Vacation Roadtrip 2014 Days 6

On the 6th day of our vacation we headed into Downtown Houston to check out the Aquarium. Growing up going to the Vancouver Aquarium and having many friends and family members that frequented the Seattle Aquarium my expectations were high. Several people warned us that it wasn't that great, but since it was part of our City Pass we went and checked it out.

Biggest tank at the Aquarium

Everyone was right it was a bit disappointing. We were able to walk slowly through the main aquarium in less than an hour. Most of the fish were your average aquarium fish. The highlights of the main part for my kids were the boa constrictor and the white bangled tiger. 

Elli and the Boa

Our City Pass didn't include entrance to the carnival rides outside the aquarium or the train that drove through a tunnel on the shark exhibit. So that was  another disappointment for the kids.

The Tiger

We did however get into the sting ray exhibit and I had just enough cash to buy the food to feed the rays. To feed them you have to hold a little minnow fish between your knuckles, put your had under the water and wait for them to come up and suck the fish out of your hand. It was equally cool and disgusting at the same time.

The Sting Ray Cove definitely redeemed the day!

After we finished at the Aquarium we drove over to the Museum District and checked out the Children's Museum. It was pretty good, for a children's museum.  Lots of stuff for kids to climb and play on. Lots of scientific stuff for the kids to learn from. It was Elli's favorite part of the trip, but the boys were less impressed with it.

Building Rockets

Our favorite part of this museum was the hands on area in the basement. They had little stations set up where you could make paper airplanes, rockets and parachutes. Then you could test out your creation in their launch cage or wind tunnels. My mechanically minded kids (and husband) could have spent all day there. They also had a Lego vehicle building station and a couple test tracks to race the vehicles on.

All in all, it was a fun day. Next post... NASA!!!!

Vacation Roadtrip 2014 Days 4 &5

Day 4 of our vacation was rather uneventful and I didn't take a single picture. We had Egg & I for breakfast and went to Walmart and bought Zaccheaus new swim shorts, since he packed his old ones from last summer. Then we went to visit Josh's mom at her apartment and made plans for taking her out with us the next day. 

Waiting for Breakfast

We had breakfast at Kelley's Country Cooking, a local chain restaurant. The portions were gigantic and no one could eat all their food. We left with 3 boxes of left overs. After breakfast we headed over to the Museum District of Houston and checked out the Houston Museum of Natural Sciences. 

Mock up a refinery made out of neon lights

There was a whole area dedicated to the local mega industry of oil refining. The kids really enjoyed this because it helped them further understand what happens at Josh's work. 

Learning about the oil industry

 Next we checked out the fossils on display at the museum. This was by far the biggest display of dinosaur bones and fossils I had ever seen. They had several different dinosaurs, mammoths, giant turtles and other creatures. There was even a skeleton of a giant sloth, that I am not entirely sure was real.

They're having fun, really they are

The kids liked seeing the real skeletons of creatures from all the different movies they've seen. I kept hearing that one's from Ice Age, that's the T-Rex from Land Before time. Joshua carefully documented the whole area with pictures on his DS.

Tree samplings of petrified wood

The gallery of petrified wood slices was so cool. The slices of trees would make the most beautiful artwork to hang up at home. Too bad it would cost a fortune to get some. Several of the samples were from Washington State!

Seeing how much each metal weighs

In the basement of the museum was a science lab with a big interactive periodic table (I wish LeapFrog or some other company would make something like that) and lots of interactive exhibits for kids to learn about matter, the solar system, the weather and elements.

In the weather lab

 After the basement we went up to the second floor, where they had exhibits on sea shells/ sea life and a huge exhibit on rocks and gems. The older two have always been interested in Geology so this exhibit was really neat for them. Unfortunately this exhibit was so dark I didn't get a single good picture.

Elli wanted her picture taken by the Zebra, but she refused to pose. LOL

Across the hall from the rock and gem exhibit was the African Animal exhibit. We didn't spend a whole lot of time here as it was just stuffed African animals. The kids have all been to zoos with live versions that were more entertaining than the stuffed version. ;-)

Checking out the Egyptian artifacts

On the third floor there was an Egyptian exhibit full of many different artifacts from different time periods. There was several mummy's on display and when we came up on one Elli would say "Great another dead guy". She was a little creeped out by them.

 Also on the third floor was a exhibit of the Americas that included displays on the Inca, Mayan, Native American and Inuit cultures. After seeing all the mummy's Elli thought the Eskimo mannequin was another "dead guy" and got really freaked out for a second because that one was standing up.

If you ever come to Houston the HMNS is a must see. We learned later in the week that Thursdays from 2-5 was free, but we didn't mind since our tickets were part of our City Pass that Josh bought through his work. You can walk through it fast in about 3 hours or slow down and spend all day there. Either way it is fun. I had my pedometer on and we walked 5 miles that day!

More post coming soon!

Vacation Roadtrip 2014 Days 1,2 & 3

 I finally feel recovered enough from our drive that I can share about it. Man that was a long drive!

The route we took

 We left at 4am on Friday and began our trek to Josh's dad's house near Houston. As soon as we were into Eastern Washington Elli began asking if we were in Texas yet. She was not happy when we explained she had a day and a half to go.

Eastern Washington

We seemed to be traveling ahead of some storm system. Just as we were leaving each region we would get a weather warning on our phones for that area. We experienced nearly every type of weather possible. Rain, hail, lightning, thunder, sunshine, SNOW, fog and high winds were some we drove through.

I love wind turbines! These are in Eastern Oregon. Pay no attention to the crack in my windshield.  

Josh and I took turns driving and basically changed seats at each fill up. Although I think he did more night driving than I did. I don't do well at night. 

Wyoming

 When we crossed through the mountains (around 10pm PST) of Wyoming I was trying to sleep and for some reason I woke up really nauseous, so we ditched the plans of trying to make it to Denver and got a room for the night in Rawlins, WY. I am so thankful we did that. We got one room and all squeezed in. Everyone slept well, we got a large free breakfast and we were back on the road by 11am PST.

Elli playing the game she got in her Chick-Fil-A meal

 Anyone who really knows me knows I do not eat fast food, but on a road trip it's hard to stop and eat at a good restaurant. There are 2 fast food places I will make an exception for. At home it's Taco Time and I only get the salad. On this trip, it's been Chick-Fil-A! On day 1 we stopped for lunch there just outside Boise. Day 2 found us eating a late lunch there in Denver. Josh really loves their food and I find it doesn't make me sick like some other fast food places, so we'll be eating there a lot on this trip.

Josh crashed as soon as we got to his dad's

We pushed through on the second day/ night and got into Houston around 9am EST on the third day. Needless to say we were pretty tired and took our turns taking naps throughout the day.

The Tasty Kake Fairy Visited Josh while he slept!

While Josh was napping, Elli and I ran to the store and found some of Josh's favorite treats that we can't get in Washington. He used to get these all the time when he lived in Pennsylvania as a kid and I used to buy them for him online, but when I tried last time they didn't sell them online anymore. He was so excited to hear they had them in Texas. I think we may be taking a few boxes home with us when we leave. 

Kids in the pool

Josh's dad's house has a pool out back, so once we were rested a bit we let the kids play until it was time for dinner. The kids are loving it here! I'm having fun, but can't wait to get back to my home. I feel so out of place down here. I'm pretty sure the locals can sense that I am not from here. LOL

I'll share the rest of our adventures soon...Stay tuned....

A Surprise for Elli

A while (maybe 2 yrs ago?)  back I thought it would be fun for Elli to try out ballet, so I took her to a free day at DFJ. She did not listen at all, so we never went again.

Recently when we would drive by she would point out "oh! there's my ballet place! why can't I go there? Please, can I go there?" I wanted to say yes but it is so expensive and I wasn't sure how she would handle it this time around. So we waited.

A few weeks ago a friend posted pictures of her daughters ballet performance at FHS online and it looked like a great group to be a part of. I looked it up online and knew right away it was the ballet group for Elli. We used some of her Christmas money to get her dance gear and pay the initial fees and we waited until the morning of her first lesson to tell her the good news.

She was so happy to finally be going to ballet.

 

They did some real ballet moves....

 

 

They danced with scarves...

 

They also did some tumbling and jumping, but those were hard to get good photos of on my phone.

 

Her group is really small (only two other girls and two teachers), so it works well for keeping her interested. The free day we attended had about 15 toddlers participating, so this is much nicer. She seems to really like it and is really interested in learning this time around. Hope she keeps enjoying it!

 

Surprise!!!

This past Tuesday (May 29th) we all loaded up in the Durango and headed off for a drive. I had already packed for everyone and had it loaded up. The kids had no idea where we were going. They came to consensus that we must be going to Auntie Trish's and Uncle Ben's because we never go anywhere else. After we past the Auburn area, they decided we must be going to visit my sister Shandi.
Shandi lives right down the road from our destination, so I let them keep on thinking that until we surprised them with the real destination in the video below!

I love how Gabe is pretending to not be excited... LOL!

Here are some pictures of our fun time!

Joshua... He's getting all grown up & stuff... He needs to stop that!

Zaccheaus warming up in the kiddy pool

Elli getting sprayed at the Fort McKenzie part of the waterpark

She loved spraying everyone at the jet skis

Having fun at the kiddy slides

Shandi, Seaira, Sariah and Shanel(pictured above) came to play (a little fuzzy I know, but it was the best I got of her)

We watched the clocktower show each night we were there... The rhythm of nature song is now emblazoned into my memory and that's not a good thing. the show was filled with "lovely" lines like "trust the great wolfs howl" and "there's nothing to be scared of here, trust in Mother Nature"... Um, ya given the chance that great wolf would eat you and last time I checked nature cannot be trusted! ;-)

The story time afterwards was good though and the younger two enjoyed meeting the animal characters. On the first night Zaccheaus got all dressed up in his outfit just like the character Oliver, only to find out they just bring out one character each night and that night was Wiley's turn to be out for story time. The story reader lady noticed him all decked out in his Oliver garb, so she brought Oliver out for story time the second night we were there.

Zaccheaus and Oliver

Now Oliver being the mischievous raccoon that he is, sometimes is known to steal things... Like the story teller's book or a kids hat. Well, this evening Oliver was so excited that Zaccheaus dressed up just like him, he tried stealing Zaccheaus! He started walking off with him & Zaccheaus went right along with him... Of course they didn't go far and Oliver quickly returned my boy to me. 

Gabe joined us for story time on the second night and Oliver gave him nooggies to get him to smile for the camera. 

We all had a great time and the kids are all already ready to go back again!

Bham Herald Cute Kid Contest

I entered a picture of Elizabeth into the the Bellingham Herald's Cutest Kid Contest in hopes of winning a gift certificate to our favorite consignment shop. Hop on over to their page and vote for her, please. =)

Read more here: http://bellinghamherald.upickem.net/engine/SubmissionWidgetView.aspx?PageType=VOTING&ContestID=56530&SubmissionID=19155769&IncrementNumber=1#storylink=cpy

Her favorite thing...

Elizabeth's summer can be summed up with the love for one animal in particular... she has developed a love for horses! I'm not sure if it's just a girl thing or a her thing, but everywhere we go she finds horse toys, pictures, etc. Anything she sees with a horse on it, she exclaims "my horsie, for me!" LOL.

She rode them in Eastern WA



she rode them in Covington, WA



she rode them at the NW WA Fair in Lynden



she rode them at Shanel's party in Olympia, WA


 She loves them so much we did her birthday party with the cowgirl theme and the horse barns are where we spent most of our time at the NW WA Fair. While we were in the horse barn near the arena she spotted one just her sized and I'm pretty sure we sat there for nearly 10 minutes, just starring at that little pony. Oh, how I wish I could buy her one, but until that day we'll stick with the ones that only cost a quarter or two to ride!

Happy Birthday Elizabeth

So as I mentioned in my last post I've been busy planning and prepping for Elizabeth's birthday party that we had on Sunday. Overall it was a great party and Elizabeth had a blast! Turnout was small with just some cousins, Aunts and my mom and dad attending. But in a way it made it more special because the cousins were all from out of town, so our time could be solely focused on them and not our friends who we tend to see more often. Not that I wouldn't have loved having all her little friends there as well!

The party was at Pioneer Park in Ferndale, which just added to the "Vintage Cowgirl" theme I was going for. The back picnic shelter at the park had actually been turned into a stable, so it was fun to have that as our background and a place to do a hay-find game. The kids loved digging through all the hay looking for candies. We also played "pin the tail on the cow", where the kids earned a Cow-tail candy bar and each family got to take home a jar of Bakerella's Cowgirl Cookies.
Our party ended up happening in two parts because a member of the women's group that does the tours of Pioneer Park came over and said we had to be out by 5pm. So we packed everything up and did cake over by the playground off the parking lot, which is open until dark. While walking over to the other picnic tables the parks guy from the city came by and told us we could have stayed and he would have left the gates open until we were done (information that would have been great BEFORE we moved everything!). But, we went ahead with wrapping up the party at the playground anyways. Thanks everyone who made it!



Stole this pic off my sister's blog... isn't she a great photographer?



Resting and Planning

I feel like this summer (or lack there of) we have been sick more than any other! Mostly just allergy/cold type sicknesses that come with this damp Washington climate, but non the less we've had lots of sick kiddos lately which doesn't lead to many interesting blog posts, sorry! We've just been lounging around getting lots of rest and not doing a whole lot, trying to reduce risk of getting sick again.

Here's a little sneak peek at the projects I've been working on lately. Elizabeth is turning 3 on the 15th and we're doing a small party for her on Sunday. We chose the theme "vintage cowgirl" and below is a collage of my inspiration photos. Most are from TomKat Studios and I don't remember where the rest came from (sorry again). Elizabeth is very excited and for the first time is really understanding that this party is for her. Now I just hope it's fun enough for her that she's not disappointed when she doesn't get the "weel hosie" (real horsie) she asked for. LOL



I ♥ my mom

When I got up this morning I checked my phone and saw a text from my mom that read;
"Please have Eli look outside the door when she wakes up"
We open the door to find a giant gift bag with the movie Tangled, a Rapunzel doll, party supplies and treats for the kids, so we got the table all set and had our breakfast on our Tangled plates and Pop-Tarts that were in the bag and then watched the movie.
It was the perfect pick up for the kids, life has been rather boring around here lately and I have just been exhausted since the Women's Retreat last weekend. Here's some pics of the morning, thus far.


Pop-Tarts, eggs and sausage for breakfast on Tangled plates



Her new favorite doll

And yes I know my phone camera is still messed up. Someday I'll have a new camera and there will be some decent pictures on here. ;-D
I think I'm going to make some pretzels or something for an afternoon snack & then it's time to get working on our Awanas verses. Thanks again mom! Love you!

Update on Elizabeth

Took Eli into the doctors this morning and found out that she has a sinus infection as well as an infection in her left ear. They put her on a 10 day round of antibiotics & gave us some numbing drops for her ear. Doctor said her lungs sounded clear and her throat looked good, so I am thankful we're not dealing with something super contagious like strep or serious like pneumonia.

The receptionist at the doctor's office handed me a mask for Elizabeth and at first I thought there was no way I could get her to wear it, (there was no way any of my boys would have ever worn it) but I figured I'd give it a try. She kept it on the whole time we waited in the front room (about 15-20 min) and didn't take it off until the nurse was checking her vitals back in the exam room. I love having a little girl! =D

Just When I Thought We Were All Well....

Elizabeth has come down with another fever! Yesterday she fell asleep while I made a trip to the grocery store, didn't wake when I put her into the shopping cart, didn't wake when I put her back into the car and didn't wake when we came back home. She slept from about 5:30pm until 10:30pm. I took her to bed and she slept most of the night, only waking when she needed her fever meds.

Last Night

She's not her usual energetic self, but we're getting in lots of snuggles, so it's OK. She's loving her new "horsie" (unicorn pillowpet pictured above), Thanks again Shandi! 

Today

Still really sleepy today, just lounging and getting lots of fluids into her. You can tell she's a little better today because she tried to smile for this one. LOL! I need to get a new thermometer, but I am positive that her fever is well over 100 degrees. I am thankful that so far there has been no vomiting with this flu bug, (that was no fun last month) but can't wait for her to be feeling better.Until then we'll be snuggling here watching all this beautiful snow coming down outside... Now if it would only start sticking!

Not so little Miss Elizabeth

Just got home from a check up for Elizabeth and she is weighing in at 37lbs and is 38" tall. Pretty good sized for a 2 1/2 year old. LOL!

Christmas

We had a pretty low key Christmas day here. After hosting Josh's family for Christmas Eve, we wanted to keep everything else pretty simple. On Christmas Eve Ben, Trish & the girls came up and brought Jacob with them. My parents came over too. But, I don't have any pictures because I was too busy cooking. We had Salmon, Meatballs, Lamb, Mussels & Clams, mini quiches, mini egg rolls, stuffed mushrooms, veggies & dip, deviled eggs, potato bites, and a bunch of sugary treats too. All but the "mini" foods were homemade and I think next year that might change. ;-D I enjoyed that it was all fresh and not full of additives and preservatives, but I'll have to make some shortcuts next year. I was literally in the kitchen ALL DAY! But we had a blast, so I suppose it was worth it. 

Eli opening her "Baby Princess" book.

Back to Christmas morning, I was thankful Josh had picked up muffins on his last Costco run and was able to give the kids that special treat for breakfast before opening presents. Each kid just got a toy, book and some clothes and it's total chaos during the opening process, so that's the best picture I got, LOL.

The boys got their usual Legos from us and my grandparents got them some too. We all sat around for a few hours getting them all built.

Zaccheaus' favorite new toy! The Buzz Lightyear ROBOT! It walks...It talks... and it has a "Spanish" mode that makes me giggle every time I hear it. I don't know what it is about a little spaceman toy doing a little mariachi dance, but I find it hilarious. I even laugh at it in the TS3 movie and Josh just doesn't get it. 

This wasn't really a Christmas present, but it's too cute not to blog about. My mom and I did some after Christmas shopping and Eli flipped over this Princess Snow White baby doll. We had to get it! Seriously, she has a princess problem and I can tell you I didn't instill it in her...It is all her! Pink and frilly and girly.... And I have to say I'm actually enjoying it! ;-D

Elizabeth is two!!!

On Sunday, August 15th we celebrated Elizabeth's second birthday with a "pretty princess tea party". We had yummy snacks and dined out on the deck under a hastily made canopy to shield us from the blazing sun. ( I swear it was at least 90 out that day)

We opened presents and had our cupcakes inside.

Then it was pinata time! We cycled through all the kids and then I took a turn trying to knock it open. Once Josh got a turn it was finally broken open and all the kids were diving into their spoils.

The kids took a break to watch a DVD and enjoy their treats, while the grown-ups cleaned up and visited.

Happy Birthday to my sweet little girl!