Lately: Arts and the Outdoors

We have been embracing our full days lately and taking advantage of our free moments to get out and enjoy Houston in the fall. Too bad summer has returned this week; it is a good 10-15 degrees above normal here and we Houstonians are sure sick of the summer heat by mid-October!

Here's a peek at some of what we've been up to lately:

Every year, I am part of the teaching team for Hands On Art at the boys' school, which means I get to teach their classes! The October lesson focused on Andy Warhol and print making.

I had forgotten how many projects third graders have. Henry has been busy this month! We made pumpkin bites for his class last week

and then he had to create a character pumpkin this week. He chose to make a pig.

We hadn't been to Mid-Main's First Thursdays in over two years because of Cub Scout meetings, but now that the Scout schedule has changed, we were able to attend last week. It was as fun as we remembered.

On Saturday, we headed down to Lake Texana Park for a Cub Scout campout and stopped in Rosenberg for lunch on the way. We love small Texas towns! 

Another pit stop at Buc-ee's.

We got lucky with beautiful weather for our campout. The boys had to set up the tent on their own

and cook dinner (with help).

Gene and Henry went fishing

and we all enjoyed spending our weekend outside.

Yesterday was our fall holiday and despite the heat, we took advantage of our free day by heading to the zoo. 

Our days are full but we try to have some downtime in the evenings before bed. I just love this picture of Ruby and Henry. 

How have you been enjoying fall?

A Weekend Adventure: Cub Scout Campout at Lake Livingston State Park

We spent last weekend in the Piney Woods of East Texas with all our Cub Scout friends. It was a glorious weekend that was just perfect for camping.

We got to Lake Livingston State Park around 1pm and immediately sat down for lunch. After the opening flag ceremony and a few rounds of tug-of-war,

Gene and the boys got their fishing rods ready. 

And then we hiked down to the fishing pier!

 

Nothing was biting! We tried again Sunday morning with chicken livers, and Gene had lots of nibbles but didn't catch anything. It was beautiful and peaceful nevertheless.

Saturday ended with dinner and s'mores,

followed by the campfire program. Henry's den put on an original skit about a mummy that was cute and funny and fulfilled the last Wolf adventure. And since we always help retire old, worn-out flags at our campfire program, Will helped prepare one of the flags for retirement.  

This was the sunset from just beyond our campsite. 

What a beautiful place to spend a weekend!

Lately: It's Almost Christmas!

Our last week before the long holiday break was jam-packed with fun activities. Here's a peak at what we've been up to lately:

Our winter Cub Scout campout was at Texana Park, but last weekend's forecast was a rainy one, so we loaded up the car and headed down to the park on Friday night. Several of our Cub Scout friends joined us and we spent the evening running, playing and exploring. On Saturday morning, with bellies full of breakfast tacos, the boys went fishing for the first time! We also completed a three mile hike and a service project before heading back to Houston.

Will's week was a touch stressful. He competed in the grade-level spelling bee on Wednesday morning.

He spent hours practicing and did really well, but misspoke when spelling "pomposity" and was eliminated. I was SO proud of how hard he worked!

Will also had his Name That Book team tryouts this week, which ended in a tie-breaker on Thursday morning. We are excited that he is on the team again this year and he is already busy reading and rereading the 30 books required for the competition.  

This monkey lost his tooth on Wednesday, so now he can sing, "All I want for Christmas is my two front teeth!"

The boys had their holiday parties/service projects at school on Thursday. They enjoyed a pizza lunch after decorating and filling bags for Kids Meals, Inc.

The boys also brought home ornaments that they made at school. Will decorated this wooden heart

and Henry spent over two weeks sewing this felt ornament.

On Friday night, while out to dinner with a group of friends, Santa walked up to our restaurant and sat down to listen to gift requests! We were thrilled since we hadn't see Santa yet this year. Will asked for a robot and Henry asked for Magformers.

Yesterday, we were invited to a showing of Star Wars: The Force Awakens at Studio Movie Grill.  

We ended the evening at the Houston Arboretum's Winter Solstice Party. We enjoyed dinner with Gramma and Grampa, walked the trails and looked at the night sky through telescopes and made these cute cork reindeer.

Now that school is out for the winter break, the boys are counting down the days 'til Christmas!