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Daniel Tiger at the Children's Museum

We are newcomers to the Daniel Tiger Fan Club, but over the past few months, Landry has started to enjoy watching the show.  It seems to be a cut-above some of the other children's series, and I appreciate the wholesome message it teaches each episode.  So far, we've seen episodes about visiting the doctor, going to school, trying new foods, and sharing with friends.  All issues that Landry, as a typical three-year-old, tends to struggle with!

So, when I found out that the Children's Museum designated last Saturday as Daniel Tiger Day, I wanted to take the boys along.  The museum opened an hour early for members, and we took advantage of the lighter crowds because, once 10am hit, it seemed like all of Houston was at the museum.  It was literally hard to move because of all the people!

The museum showed Daniel Tiger episodes on the big screen in the auditorium all day long, so we slipped in to watch one.  At this point, Shannon decided that he could no longer be seen with his Mom and big brother, and decided to sit in the row ahead of us next to this complete stranger instead?!? I have no words.  But, I cannot look at his little head in this picture without cracking up!

Landry and the empty seat I saved for Shannon, thinking that he'd come back to me.  Nope!

Posing for pictures in the Daniel Tiger trolley...

And with Daniel himself....Landry may or may not have pushed him in the belly to see if it was squishy. 

Last But Not Least: Ice Cream Week

We wrapped up our last theme week with "ice cream" week.  For the most part, the week consisted of sampling ice cream/frozen yogurt from several of the stores close to our house.  We were shocked when we realized that we have at least eight different chains within a 10-minute radius of our house.  Throughout the week, Landry enjoyed vanilla with gummy bears at Marble Slab, vanilla with M&Ms at FroYou, and vanilla with chocolate chips at Coldstone Creamery.  The rest of us were pretty much along for the ride!


On Friday, we capped off the week with a trip to Brenham, where we met Grammie at the Blue Bell factory. If you look closely at the sign on this truck, you will notice that they don't want people climbing in or on the truck.  When Landry found out about this "rule," he pitched an absolute fit. So, a lot of the photos were taken when he was in the car with me while he calmed down and attempted to get his act together!

After the creamery, we toured the Brenham Fire Department, and the mostly-recovered Landry was able to sit in the driver's seat of a fire truck. The firemen were very accommodating to us and even let us tour their sleeping and living quarters in the fire station.

Next, Grammie arranged for the boys to try their hand at picking cotton.  Love Shannon's expression in this picture - a city boy through and through!

And, we capped off the morning with lunch at the Brenham Airport, where Grammie and Shannon posed outside for a picture!

Minus the one meltdown, it was a great end to a fun week! 

Safari Week

Last week was Safari Week.  Our big outing for the week was a trip to the Bayou Wildlife Park in Alvin. 

Long Sidebar Alert: We actually had to make the 90-minute drive twice because I didn't pay attention to the fact that their fall schedule started in August, and we drove down on Monday to find them closed.  I realize that Landry has lived a sheltered life, but I've never seen him as heartbroken as he was when we found the place locked up.  He had tears streaming down his face and kept on asking me to drive through the gate.  When I explained that I would probably get sent to jail for crashing through the gate, he had a lot of questions about exactly how long I would be gone.  I could tell he was doing a mental calculation about how long he'd be ok without me around.   It was ONLY after I explained to him that I'd probably miss his birthday in April that he decided that it wasn't worth it.  Nothing like that to make you feel loved as a mom!  So, I did the only thing I could think of to make it better....took him to Kemah and let him ride the boardwalk rides.  Closed safari forgotten.

On Wednesday, we made our second trek to the safari, and for the record, this was not my favorite outing of the summer.  Nothing against the safari, though, because I'm sure this would be a fabulous day trip for most people.  My issues with it were strictly personal.  Come to find out, I don't like being close to wild animals that aren't behind fences, and I really don't like wild animals sticking their heads in the tram in search of food with Landry and Shannon a foot away.  Not to mention, I don't like watching Landry and Shannon touching the sides of the tram that ostriches, buffalo, deer, zebra, camels, etc., etc. have just drooled on.
Because without fail, not two minutes later, I saw this:

And, I found myself wondering if we're going to be making a trip to the Mayo Clinic to cure him some never- before-seen-camel-to-human transmitted disease.  Just kidding.  Sort of.  So, I made it through the tram ride by dispensing anti-bacterial foam every few minutes.  And, I'm thankful to report that almost a week later, we're all still healthy.  So, clearly I have germ issues.


Like I said earlier, for people without the germ issues, this would be a great day trip.  They had a ton of animals - everything from monkeys to giraffes to kangaroos.  And, the tram ride was a lot of fun for the boys. 

If you were so inclined, you could feed all of the animals directly from the bucket. 

They had several tame deer wandering around the barn area.

On Thursday, the safari came to us when my BSF teaching leader, Linette, watched the boys for the day.  (This was her thank-you gift to me to serving with her this past year.) She asked me in advance about the week's theme, and she showed up like Mary Poppins with a bag of safari-related games and activities.  She even took the boys on a safari in the backyard to hunt for animal crackers.  It was amazing!  I'm so thankful for her and how much she loves the boys.

Here are the boys wearing the safari gear she brought with her. 

I told her that I wished I had used her as a consultant all summer long!  So much more creative than I am! 

Next Up (and the last summer week):  Ice Cream Week

Boat Week

Last week, we had fun with boat week.  (Although we were intending to combine it with plane week, we were unable to squeeze anything in that was plane related, so it became just boat week.)

On Sunday, we took our first paddle boat ride on the lake at the front of our subdivision. Although it was challenging to figure out how to safely transport two boys plus paddle, we managed to have a really fun (but purposely short) boat ride.

Shannon's life jacket looked more like a strait jacket on him, and he acted completely immobilized with it on, which was good for some laughs.

Landry also decided that boat week was a good time for him to learn how to fish, so we indulged him with the world's shortest fishing trip on record.  From start to finish, he maybe fished for ten minutes, but it was the perfect amount of time for him.   Lest anyone think that this was a less-than-serious fishing trip, notice the can of corn and corn dog (?) we brought along for fish bait!

On Friday, I took the boys on a dolphin watching trip in Galveston Bay with my friend Kim.  I was thankful to have her along for company, and she was a tremendous help with the boys.  There is no way I would have attempted this without her help!

Putting his ticket on his face before the boat ride

Whatever big brother does, little brother is sure to follow!

Situated on the boat...

If you look ever so closely in the center of the picture, you can see a dolphin.  The picture doesn't do the dolphins justice, though, because at one point, the boat was surrounded by them.  I just was more concerned about keeping two boys out of Galveston Bay than getting good pictures!

We didn't manage to do any boat-related crafts or read any interesting boat-themed books.  But, so far, Landry is claiming that this was his favorite week!

Next Up:  Safari Week

Rainforest Week

Last week, we had a lot of fun with Rainforest Week.  Conveniently enough, the Cinemark children's movie for the week was Rio.  I can't say for sure, since we only saw a 45- minute chunk out of the middle, but I have a strong suspicion that it might have been loosely related to the rainforest theme.  (I mixed up the start time, so we were 30 minutes late in arriving, and Shannon lasted for the 45 minutes that his kiddie pack did and then was done.  Even though it's supposed to be a kid-friendly show and the tickets were only $1, we got a couple of dirty looks from a lady sitting close to us, who oddly enough was a day-care worker with a large group of kids of her own.  So, we left early.)  No pictures to memorialize that event!

We also took a trip to the Rainforest Cafe on Tuesday evening.  Although he didn't make any of the pictures, Brian went with us.  This was a fun family outing for us.  The boys were entertained by all the fish, fountains, animals, etc.  They also both ate reasonably well.  I had a chopped salad that I'm still drooling over (thank you, pregnancy).  

Our table right by the aquarium

Shannon saying "cheese."  I cannot look at his face in this picture and not crack up!

 

 Love that he's not too old to wear the crown!

A cup of ice buys us at least 30 minutes in a sti-down restaurant!

Our book selection this week was really lame.  I never made it to the library, so I resorted to buying a cheap used book on Amazon sight-unseen called, The Umbrella.  It had large chunks in Spanish, so it was lost on the Dupre boys.  And, our craft was non-existent!  Oh well.

Next Up:  Boat and Plane Week
Two Weeks from Now:  Safari Week  (hoping Uncle Rob will see this with enough advance notice to send some safari pictures!)