Monday Adventures!

We had another day off on Monday, which was really exciting because the Monday after a holiday weekend is always a drag. I initially planned on doing laundry, grocery shopping, and completing other tasks that help my household function properly....but then I decided we needed an adventure instead. It seems I'm always trying to juggle that balance of work vs. play, too busy vs. not busy enough, too much vs. too little. My brain is in constant overdrive. Anyway, I planned for us to adventure to south Houston to visit a wildlife bayou and then to Galveston.

I didn't know the bayou accepted cash only, so that extended our trip into this town named Alvin to locate an ATM. The portion of town we drove through was quaint and had that old town feel. I don't know why but that is one of my favorite things to do. I love exploring little towns. We made it back to the wildlife bayou where we were greeted by a very friendly tour guide. She told me every day for the rest of the week they were expecting field trip visits with over 500 students. This made me really happy that we decided to come on a Monday. We pretty much had the place to ourselves! The tour guide drove us around in this jeep/human cage/doon-buggy type vehicle. The animals are free to roam around the 80 acres of property and it's very much built to replicate a natural habitat for them. It's like an opposite zoo because people drive around in cages to look at the animals instead of vice versa. Ha! The animals are not shy. They had no problem getting up close and personal, sticking their necks into the cart to grab a mouthful of food from us. It freaked all of us out little, but it was also very thrilling. I think a real safari would be awesome someday!

The kids enjoyed the tour and seeing so many of the animals up close. They were hesitant of feeding them, but they still watched. They were also able to ride a pony, visit the petting zoo, and make friends with a deer. This deer is named Joey and he was cracking me up. He just wandered around the property as he pleased, even making his way toward the gift shop. The only animals they have confined to one area were the alligators, which makes sense. Those things are freaking dangerous! Dinosaurs! I was disappointed the rhino didn't feel like making an appearance, but that gives us a reason to go back! Plus, I really enjoyed our tour guide, it was obvious she was very passionate about her profession and she kept cracking jokes about drinking on the job. She was a funny one.

Galveston is only another 30 minutes from the bayou place, so we continued our adventure down to the beach. The weather looked a little sketchy when I checked it earlier, so I didn't come prepared for a full beach experience. I figured we would fly kites, enjoy our picnic, and maybe dip our toes in the water. Much to my surprise, the weather was beautiful. We ended up staying for over two hours, searching for sea shells and slowly inching further and further out into the water. Max and Lyla were completely soaked and covered in sand, even my jeans were wet up to my knees. Haha! I should have known my kids would have wanted to get in the water regardless of anything else I had planned. I won't let that mom fail happen again. It was a fun day and both kiddos were zonked out the entire ride home. Although Galveston doesn't have the prettiest of beaches, there is still something so peaceful about the ocean. My decision to ditch the chores and adventure instead was just what we needed. 

I can't stop looking at this photo! She looks TOO old. 

Wedding Ceremony

I got a little picture happy, so I decided to include the mock wedding photos on a separate post. And yes, Max has road rash on his face. If you know Max, then this will not come as a surprise. 

Congratulations to the lovely couple and their union as husband and wife.
The newlyweds are registered at Target and Toys R Us.

Happy Easter Weekend!

This was one of those weekends that I could replay over and over again. I think the fact that it was extended by two extra days for our Easter break may have contributed to the goodness. We spent Friday visiting with a friend and her delicious newborn baby, then returned home to dye some Easter eggs. Lyla seemed to enjoy this project more than Max. She had fun combining different colors and creating designs on her eggs, whereas I probably blinked twice and Max had already dropped his entire pile of eggs into all the color cups. He was unimpressed and ditched us to play outside, however his eggs ended up being the brightest colors since they were left to soak for so long. Nobody likes the taste of hard boiled eggs in our family, but we had fun dissecting them afterward. 

Saturday the kiddos woke up at the crack of dawn, because that's what they always do when we have the day off. Lyla woke up with the idea that she really really needed to go get her haircut, like immediately. She actually started this a few weeks ago when she mentioned that she would really like to cut bangs. This was one of those "smile and nod" moments in parenting with the expectation said child will likely forget about whatever they keep going on and on about.....but Lyla has a natural ability for being extremely persistent. She did not forget and this "I want bangs" conversation continued for about three weeks. So, when she brought it up yet again on Saturday morning, I said "okay fine, let's go!" And off we went on our 9:00 a.m. adventure! Technically they are side swoop bangs because she has a calic, but regardless, we think her new style is fab. The boys left on their own adventure to Home Depot. I was laughing at Max's comment when Kirk told him that's where they were going. He said, "you mean, it's like our home...but it's a depot???" Yes, exactly son. Kirk decided he wanted to make our garage less trailer park-ee, so that was a nice improvement. I decided Kirk is in the "weekend project" phase of life. Max has been quite eager to assist him.

I made lunch for us and then the kiddos played outside for the remainder of Saturday afternoon. And by remainder I actually mean for about five hours. They were mad when I made them come inside at five o'clock. The neighbor kids may drive me nutso sometimes, but I'm also really appreciative of them. Lyla and Max really look forward to play time with their neighbor friends. I want my kids to value the friendships they make in life. It reminds me of a book we read together, "If I could keep you little I would pick for you a friend or two, but then I would miss you choosing friends you like who like you too!" It's a cute one. Anyway, I left later that evening to join some friends at a painting class. I forgot how much fun those classes are!

The Easter bunny visited as we slept that night. We were lucky it didn't rain and he was able to hide some eggs outside for the kids too! It was pretty funny when the kids woke up that morning because they could not find their baskets. We left them on the couch in plain sight, but they were running in circles and probably looked at the baskets five times before Lyla finally noticed hers. Max had this disappointed look on his face as he watched Lyla go through the contents of her basket. His basket was sitting right next to hers!!!!! We watched in disbelief for a few seconds, before we finally motioned Max to his own basket. You have one too little buddy! That morning brain fog is a real struggle. We ate breakfast and then I'm pretty sure the kids consumed 70 pounds of candy while I prepared a couple of dishes to take to Charli's. I do not like all that Easter basket madness, by the way. Who invented hiding plastic eggs with candy in them? I don't like that person. And whyyyyy does Easter basket grass exist? That stuff spreads like wildfire. And why do I even go along with all of it!??!

I took pictures of the kids before we went to Charli's and they were super agreeable to do so for once. I had this genius idea to have a pretend sibling wedding. The kids loved this idea and they were totally all about it. I told my brother this story and he called me "creepy" and "weird" --- typical little brother thing to say. I thought it made for a really exciting photo session! We even had a wedding ceremony, complete with wedding march music and a bouquet for the bride. It turns out I'm a terrible wedding officiant, as the only thing I could come up with for the ceremony was to have them say one thing they love about each other. Max contemplated for awhile and eventually said "booty" as his response to the question. I thought it was hilarious, but apparently that part of the story also contributed to my brother's "creepy" comments. He's entitled to his opinion though. We enjoyed lunch together at Charli and Jeremy's house. The kids got in their mandatory golf cart and Mario Party time. And that concludes our Easter festivities!!!!!!!!!!!!! I slept like a baby on Sunday. 

Silly string...another evil product....yet I continue to buy it like an idiot.

 Her face is PURE JOY!!!!