Welcome to Summer!

After working hard all school year, we always look forward to summer break. School got out at 12:15 on Thursday, so Will requested lunch at the MFAH. It's Henry favorite lunch spot too.

After lunch, we headed over to the Law building to check out Jesus Rafael Soto's Houston Penetrable.

This work of art is a sea of plastic tubes hanging from the ceiling, 

and it is meant to be experienced by touching and wading through the strands. 

Losing the boys in the plastic sea.

Houston Penetrable is a beautiful work of art but also a lot of fun for the kids. It's on display until September 1, and you can bet we'll be back to explore it many more times this summer. 

We also visited the Cullen Sculpture Garden and the student exhibition at the Glassell. It was a beautiful day to be outside, with temps in the mid-80s.

This sculpture is always a favorite.

Back at home, we had a small "Welcome to Summer" party. 

I got new books for everyone. We read all summer long, so this is just a tiny portion of what the boys will read this summer. 

Will's books included Mad Libs, a joke book, and two new adventures series to explore.

For Henry, I picked out a funny poetry book, Mad Libs, Miss Alaineus (because he likes playing with words) and an Angry Birds Playground book (but I accidentally put the wrong one in my amazon cart and have to remedy that ASAP!).

Henry realized right away that this was not Angry Birds Playground Atlas. And not only was it not the one he wanted, but we actually already own it! Oops!

 

Piggy cake, as usual, which kind of made up for the book mix-up!

Yesterday morning, in continuing our tradition of summer explorations, we decided to take advantage of the below-normal temps and head to the zoo. We wanted to check out the Extreme Bugs! exhibit as well as the new bug house. 

Huge animatronic bugs -- they did not disappoint!

 We snapped photos at each bug; these are some of the highlights. 

The bombardier beetle sprayed the boys with water, which they loved!

After seeing the giant insects, we checked out some real lifesize critters at the Bug House. Leaf cutter ants are always a favorite of ours. 

We had a delightful morning at the zoo and came home to bubble and (glitter) chalk fun in the backyard.

Bubbles prevail!

Summer 2014 has just begun but it's off to a fantastic start!