Summer Break: Week One

Our first week of summer was full of fun outings and lots of creative time at home.

Will and Henry love the Children's Museum but the crowds there make me nuts! Will suggested that we visit last week before the suburban school districts got out for summer in hopes that it would be less crowded, and it was a great suggestion because it wasn't busy at all. 

Grocery store clerks

Ambulance driver

Rock climber 

Movie director

Will's first stop motion film:

Shocks and Jolts is the current temporary exhibit and the boys loved it. The luminglas disks are a combination of kinetic energy and light.

The musical bench shows that you're conductive!

On Wednesday, we headed to the zoo. It wasn't hot and it wasn't crowded and we had a blast.  

The Houston Zoo is helping save sea turtles.

We sang to the kookaburras and they laughed at us. We sing nearly every time we visit but it's been a long time since they've laughed back. 

Chickens at the zoo

We were excited to explore the animatronic dinosaur exhibit that's here for the summer. 

The last dinosaur sprays water at you. Perfect for a summer day.

This has been an extremely wet spring for Houston, with rain and floods throughout our city. We got more torrential rain at the end of the last week, so we hunkered down at home. The boys entertained themselves by writing, directing, acting in and filming a movie, Henry the Spy, which is still in the editing phase. They also read a ton, played games, and had a rockin' night party in Henry's room.  

We also discovered that we have three bottles of ketchup in the house, so did an impromptu taste test (with blindfolds and everything) after dinner. Will liked Sir Kensington's (tangy and less sweet with a bit of spice), while Henry preferred the Heinz variety (very traditional and simple).

For us, summer is all about reading. We're signed up for three summer reading programs so far and the boys and I have been visiting libraries several times a week and devouring books. We turned in our Barnes and Noble reading logs on Sunday when Gene was sailing. 

We have lots more fun planned in the weeks ahead, but so far, summer 2016 is off to a fantastic start!

A Weekday Adventure: Galveston

On May 26th, the boys and I headed down to Galveston for a sea turtle release at Stewart Beach. We arrived in time for lunch (at Shrimp 'N Stuff) and then stopped by the Broadway Cemeteries. These seven cemeteries caught our attention because they were covered with wildflowers. As it turns out, the cemeteries provide final resting places for both notorious and distinguished residents of Galveston, in up to three layers!

It wouldn't be a visit to Galveston without a stop at LaKing's for some saltwater taffy.

The walk back to our car took us by a bank, and Henry noticed squash growing in beds along the sidewalk. The bank has turned all of the land next to the sidewalks into beds for all sorts of herbs and vegetables!

We made it to Stewart Beach in time for the boys to run and splash in the water before the turtle release. It was cool and rainy but that didn't stop the boys from getting in some beach time.

My turtle-loving boy just waiting to see the turtles!

The NOAA Fisheries and Houston Zoo released nine sea turtles, eight of which had sustained injuries due to fishing (most had ingested fishing hooks). Six Kemp's Ridleys and three loggerheads were deemed ready to return to the ocean last Thursday, and we got to see them up close!

NOAA staff members carried the Kemp's Ridleys, the smallest sea turtles.

And then they were set down and allowed to crawl back to the sea.

The loggerheads were much bigger, weighing 150 pounds or more. 

This one had been in the NOAA facility for over a year and was very hesitant to go to the water, at one point turning around!

Henry remains entranced by sea turtles and the release was an unforgettable experience. We're looking forward to returning to Galveston later this summer to visit the NOAA's "Turtle Barn" to learn even more about turtles and how we can help protect them.  

Lately: May Recap

Now that we're solidly into June, it's time to recap the last two weeks of May! May is such a hectic month at our house, but the reward is June with a much looser schedule. 

A group of friends recently started a neighborhood book club, which I am loving. So are the boys! Gene made sliders for their first boys' night without mom.  

Pop's birthday is at the end of May, so we all got together to celebrate. 

Happy birthday, Pop!

Our anniversary is also at the end of May. We celebrated twelve years with dinner at Brenner's on the Bayou. 

We had tried to get reservations at Mark's (they have since closed) because that's where Gene proposed, but we would have been eating at either 4pm or 8pm. We snapped a quick photo as we passed by on our way for after-dinner coffee.

Ruby with a new squeak toy (her fave).

Some good friends invited us over for dinner and beer brewing last Saturday. The best part was that Ruby was included in the invitation! The boys swam, Gene helped brew beer, I caught up with a good friend, and Ruby ran and played hard. I didn't take any photos until the end when she was crashed out on Gene on the ride home. 

And here's the only photo I got of Memorial Day. We had some friends over for dinner, which Henry helped make. We all love grilling in the summer!

Here's to enjoying the season ahead!

School's Out for Summer

School ended a week ago and we are in full-on summer mode around here. The school year is so jam-packed with class work and projects and extracurricular activities that we really savor the slower pace of summertime.

School ended with a bang last week, with plays and parties daily. Henry's end-of-the-year party was a dance party in the cafeteria. His favorite parts were hanging out with his buddy Noah and the conga line at the very end.

Will's class party was at the exact same time as Henry's. With a luau theme, the kids donned gear for photos with the beachy backdrop.

The fourth graders also enjoyed shaved ice on the back playground.

On the very last day of school, Henry's class celebrated by breaking open the Don Gato pinata that they had been making for the past few weeks. "Senor Don Gato" is a song about a cat who dies but is brought back to life by the smell of fish. 

What a fun way to end the school year!

Henry's pinch pot from the Strega Nona luncheon was fired and glazed and came home full of "pasta" too.

The boys got out of school at 12:15 on the last day, and we all went to lunch at the MFAH cafe and then visited the "Sculpted in Steel" car exhibit, which was fantastic! We are so glad we got to see it before the show ended. 

We came home to our annual "Welcome to Summer" celebration. 

Each year on the last day of school, I surprise the kids with a stack of books and a sweet treat. I used to bake a cake but for the last two years I've purchased cupcakes from Crave -- lemon for Will and German chocolate for Henry.

This is Will's stack -- The Doldrums, Inkheart, and two Big Nate books.

Henry's stack included another Big Nate book, three Battle Bugs books (which are not available at our library!), and the newest Chicken Squad book.  

The boys spent the rest of the afternoon reading.  

We are so ready for a relaxing summer!