Dinosaur-cation 2010

We took a weekend getaway to Historic Glen Rose Texas to take in the sights.  We stayed at Americas Best Value because they had an awesome deal where you got tickets to all the area sights for a discount.  Also, the prices were not that bad to begin with.

We got there LATE Friday night and little man wanted nothing to do with going to bed as soon as we got there.  After crawling into bed with him and wrestling him to sleep, we finally dozed off at 2am.

Saturday morning we woke up, got dressed and headed out to Dinosaur World to take in all the life size dinos they have there.  It was really interesting, but in hindsight we should have taken the stroller.  Not even halfway little man got tired of walking and daddy got the job of keeping him on his shoulders the rest of the way.  Boy was it HOT.  It hit 102 degrees before we left Dinosaur World.  Little man, loved all the dinosaurs and wanted to touch each one (explicitly NOT allowed) so we had to move quickly to avoid a little dare devil climbing fences.

We then headed over to Dinosaur Valley State Park.  They have several different track sites where you can see actual dinosaur tracks.  (Also known as dinosaur choo choo tracks).  We took the main hike first and got to cool off as we crossed over the shallow rocky Paluxy River.  We saw several that were roped off and under some stagnate water, but then we saw some off to the side that were dried out.  So cool!

After making it almost all the way back to the car without slipping and falling in a puddle, little man did just that.  Ending up with soaked sand covered pants that had to be removed before getting in the car.  We didn't have any spares in the car so little man got to ride back to the hotel in style.

We grabbed lunch and headed back to the hotel where we all enjoyed real Dublin Dr. Pepper (if you haven't ever had this pleasure, find it, indulge, and thank me later) and some fried chicken.  After lunch we made it over to the hotels indoor pool.  It was EMPTY!  Yay for small favors.  Once I finally talked a little man into wearing his life jacket, he had a BLAST swimming by himself.  We swam and splashed and jumped for almost 2 hours.  Insert awesome 2 hour family nap here.

Post nap time we headed back over to the state park to check out some of the other track sites and a few of the trails.  It was still pretty hot so we didn't stay too long.  For dinner we went to Riverside Grill which was inside a beautiful historic home right off the square.  Little Kyle kept saying we were eating dinner in the White House.  Great food and amazing dessert!!  After all of that we were pretty much exhausted so we went back to the hotel watched a little TV and then went to bed WAY earlier than the night before.

Sunday morning we woke up in time to enjoy breakfast at the hotel before we checked out.  We left the hotel and headed over to Fossil Rim Wildlife Center. This was great!  We got the bag of feed from the front and let little man stand in front of the passenger seat.  He had a wonderful time feeding the different animals by hand, including zebras!  He thought it was pretty cool that all the animals came up to him and he got to pet them and feed them.  We had lunch at the halfway point in Overlook Cafe.  A gorgeous view of the property was everywhere you looked.  The second half didn't take as long, but we did get to see a giraffe, a cheetah, and a rhino.

We headed back to Houston and decided to make a short stop at the Dr. Pepper museum in Waco.  Little man had a good time running around and trying all the different buttons and crafts they had laid out.  Our last stop in the museum was the soda fountain where we enjoyed a (as usual) extremely yummy Dublin Dr. Pepper float.  So good!

All in all we had a great time, took WAY TOO many pictures, and decided we want to go back, but maybe in cooler weather.

If you want to see more pictures from our trip you can check out the scrap book I made with Picaboo.  By the way, LOVE this program.

To view the book, click the following link:


http://app.picaboo.com/WebView/Project.aspx?clientID=9da9681f821529e89a43eb710be36781&version=25171

Reading Nora Roberts

Some highlights:
And the next time baby can't make cheese
And the next time it was green
And the next time even Minnie no where on the dinosaur vacation.
And the next time the baby sleeping in the bed.

There are some other things he says in there, however since I have never read this version of the book I can not tell you what they are.

The art of making art

Big Boy Bed

So it is finally time to switch from the baby bed, to the BIG BOY BED.  Well, actually just the converted crib for now :)

To work up to it, we went to the fabric store yesterday and little man got to pick which racing flag fabric he wanted mommy to make the curtains and bedskirt with.  Then when we got home from the store it was nap time.  So we headed upstairs and we talked about how this was his last nap in his BABY bed and that when daddy got home he was getting an awesome BIG BOY BED and his room was now going to be decorated with racing cars!  He was so pumped and took his usual nap.  While he slept I made his new bed skirt and curtains out of the fabric he picked out.

When he woke up I went in to get him out of bed and he informed me that he was not done yet and wanted a little bit more time with "Kyle's last baby nap".  He stayed in there for another 30 minutes just laying there and petting his crib rail!

As soon as daddy got home and we ate dinner, the boys went upstairs with screwdrivers in hand and began building the big boy bed.  He was SOOOOO excited and said "Mommy, mommy get in here!  Kyle has new BIG BED, it is AWESOME!"  So we went upstairs and spent some time in the room with him and talking about all the new responsibility that comes with the big boy bed.  Including, do no get out, if you need mommy and daddy just call for us, no toys are allowed in the bedroom anymore, and a few other things.

The #1 consequence for breaking the rules, the BBB goes away, and the crib comes back.

He response, "Kyle no want that, Kyle LOVE big boy bed, so good, Kyle stay in bed."

He went to bed at around 10pm and was asleep by 10:30pm.  This morning he woke up at 9:30am, sat up in bed and said, "MOMMY!!!!  Kyle all done, come get me!"

So, ya, a totally uneventful night :)  Let's hope it stays that way!

Happy Birthday 4th Flag Day!

Well the title says it all :)  (If you speak fluent Kyle that is)

Today we celebrate our nation's freedom and I can't think of a better way than to spend it with family and friends. 

Saturday we went to Kyle's great-uncle's home for great food and a whole houseload of people!  Seriously there were probably 50 or so people there!!!  Anway, little man had a great time swimming in their beautiful salt water pool and playing with his cousins.

Today on the actual 4th, we spent a quite day at home and then after naptime headed over to our good friends 4 story house in downtown.  We had even more good food and little man got to play with Uncle Mark's airplane.  Then we all headed up to the roof deck and watched 4 different firework displays from all around Houston.

As soon as we got home (around 10pm) our neighborhood was putting on quite a fireworks show!  It went on for HOURS!  Little man thought it was pretty cool that there were fireworks at "Kyle's house".

I hope everyone had a fun and safe holiday!  I would like to take a moment to also say thank you to those who continue to ensure our freedom as I type this, and those who have served in the past.  Also a huge thank you to those who gave their lives so that my son can grow up in this great country only knowing freedom.

I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

Plant a seed...

So, yes I have been an absent blogger.  I am pretty sure I always will be.  If anyone out there reads this, sorry :)

I have decided to grow things.  Tomato plants to be exact.  From seed no less.  Why would you do that Heather?  I have no clue, other than I am tired of buying massive amounts of cherry tomatos at the store for my son who thinks they are red berries. 

Here is my progress thus far:

First I purchased a Cherry Tomato seed packet and a Jiffy-7 peat pellet window sill green house. (On sale at Home Depot, grand total for both items $4.65)  You add hot water to the tray and watch the pellets expand.  Once expanded you plant 3-4 seeds in each pellet.  Then cap with enclosed clear lid.
Finished product:

Next you wait :)  It really wasn't that bad, it took maybe 5-6 days to turn into this:

Now that it is at this stage, I was instructed to leave it open and DO NOT WATER for an additional 5-6 days.

Now we get to transplant day.  I went and purchased Organic potting soil and a planter (Grand total after coupons $6.75) and now the little pellets get planted in the planter.  Here it is as of today:

Oh, and here is the soil I purchased:

So now we wait some more!  Hopefully these guys will take off so I don't feel like I completely wasted my money.