Summer Break: Week One

School's our for summer -- for all of us except me! I started grad school (again) back on June 4 and am working to get my certification to be a school librarian and may also pursue my Masters in Library and Information Science. It's made for a busy summer so far, but I am so enjoying my class!

On our first weekend of summer (just before I started grad school), we went down to Galveston. It was a quick day trip. The boys played at the beach, we ate lunch to a new-to-us restaurant and explored a museum we'd been excited to visit. 

Stewart Beach

Mosquito Cafe

The Bryan Museum 

Our first week of summer break was pretty quiet. We played lots and lots of board games.

We visited the science museum. The energy hall has some new exhibits, including one where you create fireworks displays by adding different amount of chemicals to the mix. We made fireworks over Singapore in honor of Gene who was there for work that week!

We also visited the butterfly center

for the Friday Feeding Frenzy! We've been other years, but this time we got to see the preying mantis devour a cricket.

We also visited the pool 

and spent lots of time playing with Ruby.

Our summer fun has just begun!

Lately: Wrapping Up May and the End of School

The end of May was as busy as ever! We celebrated our anniversary, spent Memorial Day with family, finished up school projects and had two different last days of school. Here's a peek at how we wrapped up May:

Our 14th anniversary dinner at Etoile. 

This boy got out of school six full days before his brother. We ran errands, went to the library, visited the science museum multiple times and enjoyed lazy time at home. A highlight was finding pickle hot sauce (for real) at Central Market.

We visited the science museum four times in one week.  

Members Night 

Going back another day for the Sherlock Holmes exhibit

And a solo visit with Will to check out the Death by Natural Causes exhibit. It was creepy and decidedly not for Henry!

Henry finally finished up his month-long Texas history project. He studied the invention of the hamburger and ended up with such a creative project!

Nana even joined us for the presenation portion.

We headed up to Mike and Jess's house over Memorial Day weekend for pool time and a cookout.  

And then finally, on June 1, Henry was out of school for the summer! We had our annual "Welcome to Summer" party, complete with some new books, a new toy and a Crave cupcake for each boy.

Henry's stack:  three books, a dinosaur and a German chocolate cake cupcake.

Will's stack: three books, a 5x5 cube, and a chocolate creme cupcake.

Summertime!!

Summer fun, here we come!

Summer Break: Week One

Summer is here!!  The boys are so excited and we have been doing our best to get out and enjoy ourselves while still taking long breaks to read, rest and recharge after a busy school year (this includes a much-needed moms' night out for me with some of my best girlfriends!).

Last Friday, the day after school got out, we visited the children's museum. Our hope was to avoid the summer camp crowds that pour in all summer long. There were no camps, but suburban school districts were still in session, so we ran into field trips! We made the best of our morning there, and the boys had fun, as always.

Grocery store cashier

Checking out the new element sorter

After the children's museum, we had a picnic lunch at Gramma and Grampa's house. 

Going back to Memorial Day weekend, we visited the Houston Maritime Museum! This small museum is very close to our house but we had never been before. The boys participated in family day activities while Gene explored all the exhibits. 

Making a powder monkey basket

Most of our Memorial Day weekend was pretty quiet, with lots of time to read, watch baseball, and cook! We ate all our dinners outside as the weather was lovely and mild for the end of May!

On Tuesday, the weather was still perfect for late May, so the boys and I decided to visit the zoo to check out the new elephant habitat and Lego display.

Legos at the zoo!

Sea turtle, for Henry

We also visited libraries on three different occasions, took one trip to the book store, and visited the newly-renovated Central Market, which is so fun!

Smoothies + reading

On Wednesday evening, we went to a members' event at the McGovern Centennial Gardens, which was so lovely! The weather was ideal and we munched on snacks and enjoyed walking through the gardens. 

The science museum happened to be open late on Wednesday, so we popped in to check out some exhibits and watch "The Edge of the Universe" in the planetarium.

We have also been to the pool a couple of times -- once for a members' ice cream social (so fun!) and once just for fun on a quiet day. Henry was so excited to show off his new goggles!

On Friday, Will and I had a bowling party for new Kinkaid students, so Gene and Henry went to the West U library to make bookmarks as part of their summer reading program, and then enjoyed Turkish food for lunch.

Our first week of summer break was just perfect, and we are looking forward to much more fun this summer!