Spring Break 2008-2009

I have had these photos saved in my Blog Box for an entire year. And I want to get them out there. This is our Spring Break LAST YEAR. The kids LOVED it and would love to go again.

San Antonio, Sea World.
I've always loved the fat walrus. This one could do sit ups.
Sicily's first taste of Cotton Candy (Fairy Floss for you foreigners). She was in heaven.

I wish I had this fish tank in my house. We stayed here a good long time watching the dolphins. They are such beautiful creatures. I actually got to feed a wild one in Australia once.

Time for some rides. This was Phoenix's favorite. A cute little roller coaster just his size. I love his smile. This ride shot them straight up then dropped them in increments, bouncing along the way.

London and Aspen were tall enough to go on this ride but not brave enough. So they wanted to watch it a few time, in the end they only watched it once. You'll see London in a blue shirt, Aspen's in red. Watch closely.

Wild Rapids, longest line in the world, but worth it.

The end of the ride took us under a water fall. The boat actually turned and put ME directly in it's path. I got drenched.

THE ALAMO

Yep, that's really it. I always thought it'd be bigger.

The kids were not all that interested in the lecture Jared made them sit through. So they found other things to do to occupy their time.

Don't back up too far. I'm so glad this doesn't grow in my back yard.

Happy Birthday to Me

We went out for Mexican for my 31st Birthday! I know 31, how did that happen? Anyhow, Jared talked to the waiters and I got to dawn this cute "little" hat, then they sang rather loudly to me. Not embarrassed in the least.
Everyone wanted a go with the hat though. They all look so cute.

Jared didn't really want to try it on, but that's ok. We also go to go see "How to Train your Dragon." If you haven't seen it yet I'd HIGHLY recommend it. Really good show.

Spring Break T-Ball Videos

Marlene was lucky enough to see both the boys in a game while she was here. She made these cute little videos of Phoenix. Enjoy the Game!

Alligators Passing Through

If we didn't taken you here on your last visit, it's because we didn't know this place existed. Welcome to Brazos Bend National Park.
Those gators are pretty mean, so watch out.

We took the 40 Acre Lake trail this time, across the lake you see this look out point. Knowing that was coming was all that kept the kids going on the 1.2 miles hike. I know, it's so far. (Note the sarcasm in my typing.)

Ended up, though, there was plenty to see along the way. Pretty sure this tree is left over from Hurricane Ike. Makes a pretty good resting place, that is if you have someone to put you on top of it.

All I could think about as we hiked through the swamp was Bear Grills in "Man vs. Wild" This was one of the few episodes I've actually watched all the way through. They dumped him in the middle of a swamp, he caught a gator and ate it and somehow found his way out of the swamp. I was glad our swamp had a dry trail, he wasn't so lucky.

So here's the look out, 27 some odd stairs up. Not so bad, and you could see all that acreage of swamp. I know, not much but birds and wet lands. But the kids thought it was cool.

These little birdies were everywhere. Though I did note they didn't hang out too close to the alligators. Wonder why?!?

So here's our first little gator. Yes, that's me. And I'm only standing up this close to him because he has his back to me. The signs say stay 30 ft back, yet the path is only 6 ft wide, go figure.

This guy wasn't looking quite as sleepy as some of the others. But he was down a slight ravine, so I guess we were safe.

You know, some people risk their children's lives by going up a 5000 ft mountain, putting them on snow skies then pushing them off the side. But down here we prefer to force them to walk passed a fully grown alligator that's not behind bars while it turns its head to look at you as you walk by. Now you tell me which one's more scary.

But "Phoenix the Brave" has really good eyes. We'd just told the kids to stay clear of this big Daddy, only to be told that it wasn't a Daddy at all, it was one big Mama. Just past the last bit of green you'll notice a tiny long yellow and black striped baby alligator. Couldn't have been more than a month old. He was swimming all over the place. And this MAMA was keeping him mighty close. Good eyes Phoenix!

Picking Strawberries

Off to get some more Strawberries. It's that season again. Yummy!!
Sicily was being the little Nut that she is and trying to straddle the tire tracks. We told her to stay out of the muddy parts. I think she thought the treads were the mud.

Just picking, picking, picking. Unless of course you're Sicily, then it's just eating, eating, eating.
I could say we picked too many but all that Strawberry Spinach Salad, Strawberry Jam, Strawberries and Cream, Strawberry Pie, and Strawberry Ice Cream later I wasn't complaining.

This Farm is the greatest because after a long days work of picking (maybe took us 30 mins) those kids were in for a break. :)

And by the sticky red smiles on their faces, I'd say they had a pretty good time.

Gotta love Frobergs!

Houston Temple Trip

We are lucky enough, here in Houston, to live only 45 mins away from the Temple. I know that's not as close as those who live in Utah or Idaho, but it's close for us. When we lived in Australia the Temple was 4 hours away, and while in Egypt our closest Temple was in Switzerland! So 45 mins is really saying something.
And since Spring is in the air, down here in the South, we have beautiful Tulips and Purple Popcorn Trees. :) I made the kids sing that in Primary last week, I'm not sure they knew what I was singing.

Jared stayed home with the kiddos so Marlene and I could go through a session. Marlene's Temple is 3 hours from her home, so she was just as excited about a shorter drive to the Temple as I always am.

Science Museum with Aunt Marlene

Those are the biggest foot prints I have ever seen, but I think that Giants feet are on backwards.
Just a rather large petrified tree. They're lucky they got such a skinny sliver of it, that way many museums can have one of these. What I'd like to know is how do they cut petrified wood? Ever wondered that.

This Quartz comes from a mine in Hot Springs, Arkansas. That's right around the corner from Marlene's house. And she said you can go into the mine and dig some out your self. I know what we're doing next time we go visit Marlene. Though I don't know what I'd do with a 3 ft chunk like this one.

RRRRRRRRRROOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRR!!!!!! This is still one of Sicily's favorite things in the Museum. Funny little girl, she loves dinosaurs.

First Angles Game

London's first game of the Season. We've had 2 rained out games so far, so the team we played it was their 3rd game. Our little Angels sadly didn't win, but they had A LOT of fun.

London got to play a few different positions. Right field...
Pitcher and later 3rd base. It was a fun day on the field. And I think we all got a bit of sun.

London up to bat. Those balls come out of the pitching machine a lot faster than you'd think. But he did really good and didn't strike out once.

The after game Coach pep talk. I know, it's a lot of red for one group.

Go ANGELS!!! Good sportsmanship boys. They do this at the end of every game.

New Sleeping Arrangements

While Aunt Marlene was visiting we had a rearrangement of kids beds. Aspen and London shared a room (since they had to get up early for school). And Phoenix slept on the floor in Sicily's room (in the hopes that they would both sleep in).

Well, Sicily being the cuddle bug that she is, ditched her bed for Phoenix's. And Phoenix, being such an awesome big brother, let her.

I Read ' Me

Little Miss Independent thinks she can now do most things by herself. She was so cutely reading books to herself the other day. She was there for a good 10 mins too. And every time I'd offer to read to her she'd get all upset, "I read ' me!!!"
I sure hope we survive these Terrible 2's stage.

Fun at the Art Museum

Every Thursday the Houston Museum of Fine Arts is FREE!!! (I just love that word) So while Marlene was here we went to the museum, just me, Sicily and Marlene. The docents followed us around like a pack of wolves. Mostly because Sicily was by far the youngest kid there, but also because Marlene and I tend to get rather close to the paintings to actually look at the strokes. This freaks the docents out because they think we're trying to touch the paintings. :)

This is the first bit of art you come across when you go into the museum. There's a big sign that tells you it's OK to walk on the art. Sicily thought that was pretty cool.

This is a lighted hallway that Sicily was enthralled with. The light color changes about every half hour, we only saw it in Blue, but I've seen it pink before too.

We weren't allowed to take many pictures, but in some areas you can. Marlene found this beautiful vase, I think she'd like a copy for herself actually. And the gift shop gave me so good ideas for craft projects I could do with my kiddos. These first 2 are mobiles made out of paper. Aren't they awesome!?!

And here's a few broach flowers made from soda pop cans. Too cool if you ask me.