Howl-O-Scream!

My favorite time of year to visit Sea World is during the fall.

The weather is perfect, everything is decorated spooky for Halloween, and they have lots of fun extra shows and festive activities to put you in the Halloween spirit. We had a blast with Susie and her kids there on Columbus day. (Thanks Susie for the pics--I spaced bringing my camera.)

Pulling scary faces in attempts to get fired up for the Haunted Forest (the family-friendly version, of course.)

It's fun to walk through the Haunted Forest during the day without the creepy people jumping out at you and all the scary music, chain saws, and heart beats. They save that for the brave people who come out at night.


Susie and I even spotted the Village People.

And--you can't leave Sea World without doing the Monkey Ride or the Shamu Rollercoaster.


Ahoy Mateys! Bon Voyage.

Happy Birthday Logan!

Logan turned 7! Where does the time go? It seems like yesterday we were moving to Texas and he was just a baby. Now he's my big boy and best helper.

For his birthday, Logan requested a spooky cake. He helped me decorate the graveyard. We celebrated with monster spaghetti for dinner and watching Monsters vs. Aliens together. His party is still in the works, since we were all so sick and I didn't get his party planned in time. (Can you say loser Mom?)

It's That Time of Year Again

It's time for Ghosts and Goblins prowling,
Witches cackling,
and Werewolves howling.
(gotta love those werewolves! : )
It's time for Bubbling brews,
Carmel Apples and warm stews.
Outside there's a chill in the air
Perfect sweater weather
Leaves changing and falling
Jumping in crinkling piles
Laughing together.

Paradise awaits . . .

We've decided to chuck it all and move to the beach.

It was a spur of the moment decision . . .
made clearly while dealing with one too many
sore throats,
hurting tummies,
aching bodies,
and a cacophony of coughing.
I'm done.

Do you like the house I picked for us? Me too. Too bad that's only happening in my very pretty little world where no one gets sick and we have an endless supply of cash.
Hmmm . . . maybe later.






We did really have a nice weekend visiting Galveston State Park and Kemah Boardwalk this summer though. Ahhh . . . the summer where there were no sniffles or sneezes just warm sunshine and cool breezes.

We also encountered a few remnants from Hurricane Ike. Yes, that is a truck lodged in the middle of what was once a fishing pier and tackle shop. The pier was all ripped up with sections out in the ocean all by themselves.

Dinner on the water at a little Cajun Seafood spot was also fun.

For a "getting away from it all" weekend, may I suggest Kemah Boardwalk.

Now--we just need our own private sailboat, or I would take a yacht if you just happened to have one lying around.

All Fun must come to an End.

Back to Reality.

Last Hurrah of the Summer!

OK . . . I know this is backtracking a little but deal with it.

So right before school started, Mike had a tissue engineering conference at Rice University in Houston. Perfect opportunity for an inexpensive vacation since his hotel room and food were paid for, so we tagged along. We have never been to Houston in all the 6 years we've lived in Texas, and we had a blast touring the museum district, visiting the Aquarium in downtown Houston and taking a road trip down to the Kemah Boardwalk and Galveston beach. A fun-filled last hurrah of the summer.

Our first day in Houston was spent at the pool. Literally. ALL day at the pool! And we LOVED it! The kids played in the pool all day and I played with them half the time, taught Savannah how to swim the other half, and spent the rest of the afternoon lounging by the pool reading a book. (and life guarding of course) Mike spent the day in classes. Seems fair enough.

Cannonball!

What made this pool so much fun is it was on the roof of our very Big Hotel. The kids thought it was pretty cool to be swimming surrounded by tall buildings. The other great thing: we had the pool to ourselves. I think we were too loud for the few people who braved the pool wanting to work on their tans. Not really a family-friendly hotel and I think we scared them off. : )

Touring the Museum district was a lot of fun. It was really beautiful and had a little bit of a DC feel to it. (The picture at the top of this post is taken in the museum district) Also, spending the rest of the day touring the Museum of Natural Science seemed like a given since we have a scientist for a daddy.

Of course this was Mike's favorite exhibit. Mine was the jewel collection. The kids had fun exploring everything!

We didn't pay the extra $15 to see the Terracotta Warrior exhibit from China, but this roaming Terracotta Warrior statue man was pretty cool. We followed him through the museum as he drummed up business and freaked many people out not knowing he was real.

We spent another fun evening at the downtown Aquarium.

The best part of the Houston Aquarium was the mini carnival outside the Aquarium. We got a pass so the kids rode the rides over and over again. They were in heaven! One time around the Merry-go-round was not enough.

Get on,

ride around,

jump off,

and do it all again.

Round and around we go!

We also really liked the shark train ride. We rode a train around the park and ended in a tunnel completely surrounded by sharks! Ahhhhhhhhh!

My worst nightmare!

But don't panic . . . the sharks were in a glass aquarium swimming on all sides of us and even above us in the tunnel. Too cool!

My favorite ride is always the Ferris wheel, although the girls were a little freaked going so high (as the pained expressions on their faces give away : )

Last, we ended the night eating dinner at Hard Rock. Mike and I used to eat at a Hard Rock Cafe almost every trip we went on, so this made it that much more fun! (almost like a date night out only with 3 extra, very tired kids) Kayla got a kick out of the music videos they were playing, and Logan liked looking at all the bands on the walls, and Savannah liked the big drink mommy ordered best and helped me finish it off.