Corpus Christi Science and History Museum

Yesterday I had to drop some work off at the college and buy my book for Summer Session II so the kids went with me.  I think it is important for them to see where I spend so much extra time right now.  They know I am going to college but I don't think either one of them realized what the college looked like or exactly how big it was. 

After we ran my errands I took the kids to the museum.  I think they really enjoyed it.  They especially liked looking at all of the rocks from around Texas.  They were creeped out by the boa constrictor skin and unimpressed by the replica ships of Christopher Columbus.  (So was I for the record.)

I hope that we can do a few more day trips to Corpus this summer to explore some more of what it has to offer!

Run for your lives!!

A couple of weekends ago we took the kids to Corpus to do some shopping and spend some time together as a family.  We went to GattiTown and these vampire teeth were some of the prizes Garrett bought.

Be afraid, be very afraid!

Isn't that the same thing?

The kids and I had a little picnic this evening just to get out of the house. (We didn't go very far. We have a cement picnic table in our backyard.)

After we ate, the kids wanted s'mores. I got everything out to make them and Garrett told me that he just wanted chocolate. I said ok and handed him his piece of chocolate instead of getting it ready to microwave. (Yes, I said microwave. We don't have fires around here. We do it the quick and easy way.)

Meagan got out the marshmallows and he told her he wanted one. She gave him one and he got ready to go back outside. That's when he asked for his crackers.

When I asked him what crackers he was talking about, he told me the ones like Meagan got.

Let me think about this - I thought you didn't want a s'more.

His answer? I want all of the parts. I just didn't want it hot.

Why didn't you just say so son?

Eleven years ago . . .

Here are some pictures from the family party we had for Meagan. Grandma Blair cooked fried chicken for everyone and then made homemade ice cream for Meagan.

Here's Meagan opening a gift from Nana Mary, Carlos, Crystal, and Bee and Larry. Lots of goodies inside!

Still pulling more stuff out . . .

Webkinz from Jimmy and I.

Meagan with Grandpa (my dad)

Happy Birthday Baby!

Playtime at the park

At the end of January we had a beautiful weekend. Meagan was gone to Bible Drill so Jimmy and I took Garrett to an elementary school near our house. We went to practice shooting baskets for basketball but when we got there we discovered that the school removes their rims during the weekend. (Bigger kids will come along and hang off of the rims and ruin them.)

We walked a couple of laps (all of our elementary schools have 1/4 mile tracks) and then played on the playground equipment. This is the school where Garrett went to prekindergarten so these are his old stomping grounds so to speak.

I played around with my new camera some more. I'm getting better with it but I'm still no where near where I would like to be with it. I have learned to be more patient between pictures so I'm getting better pictures now.

These pictures turned out nice because of the bright sunlight. (Well, in my opinion anyway.)

Fire Prevention Week

On Saturday I took the kids to the fire station. They were having their second annual block party to celebrate Fire Prevention Week. Garrett is just a little obsessed with fire trucks and firefighters, so needless to say, he was in heaven. Meagan thinks it's all pretty cool too.

The kids were allowed into the trucks and got to see them up close and climb on them. There were firefighters around to supervise and explain what various knobs and gadgets do. The firefighters went out of their way to make this an enjoyable experience for the kids.
Sparky the Firedog made an appearance.
E, one of the teachers I work with, was putting tattoos on children (okay, adults too) who wanted them.
Garrett didn't want to get out.
Here is Garrett with Sparky. Last year he didn't cry but didn't want to get near him. This year, before we even got to the fire station, he told me he would go stand by him and let me take his picture.
They had so many activities I can't even remember them all. Meagan is coloring a picture for the coloring contest.
Here she is throwing balls at the dunking booth.
There was a moonwalk, a cupcake walk, putt putt golf, a school supply give-away, take your picture with Sparky, lots and lots of information for kids and parents/adults on staying safe, demonstrations by the arson dog, free balloons, an ambulance for the kids to get into, Red Cross information, a crash simulator (to see the necessity of wearing your seat belt, free hot dogs and lemonade, and I'm sure I'm forgetting even more.

In the week prior to the block party the firefighters visited all the local elementary schools to explain what to do in the case of a house fire. They explained how to escape from a burning house safely, how the firefighters might look and sound a little scary, and how to make a plan to keep everyone safe after a house fire. Garrett came home reminding me to check the battery in my smoke alarm!

I would like to say THANK YOU! to all firefighters out there. You make our world a little safer to live in and you are not recognized enough for it in my opinion. Your willingness to go out into the community to share your message is a testament to how seriously you take your job and I thank you for it as a mom and as a teacher. You are all heroes in my book!

EnDyn Family Picnic

Okay, okay, I know that I have been M.I.A. for a week or so, so I included lots of good pictures in this post to make up for it. I know you have all heard it before but I've been really, really busy. Life, you know, it just gets in the way of my free time sometimes. And that job thing Ihave, it really takes up a lot of my time!

The company that my dad works for had a Family Picnic last week. The kids went with my mom. My dad had to go out of town unfortunately. The kids had a BLAST! They were exhausted when they got home.

They got to ride horses,


go on a hayride,
and the activity to beat all activities (well, in Garrett's book anyway) GO FISHING! Mom and Dad bought him his very own rod and reel and tacklebox.

Garrett caught a one pound, 10 ounce catfish. "Mom, did you know that they have whiskers?" Garrett wanted to know. Yes, sweetie, I did.

Thanks Mom and Dad (and EnDyn) for making this a day that they will never forget.

Our visit to Bloomington

On Thursday I took a break from working in my classroom. My mom and I (along with Meagan and Garrett) drove to Bloomington, Texas. Bloomington is a small community outside of Victoria. We went to visit my grandmother whom I call Aunt Celle. (Don't ask why - it's just always been that way : )

Here is a picture of Aunt Celle and I.
Here is one of Meagan, Aunt Celle, Garrett, and me.
Here is Aunt Celle and my mom (Grandma Silly to my kids)
The kids were really well behaved the whole day. They had fun playing with all of the toys in Aunt Celle's spare room. They really enjoyed playing Pharmacy.

We went to eat lunch at a really good Mexican food restaurant. My mom had enchiladas, Aunt Celle had flautas (I hope I spelled that right!), I had beef and chicken fajitas with grilled shrimp. Meagan, who does not like Mexican food, had pancakes and bacon, and Garrett mostly ate tortilla chips. (He ate later.)

We then spent the rest of the afternoon (except for snack time - see below) doing what we love to do best, sitting around chatting about anything that popped into our heads. We discussed what was going on in the big town of Bloomington, what the kids had been up to, what Mom and I had been doing, etc. We caught up on Aunt Celle's kids and their kids. We just talked and talked and talked. Mom, the kids, and I had a great visit and we won't let so much time pass before we go back again! We love you Aunt Celle!

Wii love to play!

We finally did it. We bought a Wii. Actually, we finally found one to buy. I have wanted a Wii for a while now but whenever our Wal-Mart had them in stock I was not ready to part with the $249.00 plus tax that would be required to make it mine. Plus, the cost of the extra remote, games, etc.

Well, while we were on vacation we played the Wii at Auntie Darla's and Uncle Chuck's and Jimmy was sold on the Wii. Meagan also ramped up her pleading for a Wii of our own. (She had already been asking for one for Christmas.) If you have read some of my other vacation posts you will know that Hurricane Dolly made landfall in Brownsville while we were on vacation. This brought lots of rain to the Houston area. Lots of rain meant some of our vacation activities had to be canceled.

Anyway, on our last day of vacation we stopped at Target and guess what?? They had Wiis (is that even a word???) in stock. Jimmy and I decided to buy one for the family due to our rainy vacation.
It came with the sports game which is a lot of fun all by itself. We also purchased an extra remote that came with an extra game Wii Play. (Well, the game came with it for $10.00 more - but it was still a great deal.) The Wii play has air hockey, ping pong, a shooting game, etc. There are ten mini games in all. Well worth the $10.00. Since then we have purchased Mario Galaxy which the kids and I enjoy. It has elements that are similar to the original Nintendo Mario (the only game system and game that I ever owned.) It is 3D (I don't know if that is the right description) and some sometimes you are walking upside down on planets. Once you get used to that it is a lot of fun. However, I have no friends to depend on to show me how to conquer the creatures and where all of the extra coins/free men/star bits are. You see, none of this stuff is in the instruction book. You just have to play the game and figure it out all by yourself. I used to rely heavily on my friends to show me where all of this secret stuff was.
We have also purchased Cooking Mama which Meagan has for her DS. We all like this game and it has totally different recipes from the DS version. Your arm does get tired from all of the "cooking" you do. Or maybe I'm just a wimp.
We have played the Wii every day since we brought it home. I know this will change as school/sports start but overall I think it was worth the money!

Houston Children's Museum

On our first day of vacation we went to the Houston Children's Museum. I was pleased with the museum. All of it was hands on and kid friendly. There were several neat exhibits. Meagan is at the point where she wants to read everything and really learn about stuff and Garrett is at the stage where he wants to run around and do the hands on stuff without caring why things do the things they do. Does that even make sense? To sum it up, Meagan wanted to travel through the museum slowly and read everything, and Garrett raced through touching everything.

This is the front of the museum. I think it looks really cool.

Here we are in front of the museum. Garrett has that funny, no smile, the sun is in my eyes, are we done yet look on. Unfortunately, he has that look on his face in most of the pictures from this vacation.
Meagan and Garrett created this path for a ball to roll down. It was neat to watch them test the maze and then fix it as needed. (The object is to get the ball to roll from the top to the bottom without falling.) They had a good time moving the pieces around to create a maze that worked. Yes, they actually worked together!

There were these neat phones that looked like pay phones but also had a video feed so you could see the person you were talking to. They also had a huge robot looking man made entirely of telephones and telephone parts. Cool. Very cool.

Aransas Pass Aquatic Center

A couple of weekends ago Jimmy and I took the kids to Aransas Pass. I had heard about this great pool that they had with slides like Schlitterbahn. Well, I love Schlitterbahn, but for right now it is too big for us. Meagan and Garrett are five years apart and like totally different things when it comes to places like Schlitterbahn. Anyway, this park sounded perfect for us. As you can see, it was!

I LOVE the look on Garrett's face in this picture!

There is something for the entire family at this pool. They have three slides: a short green one that makes you go really fast, a blue one that is open on the top, and a yellow one that is totally enclosed (think Soda Straws at Schlitterbahn).

They have a huge kiddie area where Garrett played for most of the day. There are several things to interact with in this area like these umbrellas. Jimmy and Garrett pretended that they were in jail and the water was like the bars.

They also have a high and low diving board. Meagan jumped off of the low diving board several times, swimming to the side each time with no problem. The water is 13 feet deep! I am so proud of her. She is really doing well.

I am so glad that there is something like this within driving distance to us because it has been so HOT lately! I think we will be making lots of trips to it now that we know exactly where it is and just how much fun it is!

More funnies by Garrett

Today Garrett was upset about not getting to go to Grandma's house with Meagan. (More about what she was doing there later.) So, to get him to calm down, I told him I had a surprise for him at home. And, the cool thing is, I actually did have a surprise for him!

I pick up random things and store them away for moments like these.

Anyway, the surprise was a new pack of water paints. Garrett wanted to know what they were. I told him they were paints and that I would be right back. I walked into the kitchen to get a small bowl of water and a paper towel for him. As I was coming back to the dining room he calls, "Hey Mom! How do you get these paints to wake up?" I thought it was hilarious! I explained to him that you had to dab them with water to get them to "wake up."

He then went on to tell me that he didn't need the white woken up because he only had white paper to paint on and you wouldn't be able to see it anyway. I thought that this was pretty smart thinking for a five year old!

That is his masterpiece at the top of the entry!

Random Thoughts

I added a new post on the movie Wall*E. Well the post contains a few of my thoughts and a review by Roger Ebert. I had started the post a few days ago so it posted in chronological order. You can find it in the archives under Wall*E.

We played Jenga last night as a family. Garrett and Meagan actually did very well. Meagan is really getting the concept of finding a piece that is willing to move. (If you have never played Jenga before - as you touch each piece some of them "give" and some of them don't. You only want to move the ones that "give" because you have a better chance of not knocking down the whole tower.) I really like that Garrett is getting old enough now that we can play games together as a family.


Jimmy and I are going to see Ron White tonight. I can't wait. Jimmy and I love to watch his comedy routine on T.V. We are going to go to dinner and then go to the show. Yea! A night out without kids!

We have plans for the whole family tomorrow but shh. . . don't tell the kids. We are going to drive to Aransas Pass. They have a really cool pool with slides. It looks like a whole lot of fun. I'll post pictures as soon as I can.

Yesterday I spent an hour printing out directions for vacation. With what I spent on paper and ink I probably could have bought one of those GPS things for the car. I am very excited about the hotel that Jimmy and I chose. It is very close to all of the things that we are going to do in Houston.

I also added some new music to the blog. I found some David Cook songs that I love. I was so excited that he won American Idol. I heard him on the radio for the first time yesterday. I can't wait for his CD to come out.

I told you this post was going to be full of random thoughts!

Fun at Fun Trackers

We went to Fun Trackers and well . . . had fun! The whole family enjoyed all of the activities offered. I know it is a place that we will go back to. See the next several posts about the things we did because I am still new to this blog thing and can only get one picture to post on each blog. You can also click on my flickr badge on the left of the screen to see more of the pictures that I took that day. (I'm also new to flickr. It's really neat!) If you live in the Corpus Christi area I highly recommend Fun Trackers!

WALL * E

I took Meagan, Garrett, and one of Meagan's friends to see WALL * E today. The kids really enjoyed it. However, I don't think they really "got" the movie. I believe it is a commentary on how humans do not take care of the Earth and are inherently lazy. Hmmm. . . was someone making a political statement through a kid's movie? I think so.

Here's a review by Roger Ebert.

Wall•E

June 26, 2008

Cast & CreditsWith the voices of:Wall-E: Ben BurttEve: Elissa KnightShelby: Fred WillardCaptain: Jeff GarlinJohn: John RatzenbergerMary: Kathy NajimyComputer: Sigourney WeaverHoverchair mom: Kim KopfHoverchair son: Garrett PalmerWalt Disney/Pixar presents a film directed by Andrew Stanton. Written by Stanton and Jim Reardon. Running time: 97 minutes. Rated G.

By Roger Ebert

Pixar’s “WALL•E” succeeds at being three things at once: an enthralling animated film, a visual wonderment and a decent science-fiction story. After “Kung Fu Panda,” I thought I had just about exhausted my emergency supply of childlike credulity, but here is a film, like “Finding Nemo,” that you can enjoy even if you’ve grown up. That it works largely without spoken dialogue is all the more astonishing; it can easily cross language barriers, which is all the better, considering that it tells a planetary story.

It is 700 years in the future. A city of skyscrapers rises up from the land. A closer view reveals that the skyscrapers are all constructed out of garbage, neatly compacted into squares or bales and piled on top of one another. In all the land, only one creature stirs. This is WALL•E, the last of the functioning solar-powered robots. He — the story leaves no doubt about gender — scoops up trash, shovels it into his belly, compresses it into a square and climbs on his tractor treads and heads up a winding road to the top of his latest skyscraper, to place it neatly on the pile.
It is lonely being WALL•E. But does WALL•E even know that? He comes home at night to a big storage area, where he has gathered a few treasures from his scavengings of the garbage and festooned them with Christmas lights. He wheels into his rest position, takes off his treads from his tired wheels and goes into sleep mode. Tomorrow is another day: One of thousands since the last humans left the Earth and settled into orbit aboard gigantic spaceships that resemble spas for the fat and lazy.

One day WALL•E’s age-old routine is shattered. Something new appears in his world, which otherwise has consisted only of old things left behind. This is, to our eye, a sleek spaceship. To WALL•E’s eyes, who knows? What with one thing and another, WALL•E is scooped up by the ship and returned to the orbiting spaceship Axiom, along with his most recent precious discovery: a tiny, perfect green plant, which he found growing in the rubble and transplanted to an old shoe.

Have you heard enough to be intrigued, or do you want more? Speaking voices are now heard for the first time in the movie, although all on his own, WALL•E has a vocabulary (or repertory?) of squeaks, rattles and electronic purrs, and a couple of pivoting eyes that make him look downright anthropomorphic. We meet a Hoverchair family, so known because aboard ship they get around in comfy chairs that hover over surfaces and whisk them about effortlessly. They’re all as fat as Susie’s aunt.

This is not entirely their fault, since generations in the low-gravity world aboard the Axiom have evolved humanity into a race whose members resemble those folks you see whizzing around Wal-Mart in their electric shopping carts.

There is now a plot involving WALL•E, the ship’s captain, several Hover people and the fate of the green living thing. And in a development that would have made Sir Arthur Clarke’s heart beat with joy, humanity returns home once again — or is that a spoiler?