Off to the Zoo We Go

My plan was to hang out around the house and do some cleaning and exercising all day on Saturday but that all changed when my sister called to see I wanted to do anything that day.  I drive A LOT, like a lot, a lot.  I drive two hours a day to get to work and back plus any other things I need to do.  My poor car needs a break!  I knew I had a race on Sunday in Kemah so I wasn't planning on going anywhere.  When my sister called I knew I would have to drive to Spring to pick them up, drive to wherever we were going, drive home, and then drive by back to my home that night.  For a brief minute I was about to say no, but then I remembered, say yes more and also that I love hanging out with my niece.

It was decided that we were going to the Zoo and we also invited our other sister, Laura, but she didn't want to go but my nephew Cole did.  After a long fight with traffic we finally made it to the zoo around 1:30 pm.  The entire way we were singing "The Wheels on the Bus", "ABC's", "If your Happy and You Know It", and "5 Little Monkeys".  We made up our own lyrics to "If you are happy and you know it" to include "if you're happy and you know it poot in your seat".  What is it with kids and poop talk?  LOL.  

We saw the monkey area first and then made our way around the entire park. We made it to the giraffe section!

I think Cole was most excited about the Bald Eagle.  

I'm not sure what section this was, but it was in a fabulously air-conditioned building that I wanted to stay in ALL DAY.

After went to the petting zoo and rode the carousel it was time for FLAMINGOS!!  

The kids were getting sleepy but we had promised to take them on the paddle boats.  Cole rode in the front with me while Kali and Tori rode in the back.  Kali was not happy for a little bit but about halfway through we let her climb in the front and sit between us. I let them both "steer" the boat as I peddled.  They felt accomplished.

Kali Claire NOT happy. :)

We went through the water fountain a few times and got soaking wet!  As we were walking back to the car I asked each of them what their favorite part of the day was, it was the water fall!  At first neither of them liked it (even though it was their idea) but then they were begging me to drive back through there.  I was laughing a lot too.  I felt like the lady in the "Help me Janice" Youtube video that keeps laughing at the kid on the bungee ride.

I told the kids we could get ice cream but htey had to stay awake.  They insisted that they could stay awake the entire time but Kali fell asleep within 5 minutes of driving.  I said "No ice cream for sleepers!" and she woke up really fast.  It was really funny. She eventually fell asleep and we couldn't wake her up.  I owe her an ice cream cone, I guess!  

We went to Cloud 10 Creamery in Rice Village because we couldn't find a closer place.  Cole kept saying "I want sprinkles on mine" the entire way but when we got there they didn't have sprinkles. :/  The look on his face must have been so sad because the ice cream guy said "You're breaking my heart little buddy".  LOL. I guess I will need to start carrying around sprinkles with me.  

OTW home Cole fell asleep too.  We wore them out just as much as they wore us out!  #adulting

It was a fun day and I'm so glad that I was able to spend the day with two out of three of my favorite kiddos!  

Playing in the Rain

It’s raining in Houston!  I went to my parents’ house on Wednesday night to see my aunt who is in town and my nephews who were staying over and almost didn’t make it over there.  It took 2 ½ hours to get home and I almost flooded out.  My parents live off a major road and have about 4 entrances to the subdivision.  The main entrance was so flooded that even trucks couldn’t get through; one side entrance was blocked by the street so I couldn’t even make it to the entrance.

I went to the last one and saw water but I wasn’t sure how deep it was.  There was a guy backing out in an SUV so I watched him to see how deep the water was, but even after he made it safely I wasn’t 100% sure my little car could make it.  The guy said I could make it if I went slow but I think I had a look of doubt on my face.  He said “I wouldn’t send you if it wasn’t ok, I promise” so I took his word for it and went slowly….and made it!!  Yay!  I was safely inside the neighborhood, or so I thought because there were about 5 more puddles that I had to make it through before I weaved my way around to my parents’ house.   Luckily none of them were as deep as the first one so I got there ok.  Whew!

I got to my parents’ house and saw my mom and sister (my dad is/was out of town) both outside soaking wet doing something in the backyard.  Apparently the pool was not draining because of blockage to the pipe so they were out there in the pouring rain trying to clear a path for all of the water to drain.  Luckily they were able to get it clear and no water got in the house.  It really wasn’t close to being flooded but with the rain coming down so hard and a blockage, it could have risen quickly.

 

One side of the neighborhood (not the main entrance)

This has never happened before to their neighborhood or really the area that they live in but there is a theory floating around in all of Houston about the City taking bribes from contractors to develop areas but the contractors are not planning for proper drainage.  The water has nowhere to go and this is the 2^nd year in a row that random houses that have never before in history flooded.  I heard today that there was a class action lawsuit pending.   Crazy!

We had three kids to entertain in the rain and we had originally had planned on going swimming, but we couldn’t do that. :/   BUT we did the next best thing, play in the rain! 

Let me tell ya’…it was SO COLD!  We all got clothes on (the kids got their suits on) and were splashing in puddles in the street.  At first my sister (who used to be fun btw) was being crabby and wouldn’t let my niece go, but then she decided she wanted to go so she let my niece go.  The neighbors were laughing at us and said that it looked like fun.  It was getting cold and it started lightening so we went inside, but all in all we were out there for about 20 minutes.  That’s longer than it seems!

My aunt decided to stay at my grandparents’ house so I went through all of that water for nothing!  Well, not nothing, I got to see my family and play in the rain. :)

 

No one else wanted their picture taken!

Later, when I was all warm, dry and toasty while watching Sponge Bob (yuck!) with the kids, my Mom calls my grandma and she said her house was about to flood!  The water was trapped in the backyard and the water was seeping into the house via the screen in porch.  My mom freaked out and we all got in the car.  My mom panics in these types of situations.  Usually I sort of do too, but I was able to keep level headed and gather supplies to bail out water if necessary.  All my mom said was “Grandmother’s house is flooding” and proceeded to freak out and get the kids together.  I didn’t really know if that meant the water was right there or if it was about to be so I just grabbed some hard plastic and medal stuff like coolers and pots in case we needed to lift up furniture (I couldn’t find milk crates!) and bail out water.

On the way over there we had to go a few different routes because we couldn’t get through, even with the huge truck that we were in.  We even saw an Expedition flipped over in a pool of water.  Craziness!  We made it to Grandmother’s and figured out how the water was trapped and that we could move a board in the fence to make the water drain.  Within a few minutes the water had receded by a few inches and was draining very quickly.  When we first got there it was up to my shin!  The house next door is vacant but we went ahead and did the same thing for their fence too so that house wouldn’t flood.  All of their water was flowing into Grandmother’s yard anyway it just made sense to clear a board for them too.  Hopefully there house wasn’t flooded before we got there!

We got home about 10:30 pm and I pretty much fell right to sleep since I had to go to work the next morning.  I woke up to get dressed but it was still raining.  I drove to the front of the neighborhood to see if I was still blocked in and I was.  I let work know that I was blocked in and told them that I would try again in the afternoon.  By noon the water had receded enough to let me through but it was about to get bad again (per the weatherman) and I didn’t want to get stuck somewhere just in case so I just took the entire day off.

That’s my flood story!  Hopefully everyone is ok! 

What I’ve Been Up To Lately Vol 3

 As always, I have my bad blogger hat and t-shirt on to write this post.  Besides my birthday post, I haven’t written anything since March!  Tsk tsk.  Sorry about that!  :) Here’s what I’ve been up to in random order:

Easter 2015

As usual, we spent Easter at my parents’ house.  My parents heated the pool and all of the kids got to swim. I also made this year’s bunny cake!  If you aren’t aware, it is a family tradition that me and my sister make a bunny cake.  My sister refuses to help anymore, so I was “forced” to make one by myself.  It's a hard life. :)

SCBWI Houston Conference

I have tried to attend the Houston SCBWI conference for a few years now, but I always miss it.  In 2013 I had just missed the Houston conference but went to Los Angeles one instead.  Last year, the Driving Jacks 5K was happening so I couldn’t make it.  This year, I got an email about the LA conference again but can’t go since it is too expensive and thought about the Houston conference.  I said “I wish I could go to that one, but it’s always in April” and then thought “Wait, it IS April!” and proceeded to google when the 2015 conference would be.  As luck would have it, it was the next day!  Haha.  I almost missed it for a 3^rd year in a row.  I have since been involved in the local chapter and being the event planner and over achiever I am, I offered to help coordinate the 2016 conference. 

Astros Suite Tickets

My work gave us Astros Suite tickets for doing a great job on the events!  I have always wanted to go to a sporting event and sit in the suites.  Bucket list item!!!!!!  The seats were great, the fajita bar was tasty, and the wine was delicious.  It was a fun night!  I took my friend Tracie to the game and we had a blast.

Jamberry Nails

Ignore the fact that I need a real manicure

My sister introduced me to Jamberry Nails a few weeks ago and I have been obsessed ever since.  I started off with 1 set of nail stickers but have now hoarded my way to 12 sets. Oh goodness.  Luckily, my mom and sister also have several sheets and we all trade.  My toes and fingers have never looked so cute.  I am always debating what color to get when I get a pedicure, now I can have fun stickers that stay for a long time.  (Seriously, my pedicure ones stayed for just over a month and my fingernails stayed for 2 weeks).

Children’s Museum of the Woodland’s

I took Kali to the Children’s Museum in the Woodlands and at first she didn’t know what was happening.  She likes to sit back and observe for a while before jumping into the action.  Once she felt secure enough, so started to play and there was no stopping her.  She played dress up, ‘drove’ a car, slid down the slide, got soaking wet in the water play section (she was having fun, I couldn’t stop the fun!), and built lots of tall buildings.

Baseball player signing

My work hosts an annual Astros Day where they have 3 players come out and sign sports stuff for everyone.  I don’t need more clutter in my life and don’t collect any sports stuff.  I called my dad to see if he would want something signed and he said a baseball.  Jose Altuve, Marwin Gonzalez, and Luis Valbuena were all there to sign items for us! 

Royal Caribbean Cruise

I went on a cruise in May with my friend Clarissa!  We went to Cozumel, Belize, and Roatan.  I had a blast and fell in love with cruising.  I can’t wait to do another one.  Somewhere between Belize and Roatan (where I got in the water) I got a SUPER bad ear infection that still hasn’t 100% healed.  I think it was when we went cave tubing in Belize.  I should really write an entire post about just my cruise…let me get back to you on that.

Fondue Restaurant 

For my birthday my friend Terrie took me out to a fondue restaurant.   Bucket list item!!!!  I have always wanted to go to a fondue place but it’s kind of expensive just to do for no reason.  We went to The Melting Pot off Westheimer and it just happened to have a review that said it was the most romantic place to take a date. LOL. As you may or may not know, I am a self-proclaimed marshmallow freak and when the dessert fondue came out, I was so excited.   Yum!  They even gave me a signed birthday card when we were leaving.

 Cole Turns 4!

 Cole turned 4 at the end of April and they hosted a fish fry for him.  He requested a cake with m&m's on it and that is what he got.  

I think that’s all for now!!  I will be back with a post about the cruise, my birthday, and my trip to Venezuela where I met a real life Willy Wonka!!!

Family Fun Day

A few weeks ago (I know, bad blogger) there was a family fun day at my dad's work that we were invited too.  They have it each year, but this was the first year I was able to attend.  It was super fun!

They had games, vendors, door prizes (good ones!) and food!  They even had a classic car display (my dad works in the car industry) outside for everyone to check out.  There were some pretty cool cars there.

In another warehouse, there was a kids section filled with face painting and games.  Cole was super excited to get his face painted, Hunter was too cool to walk around with his face painted.  Cole REALLY wanted to be Spiderman, and we were afraid that the clown wouldn't be able to make it, but alas, she could!  His face was super excited as soon as she started to add the makeup.

So serious.  Spiderman is all about the seriousness. ;)

The final result!

Another clown asked Cole what kind of balloon animal he wanted, he said a blue gun.  She said how about a sword or a dog, but he was insistent on a blue gun.  When that kid get something in his head, he want it and there is no talking him out of it.

Hunter playing the spin the wheel for prizes game.

It was a fun day!  We didn't win any door prizes, but it was a fun day!  Free food always makes things fun! :)

Cole's 3rd Birthday

This big guy is 3!  Wow!

Cole had his 3rd birthday at Chuck E. Cheese along with his friend Ruby from school. Their birthdays are a few days apart and instead of having two parties and splitting up the 'guest list' from class, they had one.  The table was set  up when we got there with cute microphone balloons and chuck e cheese place settings.  The theme at Chuck E. Cheese was Rock Star (or something like that) and everything there was rock star themed from the birthday crowns to tables to the videos on the monitors.  It was cute.

Rockstar party!

They had two smash cakes for the birthday kids and one larger cake for everyone else.  I <3 cake="" span="">

We played games!

We opened presents!

Party favors!!!  Cole LOVES Play-Doh and suckers.

After the party we went back to my sisters house to open presents from the family.  We only had a limited time at Chuck E. Cheese itself, so we figured we would just open the family ones at Beau and Laura's house.

Cole's favorite present?  A blue motorcycle!!  Or mooootorcycle as he calls it.  It really has 4 wheels, you just can't see two of them under the silver part.  It is so cute.

7 Acre Wood

On Friday my sister was going with my nephew Hunter to a school field trip and asked me if I wanted to babysit Cole for them.  Of course, I said yes!

As soon as my alarm went off, I headed over there.  She lives almost an hour away without traffic so you can only imagine how long it would have taken me to get over there if I hadn't left at the crack of dawn.  I got over there hoping that I could sleep until Cole woke up, but no such luck!  Cole woke up as soon as they left and I didn't sleep.

Cole and I decided that we wanted to take a trip to the park instead of just stay home all day.  Who wants to stay home?  Boring!  I had heard that there was a place called 7 Acre Wood that was really close to my sisters house.  My sister suggested that I look on Groupon to see if I could get a discount first, and luckily there was!  I bought a 2 person pack for $10 and you get two admissions, two animal feeding cones and two drinks.

Cole just thought we were going to a park, but he was very surprised at this park.  He just looked around for a bit before deciding on where he wanted to play.   There was so much to do at 7 Acre Wood that his little brain couldn't decide what to do first.  There is putt putt, a petting zoo, zipline, big playground, smaller playground, huge checker/chess board, horseshoes, basketball and other games.  He loved doing the zipline, so we did that multiple times.  It isn't a zipline with a harness, it is just one where you stick your feet in the rope and hold on.  I was afraid he would fall so I held on to him the entire time and just ran with him to make him go.  He was giggling the entire time!  It's such a cute sound.

We played basketball and volleyball plus fought off the pirates at the ship that is stranded at sea!

The petting zoo was really interesting too.  We fed the animals with our cones outside the gate (Cole was a little scared) and then went inside to pet them.  One baby goat was hoping from one donkey to the next!

Finally, we played putt-putt, but Cole didn't quite understand the rules of the game, specifically that he needed to not touch the ball.  I have a really cute video on my phone, but it won't upload.

We ate lunch at the park (their chicken salad is really good) and then played some more. Apparently Cole LOVES brownies.  Everything these days is LOVES.

 We left around 2 pm and Cole was pulling out all the tricks to try and stay.  It didn't work! #jail

7 Acre Wood is a really cute place to take kids!

Volunteering at the Rodeo Houston

Wow!  My final shift at the HLSR for the Special Children's Committee was last night and boy was it a long week!  I had a ton of fun and it was super rewarding, but it was exhausting.

I had to volunteer 5 times total (one being the Top Hands Horse Show), 3 concert nights and 1 day tour.

The HLSR is a huge event and has over 28,000 volunteers (plus a small staff) that puts on the rodeo each year and gives out a ton of money in scholarships.

The committee I volunteer for is the Special Children's Committee, which hosts mentally and physically handicapped kids and adults (plus chaperones) during day tours and concerts.  During the concerts we have a special entrance and special seats reserved for them.  We greet them off the bus, walk them to their seats, give them popcorn and drinks, and dance with them and help them back to their vehicles when the concert is over.  Normally I just helped them to their car, but during my break last night (Jake Owen Concert) I stayed with them and danced.  I had hte most fun!  I 'slow danced' in the aisle with a few of the kids and when they went to leave, I was going to shake their hands, but two of them kissed me on my cheek.  It was so cute! :)  I am so thankful that I was able to be a part of this committee this year.  It was a blessing to hang out with them!

My day started super early, so I of course had to get some coffee when I got to the park.  We had a concert the night before (REO Speedwagon) and I didn't get home until past midnight.  The next day (Tuesday) I woke up to my annoyingly cute alarm to get dressed and head to Reliant.  I knew I would be there all day, so coffee was a must!

On Tuesday (typing this out of order), we had a day tour with the kids. They came on buses and we escorted them throughout the rodeo to see the different animals (petting zoos and attractions) and we also gave them lunch.  There is section with pig races that the kids all loved.  They have four sections and each section has a colored flag.  Whatever section you are in, you cheer that pig on during the race (I think my groups section was orange).  They would tell you about each of them and how fast they were, then they would race down a shoot (looking for food I'm sure!).  The kids would cheer and cheer for there little pig.  It was sweet to watch.

About 1 pm all of the groups headed back to their buses to head home for the day.  My sister was supposed to bring my nephew to the carnival around 3 pm, so I went to hang out with one of my friends who was volunteering too.

Laura and Cole got there and we bought some carnival tickets.  We rode the slide and Cole loved it.  I swear, that kid is fearless. He rode tons of rides (well, as many as $20 worth of tickets gets you, LOL) and then we went inside to look at the animals and to eat lunch.  I wanted to get some fried food, but I was good and didn't (I still have over a week though!).  While Laura was in line for the bathroom, Cole wanted to ride the escalator over and over and over and over and over again.  We shouldn't have bought carnival tickets, we could have just stuck him on that thing and he would have been happy. I couldn't say no to this cute face. :)

 Part of the rodeo is art work that students submit.  They were all wonderful and some of them go for a lot of money at auction.  I love this pig one!  I do not know what the different ribbons mean though.  I know they are different prizes, but I am not sure what is the top prize and I didn't see a sign, but I could have missed it.

So overall I was at the rodeo from 4:30 pm-12:30 pm on Monday, 8 am-9:30 pm on Tuesday and 5 pm til 1:30 pm on Wednesday.  So tired, but it was super fun and worth it!  Tonight is the Veronica Mars premier at AMC in Sugarland!!  Can't wait.

Snowmen and Caterpillars

I got to babysit this cutie the other day while my sister ran some errands.

We spent the day making tons of play-doh figures including snowmen and looooooong caterpillars.  He would come up with a figurine to make and I was 'forced' to make them.  We even made a dragon, but I am not sure you can tell it is a dragon, can you?

Maybe?  I never said I was an artist! :)






The rest of the day we spent playing outside and taking walks.  Cole loves to race and I did a lot of running while I was over there.  I thought it would wear him out to where he would fall asleep, but NOOOOO.  Of course not. LOL.



I got a snack from my car and he stole it from me, apparently he loves Nutella.  After eating all of it, he took a bath; I think he got more on him than he did in his mouth.

My sister got home just as my Mom came to pick him up for the night.  We had tons of fun and the next morning Cole's words were "Where's Aunt Steppy" as soon as he woke up! :)

What Does the Fox Say?

Have you heard the annoying song, What does the fox say?  Well, youtube it and you are in for a treat!  LOL.  My nephews both love the song and Cole is a great singer! :)  Watch the video below to hear his rendition of the song.

At one point he stops singing to shove chocolate pie in his mouth, but after he eats it all, he starts singing again.  I especially love it when he 'howls' at the end.  Too cute! :)

Bowling with the Boys

A few weeks ago my sister and I took my nephews bowling at Main Event in the Woodlands. We weren’t
too sure if Cole’s 2.5 year old attention span would be able to actually bowl, but we wanted to try it out.


We got there right when it opened and the place was pretty much empty besides a few birthday parties that were setting up. We started at one lane, but the bumpers on one side would not come up so we had to switch lanes. I would say that the bumpers were for the boys only, but both my sister and I both suck at bowling too so they were for us too!

At one point Cole’s ball made its way to two lanes over so I rushed to get it before it started down the aisle. However, the lane was so slick with oil that I fell and busted my booty. It was very embarrassing! One of the employees came over to see if I was hurt and I said “just my pride”. Luckily, the place was pretty much empty so I was able to not go hide in the bathroom the rest of the time. I hurt for DAYS afterwards. I think I hurt my back. Not good. LOL.

Cole got the impression that he needed to get a new bowling ball each time he bowled, so we kept having to bring him back to the lane. He was also impatient about waiting his turn to bowl. He didn’t understand that everyone got two chances and that he had to wait for all of us to bowl.

Laura told me how they don’t ever go out to eat anymore because Cole doesn’t sit still in restaurants (he’s a busy kid). I suggested that they bring play-doh to the restaurant to keep him still for a bit. She loved the idea and now brings play-doh everywhere. Hence, when he didn’t want to sit still anymore, I brought out the play-doh for him to play with. After he started playing with it, he didn’t want to bowl anymore-he was done!

After Cole got sick of play-doh he wanted to walk around so I took him to the play area. Laura and Hunter played the rest of the game for us. Hunter actually was winning when we left to go ‘play’ the games. I wasn’t about to buy a bunch of game tokens for Cole so he pretty much just pushed buttons and drove the cars/boats/motorcycles or ‘shot’ the guns. He didn’t know the difference.


It was a fun time, I am glad I got to spend some time with my favorite two boys!