Lately: April

I don't know where April has gone, but it has flown by! Here are some highlights from the past couple of weeks:  

We had snakes pay a visit to our April pack meeting. Always a hit with the boys!

Gene and his brother went to the Opera Gala together.  

We all went to the Kinkaid Field Day carnival last week. 

The virtual reality booth was very popular!

Afterwards, we invited ourselves over to Nana and Pop's rather than fight horrendous rush-hour traffic to get back to West U. Will showed Pop some coding he'd been working on.

Boys' night dinner (while I went to book club) = sliders for all! These are in the style of the original hamburger sandwich, which has an origin story right here in Texas! 

Last Sunday, we spent the morning hiking at the Houston Arboretum. It was a lovely, cool day and we hiked around 3 miles.

We saw a heron

and picked some blackberries

and stopped to smell the flowers.

It was a really lovely day to get outside.

We have to enjoy the nice weather while we can because summer (and its heat) is just around the corner.

Weekend Adventures

Henry was all set to go on on his big 4th grade field trip to Austin (driving up and back in one extraordinarily long day) on Friday, but on Thursday evening, he came home from his after-school art class, went upstairs to lie down, threw up, and fell asleep for 11 hours. Needless to say, he did not get to go to Austin. 

Poor kiddo! He had been excited to go on the field trip, but there was no way we were sending a kid with a turbulent tummy on a long bus ride.

Henry woke up feeling so much better on Friday and drank some peppermint tea at breakfast. 

Early morning Sorry! Check out the board: all Henry's green pieces are out and all my blue pieces are still at Start.

But it's Sorry! and I managed to pull off a win. 

Because Henry was feeling better and I felt awful about him missing his field trip, we decided to head to the zoo with Gramma and Grampa. It is close by and the chance of infecting others was slim since we weren't in close contact with anyone.

Henry asked to do the African Wild Winds chamber and it was $2 well spent as he proclaimed it "the best thing ever!"

Monkeys at the zoo!

We used some of our train tickets to ride the train in Hermann Park and then had lunch at Picnic before heading back home to rest. Gramma and Grampa came over to stay with Henry and play Scrabble while I did the afternoon carpool run. Henry ended up having a really good day, even though he wasn't on his field trip. 

On Saturday, we met up with Gramma and Grampa again for an art-filled day. We first stopped at the Houston Center for Contemporary Craft to see their "Light Charmer: Neon and Plasma in Action" exhibit.

What a neat exhibit!!

It was also Hands-On Houston and the craft was neon-inspired wire sculptures. Grampa made a prickly cactus and Gramma made a heart.

The boys made their initials. Hands-On Houston is always so much fun!

After lunch at Mai's, we visited the Cherryhurst house to see Ripple by Havel Ruck Projects. My mom and I read about it in the paper a few weeks ago and I knew it would be a huge hit with the boys.

The artists used drill saws and other tools to literally cut out, remove, rearrange and layer pieces of the house to create a ripple effect. It was absolutely incredible and unlike anything any of us had seen before. The artists have more projects in the works (including an installation in Sam Houston Park this summer) and we can't wait to see what comes next.  

It was cold enough for us to turn on the fire that night! 

On Sunday, we headed up to Wood Duck Farm to go strawberry picking. 

It was only 46 degrees when we arrived at 11 am and we were the only brave souls in the strawberry field. The strawberries were beautiful and we managed to pick 14 pounds in about 20 minutes!

We always bring a picnic lunch, but this was the first year we ate it next to a bonfire!

The boys played on the playground before we headed back in to Houston.

On Monday, it was back to school for everyone, but we ended the day with a special visit from Gene's cousin who was visiting all the way from Michigan! We don't get to see him very often and were so excited he was in town for a bit.

I hope your weekend was free of stomach bugs and full of fun adventures!

Lately: Spring Has Sprung!

Spring has sprung in Houston, which means it's sometimes a high of 85 degrees and sometimes a high of 55 degrees! At least we saw a lot of sunshine in March, even though we have our fair share of spring storms rolling through. We're trying to make the most of spring and get out as much as possible!

Here's a peek at what we've been up to through the end of March:  

Simple French toast with berries is a favorite breakfast on busy mornings.  

My book club met at Maharaja Bhog, an incredible Indian restaurant, in March to discuss The Death of Vishnu. This was my dinner plate and it was SO good! I cannot wait to go back with Gene and the boys.

Nana dropped off some Portuguese sweet bread right before Easter. 

And continiuing with our international flavor, sushi is one of the boys' favorite meals. 

Moving on from food to the dog:  

Ruby is sure sweet, but she is really demanding too. This is her "Pet me now!" pose.

She is also a mess! (Can you see the stuffing strewn all around the family room?) Tearing up toys is exhausting. 

Reading, reading, reading

Last Saturday was pleasant so we loaded up the car to head up to Lake Houston Wilderness Park. We encountered a number of flooded trails (see below) and a few mosquitoes, and Ruby left with a limp that led to a doctor's visit (diganosis: pulled muscle; treatment: low activity -- ha!).  

Bluebonnets

Always reading!

Here's to more springtime adventures!

Easter

My boys are getting so big, but the Easter Bunny still visits our house and fills their baskets with goodies. They tell me that they really need to stock up because it's a long seven months until Halloween -- they refer to the long stretch between candy-filled holidays as the "Great Candy Drought." We have so much candy in the house that I really think we'll make it this year! 

Will's basket had the final book in the Illuminae series, a Pyraminx puzzle cube, and lots of chocolate. 

He was so excited about the Pyraminx! 

Henry's basket had a new Yu-Gi-Oh book and a dragon along with tons of chocolate.

We were at 8am Mass as usual, and then had a few hours back at home until we headed off to Nana and Pop's house. I don't think we've ever done an Easter egg hunt at our house, but we decided to do one this year (see above re: the "Great Candy Drought.")

Basket heads

Ready. Set. Go!

Gene set out exactly 48 eggs, so they each knew to find 24. 

So much chocolate!

We arrived at Nana and Pop's house just in time for lunch, and then immediately went outside for our annual Easter egg hunt with the cousins. Will decided that he had enough candy already and just helped Henry grab a few eggs.

The cousins!

And they're off!

He just needed one.

The kids and dads played lots of kickball outside and then there was an intense game of D&D at the kitchen table before a delicious Easter dinner of a beef tenderloin with chimichurri sauce, lamb chops, kale salad, roasted asparagus and smashed potatoes.  

As we were loading up and getting ready to go home, Henry hopped on the tricycle and rode around. He is such a giant now!

What a lovely afternoon spent with family!