults and kids, and year-round training camps for kids as well. It doesn't matter if you're an expert or beginner, or if you have a team or are looking to join one — Kicks can accommodate you. Registration fees are affordable, so there's no reason not to expand your soccer enthusiasm beyond just watching at home while stuffing your face and honking your vuvuzela. They also rent out the joint for semi-private or fully private parties and corporate events. We have to say it: Kicks kicks ass!

It's almost too good to be true, and we might regret giving this away, but Sheldon Lake is honestly one of the best kept secrets in Houston. If it weren't for the sound of the nearby industry, you might think you'd stumbled onto some Precambrian swamp. The terrible lizards are still there (in the form of lake-dwelling alligators), but the reservoir is also home to a large rookery of migrating and nesting birds, making it a popular destination for kayakers. A boardwalk on the lake gives a decent view of the nesting trees on islands across the water, but you'll need your binoculars. The real treat is to head to the visitors' center on the east side of the lake. Once part of a fish hatchery, each pond is now its own separate, semi-wild ecosystem (the alligators like to nest here, too). Some are overrun with water lilies and lotuses with lily pads the size of large pizzas. In addition to the nature stuff, the park plaques also describe how the entire center was built with environmentally friendly details such as reclaimed wood and solar panels. It's a great spot for a picnic. Not to miss: the massive viewing platform that overlooks the lake, the industry of east Houston, downtown and more.

You might mistake him for Russell Brand in a lineup, and at 32 his prime years are probably behind him, but Luis Scola has been a solid all-around Rocket for five years. Rarely out with an injury, he's mastered the baseline jumper, gets some rebounds and plays defense about as well as anyone on the team does, which is to say not all-time great, but adequate. In many ways Scola has become the leader of the Rockets, and they could do much worse.

A wise man once said that in order to truly understand Houston, you must learn to see it as the Indians did. There is no better place in the area to get your Karankawa on than Armand Bayou. There you can see what this swampy, bayou-streaked, pond-dotted coastal prairie looked like when cannibal tribes roamed and Spaniards perished in the tall grass. The park is home to an astounding bounty of wildlife: all manner of snakes, shore and forest birds, frogs and toads, turtles, mammals and even gators. You can maximize your experience with a nighttime hayride, a daylight pontoon boat cruise, or even a guided canoe tour, to truly feel like you are seeing Houston with aboriginal eyes.

Geoff Cameron has emerged as a versatile and key player for the Dynamo, good enough to train with the U.S. Team gunning for the World Cup. He's a defender but has shown he can play other roles as well and contribute significantly. He makes a big impression off the field, too. The Massachusetts native has twice won Major League Soccer's monthly award for charity works, raising money for the Ronald McDonald House and to fight leukemia. He's a great addition to Houston sports, and we can only hope he remains a Dynamo for his career — although he might be setting his sights higher.

Sited at the intersection of two of Houston's foremost bicycle routes (Heights Boulevard and the MKT Trail), Donovan Park is an ideal destination for two-wheeled family adventures. As a private park, this little gem is not affiliated with any cash-strapped City of Houston or Harris County entity, and so Donovan Park's amusements seem better-maintained than most. (The park is maintained by private citizens.) In addition to the usual contraptions (slide, swings, zipline), Donovan Park's castle-like warrens of tunnels and raised tree-house-like attractions offer pre-K tykes some of the best hide-and-seek terrain in town. What's more, parents can rest assured, as the park is adequately fenced. Bonus: There's also a little mound wherein our flatlander kids can enjoy that age-old Houstonian tradition: rolling down any incline they can find.

Yeah, yeah, we know: A late-season collapse meant no playoffs and a mediocre draft pick for the Rockets. So what else is new? The staggering finish made many fans forget that McHale got more out of his lineup than many expected for much of the season. And one of the ways he did it? Not taking whining or no-effort games from his players. He had no hesitation about giving such players time on the bench. That, of course, pissed off Kyle Lowry, who apparently was mad that Goran Dragic filled in ably when Lowry was out with injuries. But we're willing to take our chances watching McHale try to mold a team in his no-BS image.

It's easy to get turned off by a lot of modern yoga studios. There's either too many skinny, sexy, bendy people showing off, or there's the marketing aspect promising you enlightenment and righteousness with just three headstands a week. Big Yoga does neither, though the studio's motto is to "Live Big," meaning it's not all about you, y'know. Classes are held in a heated room with a wall of windows overlooking Buffalo Bayou Park, and no one, teachers or students, takes themselves too seriously. In a typical class, you'll be encouraged to laugh at yourself, sweat your ass off and sigh away the stress of tying your body into knots. On Saturday nights there's a Hot and Heavy class that concludes with adult beverages. On Sundays there's a pay-what-you-can donations class, the proceeds of which go to a different local charity each month.