Pioneering

We took a sudden after school trip to Pioneer Farms.

Hot day, but we always enjoy this place. It's our third time and even when we went when the girls were pre-schoolers they liked it.

Heard it Through the Grapevine

It was so much fun to head to Grapevine, Texas in December. They have a fabulous downtown decked out!

And that's where Great Wolf Lodge is! Woo-hoo! We went to celebrate all the birthdays for the year!

Mia and Poppy came to watch our little baby cub while we all swam. We love that place! We had such a great time with our kids!

Cici's Pizza Tour

Wow, Cool! Kids got a tour of the kitchen with our play group and got to make their own pizza!

Peaches Come from a Can

They were put there by a man... Ok, not that's not right, just a song I get stuck in my head. Near Pittsburg there is a peach farm with some yummy yummy yummy peach frozen yogurt. Love an awesome roadside stop!

Houston Zoo - Day 2

GREAT ZOO! And did you know there is an ap for that!? haha I like saying that, but yes indeed there is an iphone ap for the Houston zoo. I want to go back in the fall as the weather is the drawback here, but we still saw enough to think it was a super zoo.

 New baby elephant, newer than JE. And the Lion's name is Jonathan. So, obviously hubby thought that was fab.  Jonathan, the king..yeah....

More fun and a sleeping JE.  Yup this is what you did on your first trip to the zoo honey!

Houston Children's Museum Day 1

Well, we wanted a quickie vacation and due to my museum and and zoo memberships I could get into those two places for free in Houston, so off we go! First up - Children's Museum and can I just say AWESOME! Could have stayed longer but we were wiped out.

And to be honest hubby wanted to go to Colorado and of course Houston is HOT HOT, but it is CLOSE CLOSE and it was as far as I wanted to drive with the entire family. I think it was a good choice. The kids had a GREAT time with minimal drive time.

Now hubby got onto me for letting the kids put their entry sticker on this sign like we were de-facing it. But, do you see how many did it before us? And I said something like "this looks like an Austin thing to do." And he said "But we aren't in Austin." Everyone needs a little Austin.

This is JE's first trip to the pool! We stayed at the Drury in the Galleria area, which also I will rave about. Great for families, good prices, lots of free food! But anyway, the pool..I think she liked it but actually was not feeling all that great on the trip, so we just had her in for the photo op really. She's a trooper. Hmm, how many times will I say that in her life.

The Greenbelt Calls

Every year I think the greenbelt calls hubby and says Come on down! So, even though I am 3 weeks post surgery and we have a three week old - here we go! ha Thankfully it was a shorter walk and I am feeling really well. The kids had a blast! (And the blue bonnnets along 360 this year are amazing!!!)

And some friends gave us some life jackets that their kids outgrew. YAY! I am so glad because it made watching the kids a lot easier! I wasn't nearly as nervous as JE and I watched from the shore!

Also, a college girl game through with her dog and the girls played with her dog a long time and the girl took our first family photo! :-)

New Stuff at Waco Zoo

When we head to Longview we try to stop at the Waco Zoo if the weather is nice and time allows! It was and it did! They have a new exhibit "Asia" that we wanted to see. It was great. They added Kimoto dragons and orangtans. Also they added a fabulous rope climbing thing, a gong, and a stepping chime. The girls loved it!

Pet Store Field Trip

We are trying to maintain some playgroup fun. A lot of our group is in MDO or big kid school these days, so things have slowed down, but I am glad we are keeping them connected though some fun outings. This time it was at the Petco for a field trip after school.

Reflections of a beautiful girl. It was yellow day at school today. :-)

Petting the bunny.

Petting the baby..oh wait she didn't belong to the store. Oh how my JM LOVES babies. And the momma is a sweetie who always lets kids hold the baby! JM, you will one day be a fabulous Mommy!!! I've just always known it about you!


Petting the turtle.

And what are we all laughing at hysterically? Umm the turtle pooped on the floor! Oh yeah, that will be remembered more than anything else that happened this day!

Downtown Girls

Today is Daddy's Birthday and ironically we planned a big day downtown. We dropped Daddy off at work and perhaps he was a little sad about all our fun. :-) Well, actually he does like it when we go do fun stuff, but it was weird to take him to work. We did go get breakfast with him at out favorite breakfast taco place though - Tacodeli! YUM. We love that place.



Next stop, Big Top Candy Shop. Geez, that's a lot of candy! And it was in an old fashioned atmosphere. I am not a huge candy fan beyond chocolate so it wasn't as enticing as you'd think.

The girls loved looking, but when it came down to picking they picked simple stuff. JM got chocolate gold coins and JC got a candy necklace. I got a "hand-jerked" Dr. Pepper. The soda bar was the novel aspect of the place to me. Next time I need a float think.

We had lunch at Jo's. It was pretty amazing to go do this stuff with my big girls.

NO STROLLER and walking around downtown? So fun. I had a blast with them. Our big event of the day was of course Austin Children's Museum - our favorite downtown destination. The girls were so independent in there, making all their crafts. We also drove up close to the capital by JM's request. Then we went to pick up Daddy from work...2/3rds of the car was asleep. :-) Long, fun day.

And Happy Birthday Daddy. We were imagining you with us! You know, with all the imaginary friends we cram in our car. :-)

Sunrise on the Farm

In the heat of the summer you truly have to make use of early morning hours. On this day we let JM sleep while we took JC out for a canoe ride.

The Great East Texas Balloon Race

Up at the crack of dawn for a new tradition! We actually can walk out my in-laws front door to see quite a display but I made everyone load up to take a closer look. I am glad we did.

The New Collin Street Bakery

Waco, Texas

FREE COOKIES! That's always worth a stop!

East Texas Oil Museum

East Texas Oil Museum is in Kilgore.

We went there as children and it hasn't changed a bit.

As JM says "we went to a whole other world!" It does feel like it there. Especially for a small child - the life-size replica of an old small oil town. The ceiling has cloudy skies projected on it and there is the distant rumble of thunder and drilling as you walk the street. Horse and wagons and motor cars are stuck in the mud in the street. We will have to go every other year or so I think. It's definitely a nice sumemr attraction as the temperatures are cool inside. One of these days we will have to get to the Rangerette museum!