Pros and cons of Sugar Land?

I’m in the Loop and love it, but the family’s desire for a pool and a yard has me looking for someplace where I can afford those things but the schools are still decent. What are the pros and cons? I’ve made the trip to Sugar Land three or four times in three years, and never for more than an hour or two.

I don’t go downtown that much? I guess I’d miss Central Market and Trader Joe’s and Truth and the big Spec’s. Does that north-south bayou parallel to University Blvd smell funny? Is it unbearable to be so far away from TX Monthly Top 50 BBQ, offset by more Indian food and being closer to Chinatown and Katy Asia Town? Is traffic a permanent mess? The airport tragically noisy? The H-E-B cool or lame? Too middlebrow because the fanciest restaurant is Perry’s? What do I need to know?