Texas Trip, Houston Leg

We needed to head to warmer climes this spring break, and we had a new niece/cousin to meet in Houston, so the choice was easy to book a trip to Texas again. I've gotta say that spring is probably the best time to visit Texas, and it's always a little hard to leave. (We've already been snowed upon since our return a couple of days ago.) We flew out of Jackson, WY this time, and look what we drove through to get to the airport!

It's becoming our tradition to stop in Brenham on the ranch-to-Houston route for several reasons. I think it's the best spot for early bluebonnets and there is some delicious ice cream to be devoured! We love both very much; there's no better Texas welcome!

...except maybe from this squirrel! (where we picked up some pecan goodies)

Once we got to Houston, we wasted no time in meeting sweet Adeline! She is so quiet and happy most of the time or else she has her eyebrows raised in surprise. She was just past the three-month mark, which is the start of the fun, in my opinion. 

O and H were both newly congested upon our arrival, so we imposed a minimum distance rule to keep Addie away from our germs. (We spent a good part of Saturday afternoon at a clinic with Owen for an ear infection. So sad to be sick on vacation! Oh, and Hadley licked the bottom of her boot after the airport travel, and was not feeling well a few days later. Coincidence? I think not!)

Unfortunately, that ruled out a true "cousins" pic. I think this is the best we got of all 3 of them together!

But that didn't stop them from trying to relive their baby days with some of her stuff!

We made it out to our friends' brewery on Saturday (just one week before their big one year anniversary). They seem to be doing well, and it was fun to reunite with a few old college buddies. Even Addie joined us!

And there are always walks to the playgrounds near D&J's house. Uncky Dan showed the kids how to fly down the path to the park. The "cold front" didn't deter these Idaho kids!

Sunday was for Dim Sum and Discovery Green. Owen ate a fair amount of dumplings; Hadley stuck to carbs and dessert. Can't say we were surprised!

Discovery Green is an interesting, little park in the middle of downtown Houston. They had a unique art installation of spinning tops, "Los Trompos", that the kids enjoyed;

A fun playground where Owen perfected his rope climb and Hadley crossed her first monkey bars;

You can see more of the tops in the background here.

And another large art installation that invited kids to climb and explore.

It was a beautiful sunny day, perfect for walking in the park.

We finished up with some shaved ice, which led to a 5-minute public dance solo by Owen in the middle of the plaza.  I recorded the last two minutes of it, but I'll save it for blackmail later. :)

Before we left town, we showed the kids where their Dad lived on Pagehurst and drove around the old neighborhood a bit, though Owen pleaded for us not to show where all of Daddy's friends used to live. Bo-ring!

As always, we enjoyed our Houston visit! Thanks for hosting us, Dan, Jenn, and Addie!

Getting Some Culture

March has been good so far. Owen had another parent-teacher conference with a great report card. He is reading more and more, which is so exciting to watch! The week of conferences though, he only had 2 days of school.  Then we're cutting this week short for an early spring break, so the month will really fly by!

City activities start to pick back up this time of year, so we took the kids to a family concert, which had an "instrument petting zoo" beforehand. Hadley was interested in the flute and xylophone, while Owen preferred the violin and drums. It was a great opportunity for them to get up close and personal with some different instruments. This momma is still holding out some hope to get another musician in the family.

We also ventured with some friends to the local museum where the new exhibit was touted as a kid-friendly take on dinosaur eggs.  They had lots of fossilized eggs and bones, as well as several "please touch" exhibits, which the kids loved! Of course, this spurred Owen to recall and request the dinosaur museum in Houston on our upcoming trip.

Hadley's inside the blue "egg" pretending to be a baby dinosaur.

And here they got to dress up and sit on their own egg nests, although I'm not sure that's quite how the dinosaurs would have done it...

We even had a visit from Owen's good friend Carson when they came back to town. Owen got to repay him a sleepover of his own. They picked up pretty much where they had left off, except there was more Nerf this time.  :)

Lastly, the kids helped put 100 Easter baskets together for kids in need. The little kids (ours among them) were paired with bigger kids and filled up baskets with candy, books, toys, and food. I'm glad they are getting to an age where we can do things like this and spread the love!

Sun and Ski Sports

The snow is nearly all gone!  We have made it above freezing temperatures for the last 2 weeks, and the snow disappeared pretty quickly except in north-facing shade. This was the kids helping me chip away at the last ice on the front walk a few weeks ago. I'm sure we'll get some more snow before summer, but I doubt it will stick around long, so the shovels have been retired for now.

The other day it was 43 and sunny, and the kids declared that they wanted a picnic lunch outside!  Only in Idaho does that qualify as picnic weather. Haha!

A few days after that, it was above 50 and Owen was "too hot" for his shirt and shoes in the backyard.  Guess who else had to follow suit. :)

We are nearly done with Owen's indoor soccer season.  We did two sessions of 8 weeks each at 8 am on Saturday mornings, so almost every week from November-March.  He loved it and did really well, but we are glad to be done with that for a while. He got pretty good at knowing where the ball would be going, defending the goal, and even scored several times! It's hard to get a good picture of their games, but we do like to kick the ball around at the park too. Their favorite is when Dad kicks the ball up really high and they have to chase after it.

Hadley is still doing gymnastics and loving it, too.  In fact, she passed all of the checklist items for her 3-4 year-old class and was moved up to the next level.  That's exciting, but the next level is for 5-7 year-olds, and she comes up to the shoulder of the next smallest girl in her new class.  (She is below in pink, and the girl to her left is in her class (notice she's on a lower beam)!) Thankfully, she is still enjoying it and is being challenged, and the older girls are sweet, guiding and helping her to figure out what she's supposed to be doing.

Sometimes Owen likes to help her practice at home.

When Dad was out of town last weekend, I took the kids to a 'Build and Grow' workshop at the local big box store. It's a fun and free way for the kids to build something and play with hammers. I'm happy to report that we left with zero injuries and two sweet new monster trucks!

And they had to try out the new riding lawnmowers on the way out.  It must be getting close to spring!

I just liked this picture of Hadley making some "stars" out of their fort kit.

The city might be out of snow, but there is still plenty up in the mountains!  I got to go with some friends to ski at Grand Targhee, which is on the westside of the Tetons, a couple of weeks ago.  It was a gorgeous day! We had perfect views of the Tetons and the valley for miles and miles. I hope my kids will do this with me one day.