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....

January 2012

Not a lot of time for blogging lately. Seems when we've been staying home we've had one sickness or another and I don't really feel like blogging at those times. Other times we're constantly going-going-going and I'm exhausted at the end of the day and don't feel like even thinking, let alone blogging. LOL

Below is a picture recap of the month of January...

Josh and I went shooting with some of the guys from Conoco Phillips (his new job). I shot his Glock and his AR and was getting pretty good with the Glock, but at one point I had my hand in the wrong spot and the slide part came back and took a small chunk out of my knuckle on my thumb. Josh got to shoot the other guys' guns like the dessert eagle pictured above.

I signed up online to get a unit study from Panda Express about the Chinese New Year and it came with a DVD, craft papers (making lanterns above), worksheets and 32 coupons for free kids meals! Seriously we still have like 15 of those coupons left, I've been giving them out to anyone I know. If you would like some, let me know and I'll give you some. (It does require the purchase of an adult meal for each free kids meal.) 

On the 14th  Joshua turned 11! Seriously, I have an 11 year old people! I can't believe it! He's showing of his new winter coat we got him in the picture above.
Some stats on Joshua...
Height: 5'1"
Weight: 115 lbs
Shoe Size: Men's 10
What he want to be when he's grown: Chef

I find it hard to plan birthday parties for Joshua. Being just after the holidays and the cold unpredictable weather at that time of year, seems to ruin any plans I make. So this year we just took him down to Burlington to Chuck E Cheese (where the pic of Eli and my dad was taken), played a ton of games and ate pizza (salad and knitting for me!), then we headed back to Bellingham and took him out for a game of bowling. While Josh and the boys were bowling I went to Dairy Queen and picked up an ice cream cake, per his request and took it back home to thaw. We came home, had cake and if I remember correctly played more video games. 

 The day of Joshua's birthday was the start of our big snow storm of the year. Some places closed during the storm and schools were cancelled, so we stayed home and played outside with the neighbor kids. 

The boys built a snow fort wall for snow ball fights and Eli kept filling her bucket and adding to their wall. 

After the cold winds came in we decided it was too cold and stayed inside and admired the snow from the warmth of the apartment.

We finished off the month with the snow melting away just in time for my sister to fly in from Texas. We had just over a week to visit with her and my nephew Tristan. I didn't take a single pic while they were up. We were having too much fun playing with Tristan and catching up. =)

Stay tuned if I find a few more minutes this week, I'll get some posts up here of what has been happening this month. 

Joshua's Birthday

Kinda late posting about this, but I wanted to share how we celebrated Joshua's birthday back on January 14th. His birthday came on the heals of us all having the stomach flu, so not much was planned for that day, as we didn't know how everyone would be feeling.
We started out our day at Yeagar's. They have a kids birthday club you can sign up for in the store and they mail you a birthday postcard with a $2 coupon to use in the store. Joshua got two "dinosaur dig" kits with his bday monies and everyone enjoyed getting to play with the toys they have there.
The next stop was to Barnes and Noble where he got a free cupcake in the cafe for being a member of their kids club and he got to pick out one book to be one of his presents from us.
Some of the family started to not feel so hot, so we called it a day and stopped off and got some pizza to bring home and an ice cream cake from Dairy Queen.


Oh mom! Do you have to take my picture! LOL

Some little facts about Joshua:

• Age: 10
• Height: just over 5'
• Weight: just over 100 lbs
• Shoe size: men's 9
• Favorite hobby: video games
• Favorite color: red
• Future job: chef