Weekend Adventures: Mercer Arboretum and Hermann Park

After many days of rainy, chilly weather, we spent the last two days of winter break outside. It was still cold but we all agreed that we needed to get outdoors, move our bodies and enjoy the sun! 

We are so lucky in Houston to have so many parks and nature centers nearby, but we picked two of our favorites to explore: Mercer Arboretum and Hermann Park.

We headed up to Mercer Arboretum first thing on Sunday morning to walk the trails on the botanical gardens side of the park.

There is a huge section under construction!

Gene brought his sketchpad and actually managed to sketch a little.

My little collector found a vibrant red leaf that matched his coat.

The gardens are beautiful, even in the middle of winter, and we were so glad to finally be outside again!

On Monday, Gene was back at work and the boys were already antsy at 8:30 in the morning, so I told them that we needed to get out of the house (despite it only being 35 degrees!) and to pick somewhere to go. They conferred for a minute and decided they wanted to run and explore at Hermann Park. We bundled up and got moving! It was quite chilly so the park was fairly empty and the boys had plenty of space to run and play.  

The Centennial Gardens are officially open!

We ate lunch at Pinewood Cafe and then guess who met us at the zoo?

It was the perfect day to be at the zoo -- cool but sunny, and not at all crowded. Most of the animals were out, despite the cold.

We love seeing the chickens at the zoo! They roam around eating bugs and are foster moms for birds that won't/don't sit on their own eggs. 

Tuesday morning meant back-to-school for the boys, but we are already looking forward to more outdoor adventures in the near future.

Winter Break

Winter break is my favorite break of the year because Gene is off from work. He only worked 1 1/2 days the whole time, and it was so much fun for us all to be together! Houston's weather was fairly cold and rainy for much of the break, but we found plenty of indoor activities to keep us busy and warm.

Some of the highlights:

We visited the MFAH to see the Monet exhibit, have lunch with Gramma and Grampa and work on an art project. 

This was one of Gene's work days, but he met us at the art museum at lunchtime. The watercolor on the right is actually Gene's as Will chose to read instead of do art.

My boys love to build and then break their structures.

Our New Year's Eve tradition is a family party with good friends. So much fun!

We played lots and lots of games on chilly days. Chess is a favorite; Will even taught me to play!

Some days, Gene alternated between chess with Will and backgammon with Henry.

Henry decided his bear was cold, so we put on his sweater. The bear can also sit up now due a stuffing implant courtesy of Grampa! 

We were lucky to spend lots of time with family too! We celebrated Mike's birthday a bit late.

Carbonara for Mike's special birthday dinner, 

followed by ice cream cake! 

Gene and Henry found some old tin soldier molds at Nana and Pop's house and made some new tin soldiers!

Getting up and heading back to school was hard yesterday, but we have lots of fun planned in the coming months.

Zoo Lights

Zoo Lights is one of our newer holiday traditions, and this year, we didn't make it to see the lights until after Christmas. It was a chilly evening and the zoo was packed, but the lights were spectacular!

The village and trains are so fun to see!

The light tunnel is amazing

and these electric sheet are mesmerizing. The boys could watch them forever!

Bundling up and walking around the zoo to check out millions of lights is truly a unique Christmas experience!