Houston!!! (Week 207/69)

Still playing catchup! Not a whole week late yet though...

We were very brave this Summer and headed out end of June to visit my older sister Grace in Houston.  We had gone last Summer when Katelyn was about 4 months and she was a GREAT flier (nursed on takeoff and landing and slept almost the whole way)!  This time I was hoping for the same, but I remembered Tyler was a horrible flier the year he was between 1-2 years old.  Ahhh!

The morning started off super early as we headed to Will's parents' place in San Gabriel.  We left our car with them and they dropped us off at LAX.  Tyler was so excited the night before that he kept asking if it was time to go to the airport.  I was very prepared and packed everything on Monday night (we left Wednesday super early).  I didn't want any last minute surprises!  Here we are having coffee and (what?) Pinkberry at 8am in the morning at LAX. 

Once we got situated at our gate, we picked up some McDonald's as well.  We paid for Will's ticket to have the early check-in (through Southwest) so that he could get on the plane early and reserve seats for the rest of us.  We always wait until the very end to load the kids on, so that we can minimize the amount of time they're cooped up in their seats.  Katelyn has a look of "are you going to share that?" in this picture below.

Waiting for our airplane!  Tyler's backpack looks misleadingly huge!  Don't get me wrong, there were some books and stuff in it, but it was mostly his and Katelyn's blankets and lovies.  I wanted to get Katelyn a backpack too (put her to work!) but changed my mind later.

The great thing about traveling with kids is that we get to go through the Family security checkpoint.  It is always WAY shorter than the regular one.  This was good, since the line to check in luggage that morning was extremely long.  Since we were bringing some prepackaged boxes of rice milk, Will had to get pat down by security.  Tyler had to take off his shoes too.  It was quite an ordeal getting through the checkpoint!

They told me that the flight was completely full and there would not be any extra seats for Katelyn, so when Will went on first, they checked her carseat at the gate.  However, when I headed onto the plane much later on, I saw a bunch of empty seats here and there.  This really annoyed me since it was now too late to get her carseat back and use one of those seats.  Lap sitting it was then.  Tyler settled in pretty quick with a juice and the iPad while Katelyn napped across Will and my lap.

..and Tyler's out too!  I had hoped the flight would be nice and smooth, but it was not meant to be.  Katelyn started getting really fidgety and wanted to walk around.  She screamed constantly and this combined with 2 weary and tired parents was NOT a good combination.  The worse was that we had a stopover in Austin where people got off and more passengers got on.  Katelyn didn't understand why we weren't getting off and was not happy about it.  More screaming.  Exhaustion. 

But look! We made it to Houston!  We made it!  Katelyn enjoyed riding in the traveling toddler carseat (last summer she was too small) and Tyler seemed a bit jealous that she got dibs on it.

I find this picture below hilarious.  Grace picked us up, and the weather wasn't too horrible at all!  It had apparently just rained quite heavily so the weather was quite humid but not horribly hot.  Katelyn was really fussy but finally calmed down once she had both her lambies (cushioning each side of her head), her blanket across her lap, and the iPad.  Sigh.

Back at Grace's house, Tyler wasted no time in getting acclimated and playing with his cousins.  First order of business?  Bionicles for every one!  They're these Lego-type robot alien toys that we got for the boys.  They were quite a hit!  Here's Tyler and Adam.

Katelyn got in on the fun too!

Later that afternoon we took a walk to a nearby park.  They live in Sugarland, which is really nice, new and clean!  Tyler tried to ride one of his cousins' scooters for the first time.  I didn't think it would be a big deal until I realized that his scooter at home (and the ones that he is used to at school) has 2 wheels on the back so that the rider doesn't need to balance themselves.  Tyler was a trooper though, he kept at it, even with a quite a few big falls!  That's my boy!  I was quite proud of him!  For a while he was just using one foot to push off constantly (which looked very tiring). 

At the bridge we saw many many turtles in the lake. This is the same lake we went fishing at last year!

One thing I learned during our trip was that we were doing Tyler's Kumon ALL wrong!  I made a few mental notes of things to change when we got back.  Most importantly - change Tyler from 5 pages a day to 10!  And also try to get him to do it first thing in the morning.  Grace's kids do this and it is great to get it out of the way.  Tyler even got a taste of it as he sat down with Ryan (who's a couple months older) to do Kumon together in the mornings.  I've since put a little table and chair in our bedroom retreat specifically for this purpose. :)  Also, we switched Tyler from those pencils that you have individual plastic lead holders, to regular wooden ones.  Got him a little electric pencil sharpener, pencil cup, and little clock too!  Yes!  We're on the right track finally! :)

Katelyn gets to have breakfast and hang out, while all her cousins are doing Kumon.  Lucky girl!

Isn't her shiny hair clip cute?  It's quite bling - Grace made them!

This is Katelyn watching her cousins play next to her.  She looks not amused.

I love that Tyler and Ryan are so close in age.  I was going to say, could they have been any closer in age... but then I realized - Yes! - since Katelyn and Leah are only a week apart!

Annie was a great 'big sister' cousin to Katelyn.  I remember when she would hold Tyler's hand too when he was little.

The next morning (Thursday) we headed to a Brazos Bend State Park near Houston.  The goal? To see some alligators that live there in the swamp!  Katelyn was jealous that the older kids got to play in a playground there for a little bit first though.

Alligator (or is it a crocodile?) sighting!  These guys were so close to us - no fence or anything!

You can see how close thy are in this picture of Tyler.  We made sure to keep Katelyn strapped in the stroller...

Oh man it was humid and warm!  At least the sun wasn't blasting on us.  Nevertheless I was sweating buckets!  Tyler's hair was totally wet from sweat, but his cousins' were all dry.  I guess they are used to the heat!

Off to find more alligators!

Check this one out - he was just hanging out on the side of the swamp, right next to a bench!

There was this cool tower that we climbed up to get a better view.  It was a lot of steps to climb for such a hot place...

I stayed at the bottom to take photos of course. haha!  I did eventually climb it though, just to see the view.

Baby alligator!

It was very important to stay hydrated.

This is an extremely unattractive photo of me but I wanted to add it so I would remember (as you can see) how sweaty hot it was!

The kids were really interested in this huge bug that was crossing the road.  Yuck.

Before we left, we played at the park again.  Here's Tyler showing his balancing skills.

Katelyn wants in too!

The sand at the playground was really interesting - very thick and big chunks.  Katelyn thought it was weird and was showing us a handful of it.

Oooh check out the alligator!  It was right below us on a bridge!

See?

Tyler is a vampire compared to his cousins!  Even Katelyn got a farmer's tan after this trip!

Awww, nice of Annie to share her water with Tyler.

Last stop before we left was the Nature Center.

They had little tiny baby alligators there!

Katelyn liked looking at them!

... and then we got to pet one!  Ahh! So cute!

I like how Katelyn is reaching out to grab it.

Video of baby alligator:


Super cut and smooth.

Whew, what a morning!  Katelyn and Tyler both knocked out in the car.  Too bad the drive wasn't too long though.  My sister's kids don't nap at all, but my kids NEED their naps or they become quite the little terrors.  It's amazing how much more pleasant Katelyn is when she has 2 naps instead of 1.  On 1 nap, she is a screaming banshee in the evening!!

Will's out too!

After some rejuvenation, we headed out in the afternoon to... darn what was that place called? Something Bayou.  We actually came here a couple years back as well and Tyler really enjoyed it.  It's basically a private smaller wildlife animal park where you can feed the animals as you get pulled around in a truck.  The animals come right up to you!  We're ready!

Llamas!

Some sort of deer.  Katelyn wasn't scared at all.  These animals have huge eyeballs when they're so up and personal.

Check out the baby tiny ostrich next to it's mommy.  It's SO TINY!

Video of the ostrich encounter:


There were all types of animals, deers, camels, emus, ostriches, llamas, etc.  The best though, was the Longhorn they had - and he wasn't shy either!  He came right up to our wagon!  Check out those horns!

He kept hitting his horns against the metal railings of the wagon - the guide said the bull itself didn't even realize how big they were! 

Katelyn discovered how much she liked water bottles and started hogging Tyler's.  We made the decision to get the cool water bottles that the cousins had - you can drink from them AND mist yourself!

Will and Katelyn and a zebra!

I told you they get up close and personal!

Silly Tyler.

Also, FREE pony rides (well included in the admission price).  Tyler was a pro, of course.

But most excitingly... Katelyn had her FIRST ever pony ride!  I wasn't even sure they would let her ride, but the attendant was pretty young and said it was fine.  I actually started out by holding her leg but the attendant said she would hold her. 

Katelyn was SO good!  She held on and didn't move around or anything!  At first she seemed a bit concerned, but then she was totally into it.

Maybe horseback riding will be in her future... I think they have a class for that through City of Irvine!  Hah!

She's so tiny on the horse!

More animal feeding...

It was a fun trip to the Bayou Wildlife Park but we were DRAINED afterward.  Fortunately, Houston has a Sonic E V E R Y W H E R E.  I LOVE their Route 44 Diet Cherry Limeade.  We must have had it like twice a day while we were there.  I wish we had Sonics near us...

Back at home Katelyn had some bonding time with uncle Ken!

Friday.  We set off early in the morning and headed to Moody Gardens with everyone in their swim gear.  Moody Gardens is at Galveston, so it wasn't a short drive.  Katelyn is at an age where a DVD doesn't keep her occupied for long.  Sigh.

We illegally drove with the 4 kids in the backseat without car seats.  Yikes!

We didn't have a waterproof camera so I have no photos of us all playing in the waterpark area of Moody Gardens.  Quite a shame though, since we had a lot of fun!  They have a lazy river that has all these different water obstacles that get you wet along the way.  Katelyn chilled with Will and I sat with Tyler and we got so wet!  Unfortunately, there had been some power outage that morning and portions of the park had lost their power.  Uh-oh.  Only half of the water park was open.  Boo.

After the water park, we headed to the aquarium - which (thank goodness) had full power and air conditioning.

Getting up close with some starfish.

Katelyn wanted to participate too!

Here's Katelyn in a shark underwater cage.

Moody Gardens also has a Rainforest as well.  It's under this huge pyramid and they warned us at the beginning that it was going to be HOT.  I think Will made a comment like, "it can't be hotter than outside!" and the lady paused and said.. "... Yes, it is."... Gulp.  Not sure why we decided to go through anyway!  Being that it's a rainforest habitat, it's already going to be really warm/humid in there since there are so many different exotic plant life, birds and butterflies.  But we were NOT prepared.  It literally felt like we stepped into a sauna.  I couldn't breath.  I was holding Katelyn and she seemed to just wilt on my shoulder as I almost ran from the top (you start at the top) to the bottom.  It was insane!  Thank goodness it was a little bit cooler downstairs, and we were able to snap some shots.

Whew!  We headed back towards home.  On the way back, we stopped at a boardwalk to walk around.  Tyler won a dolphin (ok so maybe we donated the money to the carnival game) and he got really attached to it!

There was an "Aquarium" there - which is some sort of restaurant chain that has sea life.  There was even a Sting Ray feeding area!  I think the sting rays were really quite full though, because there were a ton of people with their little fish and they didn't look too excited.  I did get a couple to eat from my hand though!  They had sealife on display as well, but on a much smaller scale than what we had just seen at Moody Gardens.

Finally!  Back at Home!  Katelyn and Annie played on their swing set in the yard.  LOVE this swing set, but we have absolutely no room for something as large as this!  I have been eyeing this smaller swing set though... and Katelyn DOES love swings (as you will see in the following photos...)

We even got to shoot some hoops.

Cutest thing - Annie combing Katelyn's hair!

Video of cousins playing around:


I remember last year Tyler had a really hard time sleeping in the same room as his cousins.  The year before he was still sleeping in a cot in our room I think, and last year he whined A L O T since he was sleeping somewhere unfamiliar.  This year was better but the first night was still tough.  Katelyn got her own room again (lucky her!) and had her pack'n'play in Annie's room.  Annie slept with the boys on a futon. 

In an effort to keep from going to sleep, we blew up some balloons that were supposed to be made into different shapes.  The balloons were really old though and kept popping.  The kids didn't mind though!

Saturday!  Aww, our last day!  We went to the early morning show of Cars 2.  Tyler's FIRST real movie watching experience!  We took him to the dollar theaters a couple years back to watch Up and it was quite disastrous as he got too scared and we had to leave.  What could be scary about Cars 2 right?

We were wrong.  Near the end, at a climatic tense scene, Tyler decided that it was too scary and he wanted to leave.  I told him it was OK and it was almost over and we weren't leaving.  He then tried to convince Grace that it was time to go home!  Sheesh!  Thank goodness he stuck through it and made it through.  Will, unfortunately, missed a good portion since Katelyn definitely did not have the attention span to sit through the movie!  But through his absence, he was able to convince the State Farm promo table to give him a Cars 2 t-shirt for Tyler... good thing Katelyn was extra cute and friendly to the people working the table.  They were actually having an employee event and the t-shirts were for the kids of the employees attending the event.  Good thing we showed support by having State Farm as our insurance provider.

The rest of Saturday was pretty chill.  We started packing up our stuff, and Katelyn got to try on her new sunglasses!

These are hilarious huh! haha!

Tyler has been drawing pictures of me lately.  For some reason he always draws me with pigtails.  ??  At least the ones in this picture are longer, before they used to look like antennae or something!

Katelyn wanted to play in the yard again too!

Later that afternoon we hit up their community pool.  This pool is ridiculous!  A playground in the water for the kids, as well as 2 big winding slides for the adults.  There are even different splash areas around the pool!  I guess you MUST have these things when you live in Houston!

It took a while to get Katelyn to stop trying to drink the water...

Video of kids playing at the pool:

Annie wants to join our family. :) 

Whew!  Exhausted! 

And our annual pictures with the cousins!

Sunday morning bright and early we got on a plane back to LAX.  Thank goodness it was a direct flight!  We even picked seats WAY in the back in hopes that the drone of the plane would help Katelyn sleep.  No luck.  She screamed a good portion of the way.  Sigh.

She looks so misleadingly calm here...

It was an exhausting and fun trip!  I am so glad that we make it out every year - this was our 4th year in a row!  It'll be exciting to see what kinds of fun things we do each time as the kids grow older.  Thanks to Grace for having us! :)

Back to reality... Tyler is continuing his taekwondo but I will admit we haven't been as diligent at practicing his forms.  And by not diligent I mean not practicing them at all.  Oops.

Thank you to Mariam who helped keep an eye on Mojo while we were gone!

And I'll leave you guys with a Video of Tyler and Katelyn dancing: