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!)

Our Newest Addition!

As I posted on Facebook last week, we're excited to announce that we're expecting a new little one in March 2014.  I had my first doctor's appointment this past week, and everything looks good so far.  (I've changed doctors for this pregnancy to work with a doctor who specializes in high risk pregnancies because of my age and pre-eclampsia history.)

Here's the first ultrasound picture:

So, we would love for you to join us in praying  for a long, blood-pressure-issue-free pregnancy and a healthy baby!

Circus Week

Last week was circus week around here.  For the most part, it made for a more low-key week because we only had one circus-related event - you guessed it: a trip to the circus on Friday.  We went with Grammie, Aunt Michelle, and cousins Caroline and Grayson.  It was a fun outing!  The boys did great for the first half.  They stayed in their seats, seemed to follow the acts, and generally seemed to enjoy themselves.  (For Shannon, the key to this success was giving him his own box of popcorn to hold and eat.  He took great delight in putting the box down in between the seats and picking it up over and over again.)  The circus had a 10 minute intermission, which was the kiss of death for the Dupre boys.  Once the second act started up, both lost interest, so we left shortly thereafter. 

Alas, since I had my own circus clown sitting on my lap, I didn't get many shots at all - just a couple of pre-show photos.

We enjoyed several circus books this week:  Circus Parade, If I Ran the Circus (Thanks, Grandma!), and one of Landry's all-time favorite books called Secret Circus, about a group of mice that host a secret circus in Paris.  For our craft, we made a clown face out of a paper plate.   Landry was quite proud of the final product, although with all the green, it could pass for a leprechaun!

Next Up:  Rainforest Week

Fish Week

Fish Week started out with a sweet email from my brother Rob and sister-in-law Janna who sent some pictures of their fish pond.  Landry thoroughly enjoyed studying Uncle Rob and Aunt Janna's fish, so I feel it's only right that I send a shout-out to them in Pennsylvania and thank them for being in my handful of loyal followers!


Our big outing for the week was a trip to the Aquarium in downtown Houston.  We met a couple of my co-leaders from BSF and their kids for the morning.  Although the Aquarium is a bit on the pricey side, it is one of my favorite places to take the boys.  The fish there put the Houston zoo to shame, and they also have some fun amusement park-like rides that Landry has enjoyed both times we've visited.  They sell an all-day pass for all the amusement park rides, which gives unlimited access to all the rides.  It's the way to go with a three-year-old who wants to ride the train three times in a row! 


Posing outside

Looking up at the sharks above us during the train ride

One of many fish tanks!

 

 A fun day with friends...

On Friday, we had a free day, so we took a trip to the zoo.  It was so hot that we rode the train and walked through the fish building, and made our way to the sno-cone booth before we called it a day.  No pictures from that outing, although Shannon enjoying a cherry sno-cone is a photo-worthy sight for sure!

We also read a few books - one about seahorses and a couple of general fish books.  I'm finding it hard to keep up with the craft goal, but we managed one fish painting out of a handprint.  Not even close to photo-worthy!

Next Up:  Circus Week

Train Week

Summer continues to fly by, and we've wrapped up yet another week.  Train Week was one of my favorites so far.  As I mentioned in my previous post, we braved a restaurant with a train car dining room for dinner one evening.  Although it is still far from making a list of regular favorites, we did find better success by ordering off of the menu instead of choosing items off of the food line.  Landry and Shannon didn't mind the food, and loved the atmosphere. 

Posing outside with Daddy (Notice the cowboy boots with shorts - This was the secondary theme for the week.)

Inside - notice the train tracks immediately outside the window.  That track is quite active, but we didn't get to see a train pass by while we were there, much to Landry's disappointment.

On Saturday morning, I took the boys to the Rosenburg Train Museum.  It was a fun outing for both of them.  I'm not sure if they'd be as impressed a few years from now, but it was exactly the right size for them now - plenty to see and climb on, but not big enough to require more than an hour.  Here's Landry heading up the path to one of two train cars that we toured....again making a fashion statement with his boots and shorts.

Landry and Shannon outside the train car.

Inside the train car...

For the craft, I had high hopes of doing something like this:

Although it's hard to see the detail, all the train cars are made of fingerprints.  Landry and Shannon were too enthralled with the ink pad to do any stamping in a straight line, though, so we ended up with two pages of random stamps all over.  Oh well! For the books, we raided our own library and re-read a couple of favorites - Freight Train and Steam Train, Dream Train to name a couple.

Next Up:  Fish Week

America Week

Tonight, we wrapped up America Week.  This week was a bit more challenging  because I'm still not sure that Landry has a good notion of what the word "America" means, and, aside from fireworks, I couldn't come up with any good field trip ideas that didn't involve a road trip to D.C.  But, challenges aside, we had fun with the week.  Thanks to Pillsbury, we started the week off by making flag-stamped ready-bake sugar cookies.  We also read a few stories from the library - "Hats off for the 4th of July" and "Happy Birthday America" to name a couple.  For our craft, we made a fireworks display out of glitter.  This craft was our first home-run!  Not only did Landry enjoy the process of making the picture, but he has been so proud of the end product that he has carted it everywhere, including to community group last night!

  On the 4th of July, we celebrated by going to the pool, where, conveniently enough, they were handing out flags to everyone.  We may or may not have ended up with five for our family of four.  But, I will say that no one took the flag-waving task more seriously than Landry and Shannon!

Later on, we watched our neighborhood fireworks display.  Little did we know when we moved in, that this would be one of the best things about our house's location! Even though we are completely land-locked and surrounded by houses, we have an unobstructed view of the annual fireworks display from the sidewalk in front of our house.  So, we put Shannon down to bed and watched fireworks while he slept soundly upstairs. 

Next week:  Train week.  On the agenda is a trip to a restaurant in a train car on Hempstead Highway.  Brian and I went when we were dating, and it was literally THE WORST food we have ever eaten.  But, I feel somewhat obligated to venture back for the train car dining experience.  Will report back about how it goes.