We Love Books

It's always great to get new books.  My kids, boys especially love to read.  They got some new books for the summer to enjoy.  When they came the boys read so much that my house was really quiet.  I'm glad they enjoy a good book.  

Here are some pics of the reading :)

Talmage

Grant

together :)

Looking at the girls seek and find books :)

Talmage and his pile of books!

Baby helping to "find" the stuff in the book.

I'm curious how long it will be before the boys finish all of the books - Talmage especially!

Battleship Texas!

For the Fourth of July we visited the San Jacinto Monument and Battleship Texas.  This was the battle where Texas defeated the Mexicans to earn their own independence.  It was great to do something to honor those who have fought courageously to earn our freedoms.  It almost seems like such an odd spot for a monument, but it's on the battlegrounds and then the Battleship is right across the way.  Besides the heat and humidity it was awesome :).

Here is the picture of the monument.  It's taller than the DC Monument.

At the base of the monument.  There are carvings at the bottom of the pillar and the history is written out on the outer walls of the base (if you click it bigger you can see it better).

The family :)

The view from the top of the monument.  There is the huge reflective pool and then the harbor area.  On the right is the battleship.

Closer view of the battleship.

Joy getting a better look.

Grant's turn.

Uncle Aaron :)

On the battleship.  Jeff showing the kids how to sit and work the big guns.

Those are some big weapons!

Looking off the front of the ship.  The big gun at the top of the picture.

Looking back at the ship from the front... right into the big guns!

Inside the battleship - toilets

The bunks.  

The dental office.

Narrow stairs!

Down by the engines.  Really low ceilings.  The safety officer showed us around (guy with sunglasses in the bottom corner).

More stairs.

View from climbing up the control tower.

More steps.  Leann and I hung out on deck while everyone else took these steps up to the top of the ship.  We figured we'd had enough climbing with babies in our arms. 

Happy Independence Day!  I was happy to sit my kids down and talk about our freedoms and fighting to not be under a king's rule.  Our last big stop before the drive home.  It was a fun trip to Houston!

More Beach!

I owe a big shout out to my bro and sis-in-law for the pictures... and the next post about the battleship!  Our camera had died so here are more pics that they shared :)

Clark in the water.

Joy and Thomas

jumping in the waves

Daddy and Baby

Aunt Leann and Simon

Simon

Mhari

more waves

Clayton

Uncle Aaron and Simon

Baby and me

 Mhari and Clayton

Simon and Clark

Loves

Baby

Digging for sand crabs

 mud puddle

We had a great time at the beach... just wish we lived closer so we could enjoy it more often!  I love that it doesn't take much to entertain my kids ;).  Yay for sand, ocean, and sand crabs! 

Galveston Beach

On Sunday we decided to enjoy the afternoon at the beach and enjoy God's creations.  We also thought that it would be easy to keep the children out of the water, walk along the beach, collect sea shells, and enjoy a peaceful Sunday together.

First I would like to say that my camera screen broke and we didn't even know if the camera was taking pictures.  So Jeff took a few and then we gave up.  

Second... Ya, right, like the kids weren't going to go head first into the water?  Oh, and let's not forget that it was a holiday weekend and there was hundreds of people on the beach!  So, here are the pictures of the beginning attempt at walking in the water and playing in the surf.  

Clark loving the water!

Grant jumping the waves... it really looks like he's about to dive into the water though :).

Mhari

Baby and me :)

Sandra collecting sea shells - before she dove into the water.

The ocean.  This is the first ocean that my kid's have ever seen.

Space Center Houston - Kid Zone!

Welcome back to our fun adventures at Space Center Houston.  Now that we've completed our tour we will explore all of the awesome activities the kids enjoyed (and sometimes the mommy and daddy too ;)).

Here is Clark in the kid area.  The play area was hugemongous!  I'm sure I could look up details about it's awesomeness, but really, it was big like a McDonald's play land on steroids.  The kids really just wanted to stay there the whole time.  We didn't, but this is my tribute to how much the all loved it - even though I just have the picture of Clark with the balls.  

There was a rock climbing wall that Grant really wanted to do.  So after waiting in line for a while (which only got longer and longer), he climbed the wall.  He almost made it all the way up too.  Way to go Grant!

Tommy also went up, but I didn't put his picture in.  He made it about where Grant did.


Then Talmage had his turn.  He took a little longer climbing, but I think those extra 2 inches really made up the difference because he made it all the way up!  Awesome job Talmage!

Joy also had a turn, but didn't get too far.  Nice try :)

OK, so I realize this picture isn't that great, but I had to include it... Uncle Aaron, holding Simon, Mhari and Clayton on his shoulders - Priceless!  What a good uncle!

There was this velcro jumping place.  You put on a velcro suit then run and jump on the bouncy spot and stick to the wall.  It was so fun to watch everyone doing it that we all took a turn...


Here I am - stuck to the wall :).  Once you were stuck it was pretty hard to get off too!

Talmage jumping.

Talmage stuck!

Sandra stuck :)

 Grant waiting for his turn!

 Jump and stick!

Last, but not least, Jeff's turn!

Stuck!

There was human fooseball!  Jeff went in with the boys :).  What a good Daddy!

Here is Grant and Talmage on the front pole ready to score!

Grant kicking!

Not to leave the little ones out there was this light hand grabbing game.  It was like whack a mole with lights - only instead of whacking you grabbed the hand grips.  Mhari had fun running around grabbing and climbing.  She would just get back in line when her turn was done... She probably did it like 10 times at least!

Sandra also liked the light grabbing game.  She was also really good at it :).  You have a minute to grab as many as you can... Mhari grabbed about 15 or so each time, while Sandra would get 31 pretty consistently!  Yes she's older, but she was pretty fast!  (and she also would just get back in line)

Blurry picture since she was always moving!

There were other sports stations:  Throwing a baseball, kicking a soccer ball, and throwing a football.  They had a great time doing sports!
Here's the boys kicking the soccer balls!

At the velcro game there was a spining light ball and music.  Needless to say the girls, Sandra and Joy, enjoyed it and got some good dancing in.  

I can't say that what we did was really preparing our kids for space exploration, but they really had a blast!  I think the summer theme was "Sports" so that is why there were so many different sport things to do.  Also all of the things we did were free with our admission... so why not do it!?  It was like an indoor amusement park for a while... with out the crazy rides or the creepy vendors trying to get you to waste your money ;).


Oh, we did see more space stuff, feel an actual rock from the moon and look at the inside of a space shuttle, but for some reason we didnt' get any pictures of that ;).  We had a great time... and the kids are still talking about the play area at the space center!