Charlie Died Today

Two weeks ago Charlie was diagnosed with Lymphoma (cancer in the lymph nodes), he was already in Stage 3. They can treat K-9 Cancer with Chemotherapy, but this type can only be put into remission and is not curable, it would come back in 13 months time or less. He's put up a good fight, and we made him as comfortable as we could.He really has been the best dog in the world. So sweet and funny. Protective of the kids, and me. Our big Teddy Bear and footstool (when Phoenix was little). Such a comfort to have there with you, especially when Jared was out of town. We could not have asked for a better dog and I don't know if we'll ever have another as good as him.

Jared gave me and the kids some amazing words of comfort, they are found in Doctrine & Covenants 77:2-3. They pretty much tell us that we know we'll see him again, and we know he is in a much better place and no longer hurting.

We love you Charlie!!

Riding the Bus

Our Bus Stop is a bit crazy this year. I think every house in the neighborhood added a Kindergartner. So there are a ton of kids. But to Phoenix's immense pleasure (as you can see), his little best friend, Zach, is on the bus with him. They aren't in the same class, but that doesn't mean they can't have a bit of fun at the Bus Stop.

They just grow up so fast. He's such a big 5 year old, Kindergartner. YEAH!!!

I miss him every moment.

First Day of School, First Day of School!!!

I woke up with thoughts of "Nemo" in my head.

These 3 were so VERY excited to head out the door and on there way to Kindergarten, 2nd Grade, and 5th Grade. Can you believe it? What an amazing day! They all had so much fun, meeting up with old friends and making new ones.
I walked them each to their classes this morning. But Phoenix's was the most eventful. I introduced him to a little boy named Dane who promptly asked Phoenix, "Do you want to be friends?" It was so sweet it made me smile. Life's just so much easier when your 5.

Houston Museum of Natural Science

We have a Family Pass to come to the HMNS every year. The kids love it, all of it.

I'm not sure if Phoenix or Sicily love the dinosaurs more, Sicily's always growling at them, while Phoenix just runs from one to the next asking what they are called.
They have a Wonderful exhibit on Oil Production. Jared was so excited when we saw this the first time. And is intent on bringing all visitors to see it so he can truly explain his job. This particular part give you examples of the different types of crude oil you find around the world. They differ from a red syrup, to a silver mud, to one that's almost green.

There is a really neat shell exhibit, for all those kids out there that have collections from the beach (me included). I liked the size examples of this particular display.

Right down to the larges Snail in the world, from Australia of course. I'm not sure if this is modern or a fossil, either way it's HUGE, and I definitely wouldn't want that thing in my garden.

This one was my favorite. So intricate and delicate. True beauty. Only about 3 inches tall.

Where Jared likes the Oil exhibit my favorite it the Crystal exhibit. Just amazing. You wander through all these natural crystals, Quartz, Copper, Gold, Amethyst...etc. Then you enter the Jewelry vault. Tiaras, necklaces, rings...everything. Love it!

Sicily liked the Pendulum this time around. She had a nice little break watching it go back and forth waiting for it to knock over the little cones. Through the course of the day it swings all around the circle knocking every one of those over. And it just keeps on swinging, it's actually controlled by the rotation of the Earth, not batteries or electricity.

Last but not least, Compact Car Parking. I think they parked sideways on purpose to show that their car really was a Compact Car, just in case someone was wondering.

Back in the 80's

Marlene had me French Braid her hair for one of our outings because the heat and humidity were killing her. She went upstairs to do her make up and bangs and came down with the classic poof of the 80's. Sicily was enthralled, thought it was the most amazing thing she had ever seen. Kept asking to touch her bangs. Too funny!

NASA Space Center

My brother, Mark, served his mission here in Houston, Texas. And for my Birthday (I was 11 or 12 that year) he bought me this poster of the Grand Opening of the Houston Space Center. It's seen better days but it now hangs in my boys bedroom, they love it. It goes well with the glow in the dark Planets and constellations.Years later this is still the coolest museum ever. So many things to do and see and SO MUCH for kids to dream about becoming. It gives Science a purpose and gives kids a goal.

London rode on the little air puffer thing. You have to move yourself around and try to touch the target, it's harder than it looks.

Phoenix liked the play land. Balls and wind and shooting things, so fun.

Men on the Moon, just cool.

But all of this finally took it's toll on at least one of our kiddos. We got her to stop running for 5 mins while we watched a film, and she was out for the rest of the afternoon. Too much fun for this little one.

NASA Tour

I stole a bunch of these photos off of Marlene's Blog, she just got some better shots than I did, thanks sis. Just a bunch of cool rockets to enjoy outside.Family Photo, these are few and far between lately.
They took us inside the actual training center for the astronauts. Those people down there are real live astronauts, so cool!
This is a model of the Shuttles they fly into Space, life size! It was huge! They train in here.
And of course the wonderful American flag. Under the flag you will see the Challenger and Columbia Mission Patches. Both of these missions ended in explosions, so sad yet so neat to see them honored here.
Phoenix was bored out of his mind at this point of the tour. As we were leaving the training area I looked down on the ground and saw this "Batman" exit thing on the ground. It was some type of grate. Phoenix got all excited when I told him that's where Batman comes in to help the astronauts. I don't think the people behind me were too impressed, the didn't even smile or anything. Boring! Hey, Phoenix was impressed and that's all that counts.
As we moved on to the next area we passed this grove of trees. Each tree was planted to honor one of the fallen Astronauts. Pretty cool. Onto the Saturn 5! This Rocket was HUGE and used multiple times to launch all the Apollo missions into space.

Here's London in front of 1 of the rocket blasters used to shoot this thing up.

But it actually required 5 of these rockets to get it into space.

And it's no wonder, look how huge it is!

And all they were trying to get up there was this tiny capsule that was on it's nose. Crazy eh'?

Neil Armstrong and Buzz, 1st Men on the Moon. And my kids got to pose with them, how cool is that!

Apollo 13, no it wasn't really Tom Hanks, but these are the real guys, plus London.

NASA Star Wars the Clone Wars

Our next adventure with Aunt Marlene was to the NASA Space Center. Totally fun! And what got the kids most stoked was the Star Wars the Clone Wars exhibit. They had games, rides, mazes, all sorts of adventures all themed around Star Wars.

I don't watch the show enough to know but apparently Count Duku rides on some cool motorcycle like cruisers. So this ride was based around that. You had to be over 12 and under a certain weight. I only missed the weight by 5 lbs, so that's the goal for now so I can go back and do this ride. Way too cool.

I convinced Phoenix to go with me on the Obstacle course though. It was set 15 ft in the air so he was not too excited. But had fun all the same.

London and Aspen were way more brave than Phoenix. The worker guy had to carry him across this ladder bridge. And check out the crazy boards to the left.

BBQ at Brazos

We took Marlene with us to Brazos Bend National Park last time she came to visit and completely freaked her out with all the amazing wildlife (Alligators). So this time we just went for a cook out and tried to catch a few fire flies.

First things first came the Pit Stop, where we discovered our first wildlife right there in the bathroom. Cute little tree frog.

While Daddy tried to light the fire (the wood was WAY wet) Aunt Marlene and the kids took a nature walk. It was too pretty to not take some pictures.

Aspen found herself and umbrella out there in the woods. Can you believe the mushrooms get this big, ridiculous!

Sicily was kind enough to call everyone for dinner. She's trying to learn to cup her hands to make her voice carry farther. Thus far it's still a work in progress.

When the fire was finally going we had some yummy hot dogs. The kids hot dogs were more smoked than cooked, they were a bit to anxious for dinner.

Sicily's favorite part (all the kids really) came after the hot dogs. Who doesn't like a nice gooey S'more! Graham crackers, chocolate and a hot toasted marshmallow. YUM! Pure summer.

It was super dark and creepy by the time we left. The fire flies were out. And those things are stinking hard to catch.

No they are not walking the white line to test for Root Beer intake, we are actually on our way to the garbage can.

Love my Charlie

We took Charlie on a drive with us somewhere and it was hilarious. If it's just me and him in the mini van he goes straight to the back and lounges along the entire back seat. Well when there are kids in the car, he goes straight to the back and lounges across the entire back seat. Apparently kids just add extra comfort in his book. :)

Nakins

We were invited to dinner after church one Sunday and so excited to see this beautiful napkin holder that one of their older boys had made in Scouts. The reason we were so happy to see this is this is the Napkin holder that we grew up with. But ours said, "Please take a Nakin."

Water Time

We love Aunt Marlene! Aunt Marlene came to visit for a week and the kids were ecstatic. So excited to get to play with her. We always love when she comes and all the fun activities we get to do.

You gotta love an Aunt who's more than happy to soak you down. All smiles!

Cool Sites

Every now and again we see something pretty cool on the way home from church. A Parasailer, complete with fan. Cool, eh?!? The kids were actually excited to look out the window for once.

Cub Scout Ice Skating

To beat the heat we took the Scouts Ice Skating. It was WONDERFULLY cold! And just lovely.

But skating with a bunch of 10 year old boys can be a little far from lovely. ;) I did awesome, by the way, only fell on my butt once and that was because I lost my balance putting snow down one of the boys shirts. :)

That's London there in the stripped navy shirt faking like he can't skate. London's pretty good at this stuff.
Sicily was finally brave enough to put on some skates, size 8, so tiny!

She spent most of the 2 hours doing this. Her poor belly was cold. Phoenix got rather brave and was able to move along on his own and not fall down, he did awesome.

Jared's back was killing the next day, but it was so worth all the smiles he and Sicily shared.

True to form, Aspen thinks she's an Ice Princess. She really is a natural at this kind of thing. Much more interested in doing tricks than racing. Though she did enjoy chasing those boys.

One of the best events of the evening happened to one of the boys in the other Ward. He'd been racing along all evening, purposely falling and being crazy. In the end he broke his leg, got taken off by the EMT's and everything. So he'll be on crutches for the first 3 weeks of school