Galveston

The kids and I got to tag along on another of Matt's conferences and take advantage of a room on Galveston Island.  It's just over an hour from the house but it was a great reason to spend a few days at the pool and beach in a nice location.

 

The kids LOVE hotels.  I'm just now beginning to enjoy all sleeping in one room together, although it's still pretty tricky at night to get them to go to sleep and:  a) not fall asleep myself at 8pm, b) very quietly play angry birds in bed, or c) sneak into the bathroom and make a comfortable bed out of towels to read until I'm sleepy.  And then we're all awake when the first person wakes up in the morning, especially if that person has no volume control on his voice (ahem...Alex).

 

Swimming was great fun and we spent a lot of time at the pool.  I'm really happy to be wrapping up the summer with two good swimmers!  Alex still needs an adult nearby but for the most part can do anything he wants in the pool.  He watched a kid do a flip into the water and said, "I'm going to do that, too!"  But, Alex, let's wait on that a few years, okay?

 

We spent most of our time at the beach.  It's hard to beat sand and waves!  The kids boogie boarded a few times and one day when the waves were smaller we got a float at the store to play with instead.  That's Ben in the background relaxing in the little waves.

 

These boys don't get much happier than this!

 

We also had some fun dinners together, like this one at the Rainforest Cafe.   I'd avoided it as long as possible because it's overpriced food with cool scenery, but the kids loved every minute.  Let's just not tell them that there is one in our mall!

 

On our second morning, I wasn't ready to go swimming at 9am, so instead we road the ferry to the Bolivar Peninsula and back.  I knew Ben would love the idea of driving our car onto a boat and I figured they'd both love roaming around the ferry.  We saw a few dolphins and enjoyed the cool breeze.

On the other side, we played in the car and visited a very conveniently located snow cone stand before getting on the return ferry and hitting the beach again.

 

 We had a wonderful three day mini-vacation and I knew it was successful when I saw little sun-kissed cheeks and sleepy faces in the backseat!

More Fun with Reid

One of our favorite things this summer was getting to see Reid and Aunt Stacey three times!  I love watching the boys play with their cousin and grow to love him more each time we're together.  This time they came to our house and we did some swimming, some playing at the splashpad, and even took Reid to his first movie.  We also had some fun in the backyard with a few neighbors on a homemade splash pad.

 

The little guys didn't like playing on the trampoline with the bigger kids so they entertained themselves with this bucket instead.  I love Reid's posture...like, "Alex, what are you thinking?"

 Yep, gettin the old noggin wet.

Reid's turn?

None for him, thanks.  Just fishing a car out of the bucket.

We also introduced Reid to the exciting world of battery operated vehicles and I do believe he was a big fan!

Reid got a few spins around the park in each of the jeeps.  And yes, we are fortunate enough to have TWO of these beasts parked in our garage now.  Just when we think we can get rid of the yellow one, the kids have fun driving both of them again.  Ben took his job very seriously and carefully drove Reid around in big circles.  Alex, on the other hand, was loud and wild and drove all over the place.  We're in trouble in about 12 years when that one gets a license.

One of Ben's friends has her mom's old iphone and Ben was already hitting me up for a phone.  At six?  I don't think so.  But I did dig out my old phone from Perth (which was getting dusty in a drawer since it won't work on any network except Western Australia's...oh how I don't miss WA technology!) and made the regrettable executive decision to let Ben keep it.  I showed him how to use the camera and play music files and we heard nothing else for several days.  Not to be outdone, Alex wanted a phone of his own too.  I went back in the dusty drawer for a cheap go phone we've used on several occasions and showed Alex how to play the ringtones.  Incredibly annoying for the adults but apparently endlessly entertaining for kids.  This is only a small snippet of the dance, but I chose this clip because Alex's bootie wagging is priceless.  And before you ask, NO, he did not learn than from me!

 

We had such a fun visit.  I wish summer was longer so we could do this more often!!

Greatest Show on Earth

Alex got circus tickets for his birthday but we had to wait a few weeks for Daddy's business trip to end before we could enjoy the big event.  I think it did make it more exciting because we counted down to circus day!  (I was probably more excited than the kids because I remember going for my birthday when I was about their age and I LOVED it)  We went as soon as the doors opened so we could see the animals backstage and it was fun getting up close to all of them.

 

 The tigers played like big kitties!

Pretty cool to see them so close.

On the circus floor, there was a pre-show with several different acts and again it was fun to be right next to the action.  Here their smallest miniature horse was running under their largest.

We met Asia the elephant and learned a little about her.

She did a few paintings in front of the crowd.

We finally made it to our seats before showtime and several clowns were still busy entertaining the kids. 

 Those guys were really funny and I loved watching Ben and Alex belly laughing at all their antics.

Finally, the big show began and it was thoroughly entertaining for all of us!

 

 

What a great time!  Definitely one of the bonuses of parenting being able to introduce kids to the fun things in life.

More Summer Fun

We are soaking up every minute of summertime and enjoying it as much as possible!  It's a lot more relaxing without unpacking a house or making a trip around the world.  We went back up to visit Aunt Stacey, Uncle Jason, and Reid because we have to squeeze in most of our time together for the year while everyone is on summer break.  The kids are always so funny together.  First, we went for the biggest frowns...

...to the best smiles!

Reid's baby blues

 

 Alex's handsome hazels

Ben's beautiful blues, too

We checked out a fun indoor safari playground with a train the kids all loved.

Boys love cars, no matter what the age!

These motorized animals were pretty cool, too, and Alex enjoyed it a lot more than his face would have one believe.

 We also got in plenty of swimming time and this pool was fun for everyone.

Ben and Alex did plenty of racing and inventing new ways to get down the slides.

We had to make a trip back to the "log" playground that my boys remembered from Christmas and it was fun for about 10 minutes, but not quite as enjoyable in the middle of a North Texas summer.  Luckily (for me, anyways)  Ben got dizzy on this tire swing and was ready to go soon after.  I didn't argue!

Back at home, we got a visit from Ben's girlfriend Brynn (and I can't believe I didn't get any pictures with them here!!) and I couldn't resist a shot of him waiting for her to walk up the driveway.  He was SO nervous and excited.  And you may notice that he changed into his t-ball uniform "in case she likes baseball players".  That's my boy!  Those two talked nonstop from the minute they were together like no time had passed.  What a great visit.

My sweet buckethead enjoying the splash pad!

I can't believe we've already flown through two months of summer!  School is right around the corner but we still have lots of fun planned in August.

Is This Still Summer?

This is what a Texas summer usually looks like....

 

...but this is what we've had for the past week.  This time last year it was about 100 degrees every day without a drop of rain in sight.  This week has been a welcomed change!

 

The only downside is that the stormy weather has taken the pool off our list of things to do each day, so we've been exploring other indoor activities.  We loved the new paleontology hall at the Houston Museum of Natural Science.  Unfortunately, Alex got tired of my commentary and kept telling me, "Mom, stop talking!  I just want to look!"

I wouldn't go swimming if this prehistoric shark was still around!

 

 There were several things on display that I had never seen or even heard of, like this guy.  I was guessing it was a giant bear or something.

Turns out it was a mega-sloth.  Who knew?

We also went through the energy wing so the kids could learn a little about oil production, a subject dear to this family's heart.  The kids loved turning valves on the christmas tree, but their favorite part was the "geovator" that simulates a ride down an oil pipeline.  We did it twice and I had to draw the line at a third time!

Ben's favorite part about the rainy weather is that he gets to use his umbrella.

We also checked out a body exhibit at Moody Gardens because Ben has been fascinated with anatomy and asks tons of questions, so I thought this would be a great learning experience for him.  It has real dissected human bodies so I did prepare the kids with what to expect (I've been to two other similar exhibits) and they handled it like champs.  I was able to answer most of Ben's questions and Alex even listened to me on this visit!  The best part is that they compared healthy lungs with smokers lungs and the kids were horrified - hopefully we've scared them off smoking for the rest of their lives.

My little tree frogs!

 
 Who wouldn't want a little cotton candy for the ride home?

As if all the rain didn't have things wet enough, the kids wanted to play in the sprinklers one afternoon when the rain stopped.  Alex got the cardboard house wet (the very one I've been plotting to trash for several weeks now) and saved me the trouble of having to tell the kids it was time to recycle it!

A couple of other cute pictures from my phone...
Ben's glow glasses from the 4th of July!

Getting a kiss from Abby, his favorite kitty in the world.