Saturday, August 31, 2013

Houston!

Wow, its been forever since I've posted, and nice that I just looked at my LAST post over two months ago where I wrote I was going to be a better blogger (maybe some day ?) ha,ha.

We've enjoyed a very busy summer filled with friends and family, travelling and memory making. I'll start with our most recent trip to visit the boys grandparents and Aunt Becky in Houston Texas.

The adventure started out with the boys first plane ride
Alex and Daddy sat behind us on the first plane
After take off, I heard Alex say "more flying?"!!!!
He was afraid we were done. 
I had the slightly more nervous passenger. 
He started to cry when it was time to walk onto the plane 
and I thought "oh no, this is going to be a long day"
 but once we got going, Nicholas really liked it too!!! 

 and forget all the things I thoughtfully packed to keep them busy on the plane.
All this one needed were those headphones. It didn't even need to be plugged into anything.
He pretended they plugged into everything and was perfectly content!
Nicholas preferred his to actually work 
and loved being able to watch
"Franklin" or "Ratatouille"
(thanks to our friends the O's for letting us borrow the portable players!)
 This is actually on the plane ride home
finally passed out after a long day of travelling.   
Not so much with my co-passenger,
he said simply "baby froggy is not tired mommy."

Grandma and Grandpa were excited about our visit 
and thoughtfully planned lots of fun things to do and see.

Our first visit the next day was to the children's museum of play
 The ambulance was the kids favorite thing here by far.
They are a little too familiar with all the medical equipment.
They showed the "big kids" how to listen for breath
and "belly" sounds and Nicholas shockingly
knew exactly how to "bag" a patient.

Mommy and Daddy remember this happening several times
with both boys during those initial NICU days but really,
where did he learn that? If that wasn't weird enough,
he tried to give the "patient" mouth to mouth after......
Actually their "medical" kit was the one thing
the boys wanted to make sure we brought with us.
The boys wanted to make sure Grandpa had a check up,
multiple times!!

The next day was a drive to Galveston beach.
It was an almost two hour drive but worth it.
The water was warm---seriously warm.
and it was shallow and calm enough for the boys
to splash and swim around..  


 and ofcourse built sand castles!
 Grandma and Aunt Becky enjoying some quiet time
and shade
We practically had the beach to ourselves,
we seriously could have stayed here happily for days....

Next day was the Houston Aquarium


 ....just keep swimming, just keep swimming....
Kids thought this could be Dory from "Finding Nemo"
 Nicholas: wow, these fish are almost as big as me
Careful Aunt Becky  :)





 Seriously very cool place
and most things were accessible for Alex
And when they weren't....
well luckily Alex is still little enough,
I mean look how strong Daddy is :)

We also visited the Houston Space Center
I regrettably don't have many pictures.
We walked around mostly in awe.


 Waiting for the tram tour





And you think YOU have a hard job :)

The museum of Natural Science
Again, wish I had taken more pictures.

This place was incredible and honestly its something I would 
have loved to do without the kids, at least at their age right now.

There was so much I wish we could have seen,
or stayed longer to read and learn. It was really incredible!!

 We tried to keep the kids entertained so lots of dinosaur viewing


Seriously, can you imagine these guys just walking around? yikes!



  

sharks mouth, yikes!
 and Egyption period.
Kids were fascinated by the mummies
even though they kept pronouncing them "mommies"



I saved the Houston Zoo for last because it was truly one of my
and the kids favorites.

Tons of animals, yes but the zoo itself was more like a park
It was simply stunning and definitely 

I know my pictures can't do it justice but it was really breathtaking


Nicholas: wait, what the?
 I'm outta here!






ummm is it just me or does he still look hungry?

Nicholas thought he was just a little "too big"
He preferred the one that didn't move, or eat!


We had a fabulous time and made lots of memories
a HUGE thank you to 
Grandma and Grandpa for having us out!!!!!