The Texas State Aquarium

One morning we visited the Texas State Aquarium. We've been before, but it's been about 3 years and, of course, Ian didn't remember it. This is the kids looking at a seahorse tank from the inside out.

Before we went, Daddy  joked that we would get to see porcupines. The kids called his bluff, but guess what we found in the Amazon exhibit....

Seriously!?!

The kids' favorite part was the dolphin show.

The jellyfish are always my favorite.

One of the newer exhibit was actually a hawk show. 

Good times...

Nothing quite like dandelions

In the field across from my parents home lies a maze that Grandpa built. In this maze, were thousands of wildflowers. Most of them were pretty small, but beautiful all the same. The first two days that we were there, the kids were enthralled with picking the dandelions. I know that most people consider them weeds, but really, they are quite pretty. I tried taking the kids' picture with their bouquets. For some reason, this was quite the challenge....but make a funny series of pictures.

There was one particular flower that Payton named 'flamingo beaks' because during the day they were pink and curvy. What was special about these flamingo beaks was that they opened up about the time the sun went down into a little white flower with five petals in a similar shape to an orchid.  (They are all behind Payton  and also next to the daises in the other pic.)

Then there were my favorite - bluebonnets. 

And there was also the yucca.

But there's really nothing quite like a dandelion.

Spring Break Fun

We got back from our Spring Break on Sunday, and ever since, I've been cleaning and catching up. The break is always nice, but doesn't it always feel like you have at least twice as many things to do once you get back from a vacation as there were before you left?

Our break was spent with Grandma and Grandpa. They live in the rural part of Odem ;) The kids loved playing outside, soaking up the sun, and enjoying the beautiful weather. We had several excursions: the ranch, the beach, and the aquarium. This post will be devoted to the ranch.

This is the old camp house that we don't really sleep in much anymore. When I was in high school, we used to camp out here.

We used to even use the, ahem, port-a-potty....

The kids have never been to the ranch. So before we got out of the pickup truck, we had to have a talk about rattlesnakes. Payton, of course, was a little leery about the whole thing once we started to tell her to watch out for sticks that moved. Ian thought it was pretty cool that Grandpa gave each kid a walking stick in which he decided to draw 'snake tracks'. We actually tried to discourage this because Grandpa wanted to see if we could see any real snake tracks - you know, to see if they were on the move. Well, we were lucky and saw no snakes this trip. After a little while, Payton got over clinging to the nearest person, lest a snake slither up and greet her.


We got to ride in the back of the truck, safari style.

 The cows decided to follow the truck, hoping for something to eat. The kids thought this was pretty cool. Ian yelled out, 'Stampede!'

It was a little warm the day we went to the ranch. By the end of about two hours, the kids were tired and ready to go. But it was nice to see some of the sites I haven't seen in a long time.

Ian's Soccer Games

Ian has had 3 soccer games now.

I didn't quite know what to expect to see at a soccer game played by a bunch of 3 year olds. It was actually very cute and a little humorous. They play 4 on 4 which is plenty of kids on the field, especially if they are all first-timers. The coaches line the kids up and referee the games. For games the coaches follow some simple rules....

Rule #1 - Don't pick up the ball. Most kids successfully do this. There has only been a handful of times where a child has needed to stop the ball by using his/her hands.

Rule # 2 Know which goal is yours. At least one goal during the game is scored in the wrong goal - at least one....

Rule #3 - GO AFTER THE BALL! Surprisingly, many of the children have a hard time with this concept. When two kids are in close vacinity of the ball, sometimes one just lets the other child have it. It's kind of like you see the child saying, 'Oh, you want to kick it?  Go ahead. Be my guest.' There is also a phenomenon which I call the herd mentality. Everyone seems to follow the ball in one big group. Assisting is not really in their repertoire yet.


Ian has mastered Rules 1 and 2. He still has a little trouble with Rule #3 depending on how he's feeling that day. The first game he played, he wasn't quite sure how aggressive he should be. Evidently the second game, he was awesome and scored several goals. (I missed game 2 because I was out of town). Game 3, he wasn't feeling very well, so he tried, but gave up pretty quickly. There were a couple of bursts of greatness, but no goals scored.

I think Ian really enjoys soccer. This video was taken on one of his good days at practice:

 

Happy Birthday Ian!

Can you believe it Ian turned 4 years old on Saturday! 

We had a small party for him and some of his friends. Ian decided he wanted a Transformer birthday (much to Daddy's chagrin, but he dealt with it...)  Ian had Mason, Conner, and Aiden come over for his party. Payton asked if she could have a girl over so she wouldn't be stuck playing with a bunch of boys  :) I guess I really can't blame her.

We incorporated Ian's love for Legos into the theme and the activities. Daddy made a Lego version of Bumblebee for the cake. Ian wanted a sprinkle cake with green icing.

The kids got to build Lego cars from an assortment of bricks. We had a mini-figure treasure hunt. And then we ended the festivities with a piñata.

I love piñatas. So did the kids. Ian at first wasn't so sure about letting everyone have a turn hitting it. But after he saw that everyone would get to hit it MANY times, he was okay with sharing....

This piñata was pretty indestructible. They make them now where you are suppose to pull ribbons on the back of it to release the candy. We tried the old fashion way first. The kids almost took off Optimus Prime's legs, but after about 15 minutes of trying to get to the candy with a bat, we gave up and let the kids pull the ribbons....

All in all, Ian had a great birthday. 

He is quite a sweet little boy (most of the time). He loves building Lego sets, playing soccer, telling us little stories, and playing with his sister (again, most of the time). I love you, little boy.

Friends, Food, and Fun

'Why would anyone choose to go to Minnesota in the middle of winter?' my husband asked me. And, I have several good reasons to make the trip, but my top two reasons are for my girlfriends, Margaret and Melissa. Since we became friends when we lived in Phoenix, we've tried to get together to have some girl-time. It just so happens that Margaret moved to Wabasha, MN this past summer. I've never been to MN, and with Margaret's new work schedule, and when some other factors were considered, we decided to get together up in the frozen north this year. Maybe next time we'll end up somewhere tropical....

We all met in Minneapolis on Thursday. It was a toasty 20 degrees F when I landed at the airport :) Everything was covered in snow...I guess it's all pretty typical for February. We stayed downtown next to Nicollett Mall which put us in the heart of lots of restaurants and shopping.

On Friday afternoon, we headed down south to Margaret's home in Wabasha. We got there at dusk and got a little tour. Wabasha is a quaint little town with a population around 2500. They were having the Grumpy Old Men festival this weekend, which included a polar plunge! We didn't take part in the festivities but I heard on good authority - from the mayor's wife who lives next door to Margaret - that some of the men that made the plunge were in their 70s! Oh, and it was about 7 degrees outside as well. Anyway, Wabasha is also known for their Eagle Center which has about 90,000 visitors a year. So evidently, in the summer, Wabasha is considered a little tourist town. I thought it was a really sweet town. We met Nels and Everette and ate supper at a cool little pizza place that also had a bar and a chocolate shop.

Nels and Margaret have a beautiful view of bluffs overlooking the Mississippi River. You can even see an eagle's nest on the other side of the river in one of the larger trees. Seriously, I was extremely jealous of their view. I spent most of the first morning there just soaking in the scenery.

On Saturday, our big event was shopping at the local grocery store. We all decided to cook something - which is one of our favorite past times. We worked out, cooked and played with little Everette - he is so sweet!

It ended up snowing almost all day on Saturday! - but it only accumulated about 3 inches. On Sunday, we took advantage of the snow and went sledding in Nels' and Margaret's backyard. They have a very nice sledding hill, but Everette wasn't too excited about it. I don't get to sled much, so I thoroughly enjoyed it.

This is Nels showing us how it's done. Doesn't he have nice form?

Um....until he ended up heading for the tree...

Bristol didn't seem to mind the snow.

Thank you Daddy, Grandma, and Grandpa for taking care of the kids and house while I was gone. I'm truly blessed with such a great family and wonderful friends.