Summer Break: Week Two

Summer is our favorite time of year! The busy-ness of the school year, with the long school days, homework and after-school activities give way to lazy summer days, sleeping in and getting to do whatever we want.

With our California vacation taking up the first week of summer, I am documenting summer 2015 beginning with week two. We try to get out of the house every day for some activity but we enjoy plenty of downtime to read, play and create elaborate imaginary worlds too!

Sunday: Henry and I explored the new East End farmers market right after our trip to California. It's a small market but we came away with bags of fresh veggies to add to every meal. We're enjoying digging through our recipes to find old favorites as well as new ones, like this caprese mac and cheese.

Henry loves playing football with Gene in the backyard. After Sunday's playtime, Henry wrote Gene the sweetest note about their time together.  

Monday: We visited the library and picked up our annual pool pass at the rec center and were at the pool as soon as they opened. It was our first visit of the season. The boys are such good swimmers now!

We also started a couple of science experiments. Can you see the stalactite/stalagmite? We created this out of baking soda, water and string!

Tuesday:  We went to a Super Science Summer members event at the Health Museum. The boys decorated flower pots and planted dill seeds. We also explored the new Eat Well, Play Well exhibit.  

We finished our morning with a picnic lunch at Gramma and Grampa's and the boys played happily with my childhood toys.

Wednesday: We love summer dollar movies. This week we watched Nut Job.

Thursday: We spent the whole day at home but had a fun evening outing planned. It was the annual Water Squirt Melee for Cub Scouts. It was good to catch up with our Scout friends after not seeing them for an entire month!

Friday: We headed to two museums on Friday. First up, the science museum, where we searched the paleontology wing for prehistoric sea turtles. We found quite a few fossils!

After two hours at the museum, we decided to visit the MFAH for lunch and to check out the new exhibits. We stumbled upon Gyula Kosice's The Hydrospatial City, which is an amazing room-sized exhibit of a floating utopia. It reminded me of Tomorrowland and the boys and I were wowed. We walked between the floating structures, examining them and searching for little people inside. I didn't snap any pictures, but this is one exhibit that we'll revisit again and again this summer. It has already sparked many drawings and new games for the boys. A must-see exhibit, especially for kids!

We then visited Shadow Monsters, a new installation by artist Philip Worthington. It's a participatory exhibit that uses technology to transform your shadows. The boys had so much fun with this exhibit!

Saturday: Here are a few pictures from another one of our experiments. We soaked one egg in vinegar all week and another in water. After five days, the shell had dissolved from the vinegar egg and all that was left was the egg's inner membrane. When you drop the egg, it bounces just like a ball.

My favorite boys!

The summer months are a needed break from the routines of the school year and so far, our summer is shaping up to be a fantastic one!