Gorillas at the Houston Zoo

Summer break is here and the boys and I could not be more excited about our summer adventures. We love the long relaxed days and the break from the routines of the school year. There is so much to see and do in Houston and we have much fun planned this summer.

Our summer fun started yesterday with a trip to the Houston Zoo. It was a beautifully cool morning with lots of cloud cover and some spotty rain here and there -- the perfect day to visit the zoo!  

We got to the zoo minutes before they opened and were the first ones through the gate. We headed straight back to the gorillas but stopped to see the black bears, Willow and Belle.

These sisters were orphaned in California after their mother was killed by a hunter. They were playing, chasing and nipping at each other, which was quite fun to see. 

After watching the bears play, we made it over to the new gorilla habitat, which just opened about a week ago. We've been watching the construction for over a year and were so excited to finally see gorillas at our zoo! The habitat was beautiful and very natural looking.

The Houston Zoo has two groups of gorillas: a family group and a trio of bachelors. The bachelors were out exploring and eating while we were there.  

 

After visiting the gorillas, the boys wanted to see the elephants take a bath.

It was such a mild day that we spend all morning at the zoo, finally ending up in the children's zoo.

Henry and the tortoise.

Our summer is already off to a fun start!

Welcome to Summer!

School's out for summer! First and third grade are DONE!

The last couple of days were packed with end-of-the-year fun. Henry's class went to "Camp Read-a-Lot" on Wednesday. We tie-dyed class shirts last week especially for camp, and they turned out really well.

Camp had originally been scheduled for Tuesday, but with school canceled, camp was moved to Wednesday. The kiddos spent the whole day reading and snacking. We all sent care packages with the kids; Henry's had a new book, letters from all of us, and disassembled s'mores for a snack. What a fun day in first grade! 

The kids also celebrated the end of the school year with a dance party in the cafeteria. It was a madhouse with over 200 kids bouncing and dancing!

Here's one final picture of Henry and his sweet teacher, Ms. Perkins. He had a great first grade year!

Will's ice cream/dance party was also on Tuesday. It was less chaotic that the first grade party. The boys mostly did the conga line.  

My favorite third-grader with his ice cream.

Look who stopped by the party!

Here's Will with his teacher, Mrs. McClintock, on the last day of school. Third grade was a great year for him! 

School dismissed at 12:15 yesterday. The boys and I popped in to Little Matt's for lunch (along with half of WUES!) and then grabbed a few books at the library before heading home for our third annual Welcome to Summer party.

It's not so much a party as a celebration of the end of the school year and beginning of summer break. We spend a lot of time reading in the summer so I get each boy some new books to get them started. Normally I make a cake, but I ran out of time this year and picked up cupcakes (red velvet for Will, chocolate coconut for Henry) at Crave instead. 

Will was easy to shop for this year. He is really into the Pendragon series, so I got him the first five books along with Sideways Arithmetic from Wayside School and Spy Mad Libs. 

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Will loved his new books!

Henry is harder to shop for. He adores the Harry Potter series and is almost done with #6, but is convinced that nothing will compare. I listened to recommendations from friends and got him the first in the Ranger's Apprentice and Seven Wonders series. I also picked up The Lemonade War, a sea turtles book (the boy is obsessed with turtles) and Ninja Mad Libs. 

 

The sea turtles book was a huge hit! 

The boys have worked so hard this year at school and we are so looking forward to the long summer break. We have lots of fun planned! 

Lately: Rain, Rain and More Rain

This May has been the rainiest one I can ever remember! While we are thankful for the cooler temperatures the rain brings, everyone in Houston is ready for a few dry days.  

Here are some highlights of the past week:

We found the first cherries of the season at the grocery store. We love summer fruits!

Gene and I celebrated our 11th anniversary last Friday. While my folks watched the boys, we enjoyed dinner at Sorrento, one of our favorite restaurants (we celebrated our second and seventh anniversaries there as well). Fun fact: Disneyland's 60th anniversary was also on May 22!

Saturday night saw us out at the science museum for another members' event. We viewed the new Hamman Hall of Texas Coastal Ecology.

This boy is enamored of sea turtles right now. A kind lady heard Henry talking about turtles and suggested we take a trip down to Galveston to visit the NOAA Fisheries for a sea turtle tour. It is now on our summer/fall to-do list!

Monday was Memorial Day and we had a free morning, so I suggested a hike at the Houston Arboretum since it wasn't raining and it wasn't too hot. Fortunately, my crew is almost always up for an adventure. It was a great way to spend a spring morning.

Henry loves trumpet flowers

and roly polies!

We ended Memorial Day weekend with a cookout in the backyard. Henry also received a very special gift (a 15th century Portuguese coin) from a Portuguese friend of Pop's. Pop's friend was taken with Henry's research of Henry the Navigator and sent this very unique gift to him. Henry was thrilled and it is something he will always treasure.   

Some incredible storms sat over Houston Monday night, causing major flooding and closing area schools on Tuesday. Fortunately, our house and street remained dry and we were safe, so the boys and I took a bike ride around the neighborhood in the morning. We saw evidence of street flooding nearby and the school playground had turned into a lake!

Here's hoping to some dry days in the near future!

Lately: May

Spring has sprung in Houston! May is always one of our busiest months, so here's a look at what we've been up to for the first half of the month. 

Our tiny container garden is producing like crazy this year. Besides herbs, we have two cherry tomatoes plants and some kale growing. 

Henry checks on our tomatoes every single day. 

As you can imagine, most of our tomatoes go straight into his belly, but sometimes they make it inside the house!

Henry still likes to dress up. He made a sword out of toilet paper and paper towel tubes and armor out of scratch paper. 

Here he's showing off his Henry the Navigator costume for Pop.

A couple of weeks ago, Will participated in May Madness at school.

May Madness is a multiplication race against for all the third graders.

The kids heard the problem, raced to the front of the room and then wrote the problem and had to solve it correctly. 

The winner then had a chance to shoot a basket to earn more points for his class.

Will not only got his multiplication fact written first but he also made a basket (and baskets were pretty rare!)!

Unfortunately, Will's class lost by one point but the kids still had fun. It was an intense May Madness competition!

We had a sick boy over Mother's Day for the second year in a row, but Gramma and Grampa were able to come over for a bit (Will stayed in another room).  

Gene made a feast for us, and it was a fun evening, despite Will's illness.

One of the highlights in my year has been volunteering with Read Houston Read at a nearby elementary school. I spend an hour each week reading one-on-one with two first graders who need a little extra reading help. It's been rewarding to see their reading progress and especially exciting to see them become fond of books (Dr. Seuss and Mo Willems are big hits with my kiddos!). Last week, I was able to volunteer at my school when kids came to the library to pick up free gently used books from Books Between Kids during their Book Celebration. It is always so much fun to see kids get excited about books!

Read Houston Read also sponsored a lovely volunteer appreciation breakfast at the Children's Museum. It's nice to be thanked but the best part was coming home with goodie bags for my two first graders. They are going to be so excited to have some new books to read this summer!

 

It is the end of the Cub Scouting year as well. Last Thursday was our pack's Court of Honor, during which all the Scouts and their parents were honored for their hard work. The Scouts were officially promoted to the next rank level. Will was still recovering from his illness, so he and I stayed home, but Gene and Henry were able to attend.

Henry is now officially a Wolf and Will is a Webelo!

After missing four and a half days of school, Will was finally healthy to go back last Friday, just in time for the third grade Mother's Day celebration. 

Will's teacher had a special breakfast for all the moms, and then the kids read poems they had written about their moms and presented us with a Mother of Thousands plant. It was a very sweet breakfast and we were so happy to have Will healthy again!

Here's a picture of Henry at the farmers market. He goes with me almost every Saturday and we always have so much fun together. It is finally peach and blueberry season, and we are excited about all the fresh produce we bring home!

Also on Saturday, Gramma and Grampa joined us at the Houston Center for Contemporary Craft for Empty Bowls Houston. Potters from around the Houston area donate more than 2000 bowls for this event, which benefits the Houston Food Bank. Here are the beautiful bowls we found!

After purchasing our bowls, we enjoyed a soup lunch on the grounds

and watched pottery demonstrations.

It was a beautiful spring day to be outside, and it was even better to be supporting a good cause!

May is flying by and before we know it, it will be summer! Only seven more days of school to go...