Spring Break!

We had an awesome spring break last week! I guess it should actually be called "Still Winter Break" because the school district here schedules the break way to early. Anywho.....it was a great one. We headed to the "Big D" (and I DO mean Dallas in case you're singing the country song to yourself) to see some good friends. I love that our car has a DVD system with headphones, it makes for such an easier car ride. I looked back during the drive and saw this. So cute.The ride down was super smooth and we made great time. We made lunches in the car so we only stopped to use the restroom. Our GPS said that we would be in our friend's driveway at 5:10. We figured with traffic it would be more likely 5:30. Unfortunately, when we got 3 miles from our exit and 6 miles to our friend's house we were completely stopped. For 1 1/2 hours! There was an accident that shut down the freeway just ahead of us. The kids handled it like champs, though, and no one had to go to the bathroom! Miracle! :)
Our hotel was great! After a good night's rest we headed to the Dallas World Aquarium. It was huge! It had fish, of course, but also birds (lots of them!) and all kinds of water creatures. It was amazing. We are standing at the outside entrance here.So we get in and there is this beautiful waterfall with birds everywhere. Doctor huddles us together for a kodak moment. Just as we are ready to take the picture, I go to put my arm around the kids. I felt something on my arm and realized that my arm was covered in BIRD POOP!!!! YUCK!! Hence the funny look on my face in this picture.
There were 3 floors of fish, birds, monkeys, and education. Here is a great picture in the "shark tube."
After the aquarium we headed back to a mall close the hotel for lunch. They had a carousel right at the food court, so of course we had to ride.

After the mall we headed to a picnic dinner with our friends at the park. We all had a blast!
The next day we all headed to the Fort Worth Zoo. At the entrance there was a dinosaur that moved and made noise. I loved the look on Megaman's face when he saw it!

Here is a pic of all the cute/handsome kids we got to spend the week with.
At the zoo there was a bird exhibit where you could buy a seed stick and feed the birds. Dude said that that was his favorite thing on the trip. When we were leaving, I looked back and noticed that he was trying to sneak a bird out.



After the birds, the kids found an alligator just right for the catching.
There was an observation hole thingy for the kids to watch the turtles and alligators. Honey Bunch decided this was the way to watch.
Thursday we were off to the Ripley's Believe it or Not Odditorium. If you are headed to Dallas, this is one you can miss. It was kind of cool, but not worth the outrageous price. Out front they had some huge dinosaurs made out of car bumpers.

There is also a wax museum. Pretty cool, but most of the people the kids had never heard of. They did visit with the Wizard of Oz cast, some Harry Potter characters, Dr. Phil, David Letterman and visit the Oprah set.
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There was a room full of wax statues of all the Presidents of the U.S. and it was kind of creepy. They all looked like they were staring you down. Poor Princess started to cry and so we got out quick. There was a museum of weird Ripley's stuff which was interesting. We also navigated through a mirror maze and Mission Impossible type laser room. Dude was really good at the laser room and even made it through in the fastest time. We are fans of the movie Big with Tom Hanks so we had to have a picture of the Zoltar machine.After the Ripley's we met up with our friends who took us out for pizza and a fun night at a place called Main Event. There was laser tag, arcade games and tons of fun! I wish we had pictures. Thanks guys!
Friday we headed to the Fort Worth Stockyards. We had a great time! First we headed to a photography studio for a fun old time photo.
After the photo session we headed out to watch the longhorn cattle drive.Then we had to get some cowboy hats of course! FYI, Dude looks like he doesn't like his cowboy hat, but he really does. He even wore it all the way home. He just wants to look like a serious cowboy in the pictures.

After some BBQ we headed to the human maze that also happened to be on an episode of Amazing Race. I love that show! Doctor and the girls headed in and finished in 10 mins!



Next to the maze was a mechanical bull that Dude just had to ride. He even stayed on the whole time. Way to go Bud!

On the way home from the stockyards we drove past this shop. So fun.

Our last night in Dallas we headed to the ritzy Southlake town square to window shop. I sure felt like a country bumpkin!! It was fun to daydream though, and even more fun to be with such great people. Thanks again guys for a great trip!

Kid Comedy

Honey Bunch - We are getting ready to go on vacation for spring break. As we were packing, HB said, "I'm going to take my D.S. and my empty 3 player."

Megaman - I asked Megaman if he was excited to go to Dallas. He looked at Honey Bunch and said, "Do you know what Dallas looks like?" When she said no, he said, "It's a bunch of circles I think."

Dude was sick last week so we had to go to his school to pick up his homework. While we were there Megaman could hear kids playing on the playground. This was our conversation.

MM: What's that noise?
Me: Some kids are playing on the playground.
MM: Can I play on it, too?
Me: I'm sorry, Bud, it's only for the kids who go to school here.
MM: NO IT'S NOT!
Me: I know you want to play, but it's only for 3rd, 4th, and 5th graders. I am so sorry.
MM: That makes me anguish!

I guess he is paying attention when we read scriptures. :)

Princess FINALLY lost her first tooth!

So Princess is 7, and has been devastated that she hasn't lost a tooth. So you would think that when she finally had a loose tooth she would have wiggled the heck out of it. Wrong. She was terrified that it would hurt. It has been hanging by a thread for days, but she wouldn't let anyone touch it. She went to the dentist for her regular check-up and wouldn't even let the dentist get it out. After a miserable dinner during which she sobbed because she couldn't eat, Doctor opened her mouth and popped the tooth out. After the initial shock wore off she was pretty happy.

Meet Robeca!

Princess was given an assignment at school to create a robot. She brought home an empty tissue box to aid in her creation. The problem? She and Doctor are far too creative to fiddle with a tissue box! We had some Styrofoam taking up space in the garage that was just right for the creation. Princess named it "Robeca." Get it? Rob-eca.......

Kid Comedy

We got a package awhile ago that was full of packing peanuts. When garbage day came several of the packing peanuts flew out of either the garbage can or the garbage truck. When the kids saw all of the peanuts littering the neighborhood, Megaman said, "I told those peanuts THREE TIMES to stay in the garage!"

Megaman's New Mug

Poor Megaman! Honey Bunch was swinging a necklace and accidentally made contact with his tooth. He wouldn't let the dentist do anything so we'll have to wait a couple of weeks and try again.

Happy Valentine's Day!

We got a very fun package in the mail this week. Doctor's aunt sent us some cookie cutters and sprinkles/cookie decorations. We had fun decorating and eating our cookies, thanks so much! Megaman couldn't wait to take a picture before he ate a bite. :0

I also got another package on Friday from my Valentine. He sent these beautiful tulips.
Happy Valentine's Day!

Snow Days

I think my kids have had more snow days this year than I had my entire school life! This week was full of them. The kids were sent home from school a couple hours early on Monday and then they were off the whole rest of the week. On Friday we decided to go to school anyway, only to go sledding! The snow drifts were the perfect size for Megaman to enjoy and for Dude to not go completely crazy with wild stunts. :) We met some friends there and had a great time.
You can't tell from the picture how high this snow drift is, but you get an idea if you look at the house in the corner.

Happy Birthday Honey Bunch!

Honey Bunch turned 5 on Sunday!!! I can hardly believe how fast the time has gone! She has a huge obsession with butterflies, so of course we had a butterfly birthday party . We started by decorating butterfly wings. Then we played pin the tail on the donkey. (HB really wanted to play pin the antennae on the butterfly, but that was more work than I could put into the party.) Then we got our butterfly masks on to hit the butterfly pinata.
I tried my hand at making a butterfly cake, and I think it turned out really cute. The purple on the cake looks gray in the picture, not sure why, but in real life it was really pretty.
HB was so spoiled by all the grandmas and grandpas and aunts, uncles, cousins. Thanks! You guys are all so sweet. Happy Birthday, Honey Bunch, thanks for keeping us all smiling!

Stormaggedon

That's what the storm of the century we're experiencing is called. The local university even closed for the first time since 1973. Everything is closed down. I will post about Honey Bunch's awesome butterfly birthday tomorrow, but for now here's a little peek at our world. We took these pics before it stopped snowing, and by the time all was said and done we had about 2 feet piled up at the door. We got about 20 inches total, and it was crazy windy.
This is our back door.

Here's a video of what it looked like after the snow slowed a bit.