The Glazery

Brian took Jack to Lufkin on Thursday to spend a long weekend with Nia and Papa. Brian stayed the night on Thursday and then did genealogy research on Friday on the way back home. In the meantime, Kaylyn and I had mommy & daughter time! We started off by seeing The Karate Kid together on Thursday afternoon. Then, we picked up some Sonic and met Aunt Clarissa at the house who fixed our TV for us. "YAY AUNTIE!" On Friday, Kaylyn and I went to The Glazery to paint some pottery together. Kaylyn painted a coffee mug for her daddy and I painted an airplane keepsake box for Jack. They are being fired in the kiln and will be ready to pick up next week. I will post pics of the finished products when we pick them up. After painting, Kaylyn and I had a nice lunch at Pho Mai Vietnamese Noodle House. Then we took a trip to the new Sienna Branch Library to check out some new books. Kaylyn picked out some Curious George books to read before bedtime and I got a Tess Gerritsen audio book, The Bone Garden. We had a great day.

Kaylyn's First Fishing Trip

Kaylyn and Jack went for their second visit of the summer to Nia and Papa's house. We started off with dinner Thursday night at Cafe Del Rio. Kaylyn ate quesadillas, chips, and tortillas with squeeze butter and honey. Our pediatrician would be proud of her nutritious meal ;) Friday we went and saw Toy Story 3 at the Lufkin Mall movie theatre. The crowd was well-behaved, the kids were well-behaved, and we enjoyed the movie. I even had unexpected tears at the end...who would've thought that a cartoon movie about toys would be so sentimental? Friday night, Brian and I headed back to Houston since we both had to work on Saturday. Saturday morning Kaylyn went fishing with her Papa, Uncle Scott, and a family friend. I've been told that she caught 2 fish and handled the minnows like a pro. I'm so proud!! See a video of her fishing trip HERE. Later in the afternoon, Kaylyn went to see Shrek Forever After with Nia while Jack hung out at the house with Papa and Uncle Scott. Sounds like they had an eventful weekend full of movies, crafts, and outdoor activities. I hope they're thoroughly worn out and go to bed without a sound tonight!!

Mini Olympics

Kaylyn has been taking gymnastics classes at school on Wednesday mornings. Today was here Mini Olympics. It was a chance for her to show off what she has been learning in her class. The Mini Olympics was held at Alpha Omega Gymnastics. Kaylyn got to wear a Alpha Omega Gymnastics leotard as her uniform and perform for her mom, brother, grandma, grandpa, nia, papa, and aunt. She was so very excited to receive a trophy with her name on it and ribbons for each event: bars, beam, floor, and air track. Go Kaylyn!!!

To see more photos and video from Kaylyn's Mini Olympics, click here.

Galveston Trip

As a late celebration for Kaylyn's birthday we spent the night in Galveston. I had made a reservation at the Moody Gardens Hotel with a package that included an all-inclusive 2-day pass to all Moody Garden attractions. We drove in Wednesday morning and checked into the hotel. We then spent most of the day at Palm Beach. The kids had fun as we rotated through the splash pad to the swimming pools to the water slides and then started all over again. We got lots of sun and had lots of fun in the water.

Later in the day we went up to the hotel room and took baths and got dressed for dinner. We drove down the seawall and had dinner at the Rainforest Cafe. We were having dinner and it was like a volcano epidemic.... the staff brought out at least 5 volcano desserts to other tables while we were eating, so we joined the crowd and ordered a volcano for us too! Brian and I couldn't finish off the large brownie and felt guilty for leaving some on the plate, it was so good!

The next morning we woke up to a view of Schlitterbahn next door. We'll go there when the kids are a little bit older. Instead, we ate a great breakfast at IHOP on the seawall and then saw all the sights at Moody Gardens:

The Aquarium Pyramid
The Discovery Pyramid
The Rainforest Pyramid
Happy Feet 4D Special FX Theatre
Wild Oceans 3D on IMAX
Amazeing Butterflies
Colonel Paddlewheel Boat
Ridefilm Theatre

We did a lot and it was an exhausting day. We headed home about 6pm and stopped for dinner at Russo's on the way home. This is Kaylyn's favorite restaurant. It was a fun trip!

To see all of our pictures, click here!