Kids Museum

On June 6, 2011, a friend and I took our kids to downtown Houston to the Kids Museum. It is supposed to be one of the best kids museums so we thought we'd take a look at all the fuss. My friend, Rose, had her three kids and I had Andrew and Bailey so we had a full van! (it was interesting getting kids in and out of the back row), but it was really fun. Some things were a little advanced for Andrew, but he enjoyed being able to touch EVERYTHING! (a rarity for kids)

Here are a bunch of photos from that day.

This is my favorite photo from our trip. Andrew had on a lab coat (for about 10 seconds) and of course wouldn't pose for me. I was sad, but now I actually like seeing him "at work". He looks like he's off in a hurry to cure some disease or discover something important in his lab. :)

Inside the lab. (notice the lab coat is gone already). This was actually interesting. You put theses things that looked like pucks from air hockey, onto this table and they bounced around (on air - like air hockey). Then they would stick to another piece. Representing molecules and how they interact.

This scale-like machine measured Andrew in inches, centimeters and nanometers. Then it compared it to chickens and milk cartons and pennies (which I didn't understand).

Anything with letters is a huge hit for Andrew.

Pulling different "matters" to feel how their weights were different.

I don't remember what this was, but he is so cute.

This was fun. See that little white button Andrew is about to push? When you pushed it a clock would start counting down from 2 minutes. You then had to put together the puzzle of North America. Under the puzzle is a part of the table that would spin. When the clock ran out, the table would spin and spin all your pieces away making you have to start over. We did this quite a few times (until I could solve the puzzle in under 2 minutes - which you see here:) )

Andrew really liked this one. There were two cranks that were connected to a string that went up over a spool and back down. Then each string connected to a corner of a square. The object was to put the ping pong ball in the square and get it to the top of the board without it falling through the various holes. Andrew did a pretty good job of the opposite. He thought it was fun to put the ball in the square and then make it fall out of the hole and run around and get it from the back.

Now it's not all fun and games at the museum. Kids had to work too! Andrew got a job at a pet store/veterinary.


He made sure each kennel had a dog and a water bowl in it.
He would feed the dogs...

and tell them to "stay"
He would listen to the animals hearts to make sure they were healthy.

And work the cash register too! My what a demanding job!

He could have worked at the grocery store too, but decided to stay a consumer instead.

There were stations where adults helped the kids with projects or taught them something. (I had to get a picture of the little girl in pink. She reminded me of my niece Shelby.)They had this awesome outside water area that allowed the kids to play and get wet, but it was so hot that they dried super fast. So go at it kids!


This huge bowl had a constant flow of water going in to it and the kids could spray water guns at the bowl to add more water to it. Once it got full it would tip over and splash everyone near buy.

There were lots of these trough like things full of water and water toys. They could build things with pvc pipes and try to get the water to go from one end to the other. There were also floating toys, sinking toys and toys that hovered in the middle. This is where we ate our lunch (since no food was allowed inside). The kids seemed to enjoy some time outside, but the adults and babies got a good sweat by the time the kids were done.

And last but not least....the Mustang!

I had to include this photo for my dad. What kind of engine is it Dad?
It took a lot of convincing to get Andrew to get in the car. I wanted a full photo of him in it, but I couldn't keep the kids out long enough.

Now the kids weren't the only ones exploring and learning. Miss Bailey learned where her toes were!

And she learned how to pull of her headband and (large) flower off. I didn't mind my bald baby girl since it gave her something to play with.

All in all we had a great time. It was a little stressful because I wanted Andrew to play certain things but he didn't want to and vice versa. I also wish I hadn't brought the big double stroller in since Andrew spent a total of 2 minutes in it.

On the way home we hit a little traffic. (it was about 4pm heading away from downtown so that makes sense). At one point while we were driving on the freeway I heard some honking. I thought that was kinda weird, but not that uncommon for Houston. (People drive crazy here). Then I saw this red mustang (maybe an early 90's model) driving next to me. I noticed that the driver was drifting over to my lane. I honked and moved as far over as I could without going in the next lane. I was watching the driver and he didn't even look at me. His windows were down and he was just blankly staring ahead. After slowing down to allow the driver to get ahead of me, I noticed he was drifting both left and right. The freeway speed was probably around 50 and there were lots of cars on the road. We kept watching the car and had an opportunity to pass it so we did. (If this guy was going to cause an accident I would rather be in front than behind it). A few minutes later it passed us and (I'm not exaggerating) was within inches of hitting our side mirror. This guy was obviously not a safe driver so I had Rose call 911. We got the license plate number, rough year and make of the car (good thing Mustangs are easily identifiable). We gave them all the info we could, and they would pass it on to someone in Houston. (I guess it called somewhere in Idaho since Rose's number is an Idaho number. I'm not really sure how that works). So we stayed back and moved another lane away, but were curious what would happen. One exit away from where we would get off, we saw a cop car with it's lights on get on the freeway. We couldn't see where it was going or if it found this guy, but I seriously hope that they did. He was driving so dangerous. We just didn't want anybody to get hurt or in an accident.

Anyhoo, what a way to end a day huh? I was so exhausted when we got home. Tired from walking around all day, and emotionally drained from the adrenaline I felt while driving home.

Still a good day though, and I might do it again (minus the crazy driver) :)

May 2011 Videos

Here are some (lots!) of the videos from May. Click on the link and the video will open up in YouTube. (let me know if there are any problems).

Enjoy!

Bailey and Ryan

Andrew and Bailey Play

Andrew helps Ryan Vacuum

Sarah's Birthday

Patty Cake with Daddy

Baby Talk

Andrew plays with Bailey

Bailey's first words

Andrew pedals his bike

Andrew sings the ABC's

Learning Time

Sarah and Bailey

May 2011 (Part 2)

On May 21, Ryan and I celebrated our 6 year anniversary. We had a babysitter for Andrew so Ryan and I (and Bailey) went out on a date! We ate dinner and were planning to do something afterwards, but then we missed Andrew so we went home and played with him. It was perfect. :)

Here are some photos from the second half of May.

Miss Bailey (Favorite)

My old swim suit :)

This is really hard to see, but this is Andrew's first attempts at writing. I will dedicate a whole post to his "learning time". He wrote "CAT'' in blue and "FAN'' in orange on the left side. His letter A looks like an H in these photos (he as since corrected it and looks like a real A now)



Ok, here's the fun story of the month. (It's a long one, get ready). We usually have tons of rain, but this summer it has been unusually dry. We are in a drought and are on water restrictions for watering our yard etc. We don't have any neighbors on one side or behind our house. It's open land for a little bit, then hits some good thick growth of trees. There is also a little dip behind our house to allow for the extra water so our houses don't flood. We have known that there are coyotes and wild boar and other fun creatures living out in our "backyard", but we've never had any real problems with them. Since it's so dry, it seems like they are out looking for water. And where do they find water? In our yards where we water them. We've noticed a TON of frogs because they need the water. But frogs are cute. I let Andrew try to touch them. (he never does)

I was out at a friend's house (watching the frogs) and I came home pretty late. Our garage has two single doors with a brick pillar in the middle. I drove our car in the garage, but needed to get something out of the van that was parked outside in the driveway. I walk in between the car and the brick pillar towards the van and out of the corner of my eye I see something on the ground a few inches away from my foot.

Backup. A few days earlier, I'm in the shower with Andrew and Ryan is outside doing yard work in the front yard. We only have a gate on one of our side yards, so that's the only way to go from front yard to back yard. It is about 4 feet wide.

I'm in the shower and I hear Ryan calling me. He knows I'm in the shower so I figure it's not important. Then I hear a banging on the wall. The master bathroom shares a wall with the other side of our yard (the side with out the gate). I thought, "that's weird". I hear Ryan call again and turn off the water to try to figure out what he's saying. His voice isn't his usual voice so I know something is wrong. I get out (shampoo in my hair still) and go to find him. He's in the backyard and the back door is locked and he's trying to get in. He's yelling, "big snake". There was a big snake in our side yard and Ryan couldn't get in the locked house, or walk past it, so he was stuck in the backyard.

Ryan seemed a little shaken up, but I thought. Snake? Big deal. Probably just a little guy that scared Ryan or something. I am more cautious when I go out, but not that worried.

Back to my story. So I walk out of the garage past the "Big Snake". He wasn't joking. It was a big fella. I jumped, screamed and ran all the way to the middle of the court, where it was lit by a street light, and I could see a good 6 feet around me in all directions. I am frantically screaming "Big snake! Big Big snake!" I'm so freaked out, I momentarily forget I'm holding my cell phone in my hand (thank goodness!) I call Ryan, who is inside and tell him about the snake. I tell him to close the garage door so it doesn't get in. He does. Great. But now I have to walk past it to get to the house. Crap. It's dark and the only reason I saw the snake was because of the light that was coming from the garage. With the door closed now, I can't tell where it is. It's not in front of the brick pillar, but could easily have slipped to the side of it in the shadows. Oh man. I am freaking out. Adrenaline kicks in, I'm shaking, trying to think about what to do. I can't see it so I'm afraid it slipped into the garage before the door closed. I yell to Ryan (because I'm still in the street and he's on our porch) to open the garage door to see if he sees the snake in the garage. I meant for him to just look inside the door to the house, but he opened the big garage door. We can't see the snake anywhere. Ryan thinks it's in the grass on the other side of our house. I'm not convinced. I'm sure it's in our garage because it would be too easy for the snake to go to the grass and be free. So, I'm holding the car keys still, so I hop in the van and turn on the headlights so we can see around better. Nothing. Ryan (bless his heart) get two big plastic storage tubs and puts his feet in them and walks to the car in the garage so he can move it out. (that at least made me laugh). So we're both in our cars, shining the lights into the garage and yard area looking for this stupid snake. We can't find it. It's really late now and we are leaving early in the morning to drive down to a friend's house for the day. We call it a night and go inside.

(By the way, I'm so shaken up, it takes me 4 hours for me to calm down enough to get to sleep. I had to go virtual shoe shopping to calm down. - And I found some super cute shoes that made me happy, and I wish I would have bookmarked it because now I can't find them again. I've spent a lot of time looking too. Those were really cute shoes! Drat.)

The next morning is Saturday and Ryan usually mows the yard on Saturdays and I sleep in. (Let's be honest, I sleep in every day). Anyway, I hear the garage door slamming and front door slamming. I know something is going on because Ryan is usually very considerate when I'm asleep and tries to be quiet. I start to panic again and rush out to see what's going on.

Ryan had opened the garage door do get the lawn mower. Mr. Big Snake was up against the side of the garage where we usually have the car. (And, I'd like to mention that this was a huge blessing. The other half of our garage is full of boxes, crates, vacuums, shelves, workbench, lawnmower, etc. Mr. Snake could have hit forever in there and we would have never found it.) Ryan noticed our next door neighbor was outside (he always is) and asked him to give him a hand getting the snake. (Two people is better than one and there was NO WAY that I was going to be useful in this situation). Our neighbor came over with a putter (golf club). The snake had slithered under one of our shelves (again, the easiest one to access - thank you snake) and our neighbor was able to use the putter under the shelf to get it to come out. And then...well, let's just say he used the putter in a more destructive way. Then he disposed of him. Thank you neighbor. I will no longer complain when your dog poops in our yard. I would rather clean up dog poop than kill a snake. (perspective is everything right?)

Here's Mr. Big Big Snake (photoshoped to keep it kid friendly) There was about another foot of the snake that I cut out of the photo. He was maybe 4 feet long, and not a skinny guy. He was green/gray. (photo doesn't show that too well)


(here is a photo off the internet that shows what his head looked like. )

The best we can tell is that it was a water moccasin looking for water. (or frogs). Ugch. Gross.

Now I won't go out in our yard without wearing my rain boots. Pink and black rubber boots that are too big so my feet slide around it them. My neighbors all know of the snake story and make fun of my boots. I tell them I don't leave home without them. They laugh, but I don't care. I look cute. (out of order of our post, but we found another snake last week in our backyard.)

Now that you're totally disgusted with that story, and tired of reading because it was so long, let me end with a photo of Bailey. (yes, same as above - but now you appreciate it more after my snake story)

Miss Bailey.