Road Trip 2015 {Houston, Texas}

Road Trip 2015 {Houston, Texas}

Since we are building the house this year, our summer has looked different than summers in the past.  We've always taken a road trip except the year that Ben was born in 2009.  This year we didn't drive across country to follow the Rangers (like last year--Seattle, Oakland, and Anaheim) but we did make the trip south down I-45 to see the Rangers play the Astros at Minute Maid Park in Houston on July 17th.

Can you find Mark and the boys outside the stadium?

Family photo at Minute Maid Park
Making memories!

We were some of the first inside the ballpark once the doors opened.  We wanted to watch the Rangers during batting practice.

Mark took the boys to right field hoping to catch a ball.  Best moment of the night happened during batting practice. Choo caught a ball and Mark held up Ben who was wearing his Choo #17  Texas Rangers shirt and yelled at Choo.  Choo saw Ben and threw the ball in their direction.  Will caught the ball.  It landed perfectly in his glove.  That would have been a perfect moment, but it gets even better.  Josh Hamilton was walking around the ballpark and he stopped in their area and he signed the baseball.  So we have a ball thrown by Choo (who is Ben's favorite player) and it's now signed by Hamilton!  I stayed at the dugout hoping to get autographs.  I didn't have as much luck as they did but I did get two autographs, Delino DeShields and the manager Jeff Banister.  I think they are both old enough to always remember that happening.  Awesome memory!

The Rangers lost but we still love them!

We stayed for the entire game and the post-game fireworks show.  Once the game was over the retractable roof was opened.  It was nice watching the game in shade and air conditioning.  That felt strange compared to the heat we suffer through during Rangers games in Arlington.  Overall, we liked the ballpark and it was fun to mark another one off our list of MLB parks to visit.

Here's how the count stands after that game:

MLB Ballpark count for Will is 10:
Rangers, Yankees, Cardinals, Reds, Cubs, Orioles, Mariners, A's, Angels, Astros

MLB Ballpark count for Ben is 9:
Rangers, Cardinals, Reds, Cubs, Orioles, Mariners, A's, Angels, Astros

MLB Ballpark count for Mark is 13:
Rangers, Yankees, Cardinals, Reds, Cubs, Orioles, Mariners, A's, Angels, Dodgers, Padres, Diamondbacks, Astros

Road Trip 2015 {Tyler, Texas}

Tyler Road Trip

Our second short road trip was to visit family in east Texas. We had a fun-filled weekend with our cousins. We visited the zoo, a train museum, the kids jumped at a trampoline park, we ate frozen custard and delicious Tex Mex. When we weren't out and about the kids got to hang out and play and the adults got to sit around the kitchen table and chat. It was fun and relaxing.

This was our first time to take Will and Ben to the Caldwell Zoo in Tyler.  

This is the cutest!  They are reading the map and deciding where to go next.

Petting zoo

These two were the real animal lovers.  

They even wanted to go into the hot (and smelly) rhino barn.

The whole gang!

It's a great thing to have family who are friends.

Tex Mex in downtown Tyler

Cotton Belt Depot Train Museum

The kids were tired after the zoo and I didn't know if they would find the museum very interesting. It ended up being one of their favorite things.  The gentlemen who gave the tour was knowledgeable and kind.

Andy's

What can I say?  It was delicious!

Palo Duro Canyon State Park

This summer we didn't take an epic road trip across the United States.  Since we are building a new home our travel budget has gone to that project.  Even though we didn't drive cross country we were able to take smaller road trips in our great state.  We took 3 short trips--Texas Panhandle, East Texas, and Houston to the Texas Hill Country.

The first road trip was to the Texas Panhandle.  Mark's parents have made that trip a lot and they wanted to take our boys there.  I traveled to west Texas growing up because we had family in Amarillo and the surrounding areas.  Usually we don't stop longer than an overnight visit there but this year it was our destination. 

 We stayed in Amarillo and drove to Palo Duro Canyon about 25 miles away.  We visited Palo Duro Canyon State Park to hike in the morning and then we returned in the evening to see the Texas Outdoor Musical.

Texas had a record-setting amounts of rain in May and you can tell in this photo that areas of Palo Duro Canyon State Park have water flowing in places that are normally dry.  

This photo was taken June 16, 2015.

The photo above was taken on a bridge and the photo below was taken looking off the other side.  Both views were incredibly scenic in their own ways.

The boys love to hike.  They took off to climb these rocks before I even had a chance to catch up.  It's nature's playground.

Ben found a rock in the shape of Texas.

It's awesome that my boys didn't inherit my fear of heights.  Will might have tried to rock climb to the top if we let him.

Mamaw and Will before a short hike.  We ate lunch at the picnic table behind them.

Mark's parents and the boys

Lizards, lizards everywhere!

The boys like to complete the Junior Ranger Programs at National Parks, and we found a Junior Naturalist Program for them at Palo Duro Canyon.  Here they are showing of the badge they received for completing the program.

One of the coolest things we got to do was recreate a photo from Mark's childhood.  There's a cowboy dugout on a hiking trail in the canyon.  Mark posed in front of that dugout when he was a little boy probably around Will's age.  We had Will and Ben stand in the same spot and we also had Mark pose for a photo with them all together.  Here's a collage of the photos.  Will obviously looks the most like Mark here (even though Ben really favors him) because their ages are similar at the time of the photo.  Ben is standing just like Mark when he was a little boy in the photo.  We didn't pose the boys other than tell them where to stand.  Isn't it neat to see genetics at work.  We not only inherit physical features but mannerisms are passed along too.

Just a few more photos when we returned to the canyon that evening.  It was overcast in the morning but later in the day the views were majestic.

The boys at the Texas musical.  They really enjoyed the show and laughed at all the jokes and followed the plot of the story.  The show starts around 8:30P.M. as the sun is setting in the west.  Will stayed awake for the entire musical, but Ben fell asleep after the intermission.  

I'd definitely like to go back to Palo Duro Canyon State Park with our tent and camp.  There were other trails and places we'd like to explore, but this trip was a great introduction to this area for Will and Ben.  Good times and great memories!

Ben's Kindergarten Graduation

Ben's kindergarten graduation was two months ago at the end of the 2014-15 school year.  

Congratulations to Ben!

We are so proud of him!

It was a fun-filled school year, and he learned a lot of new things.  I feel like it was yesterday that he came home from the first day of school telling us all about the magical gingerbread man his class hunted for all over the school and he was in their classroom all along.

Ben's kindergarten year was a success.  Just like Will's kindergarten year, Ben has grown academically and loved to tell us about things he's learned about at school.  He's also grown socially and made new friends.  We were concerned because Ben's birthday is in June and we knew he'd be young for his class, but that hasn't slowed him down one bit.  He's learned more than we could have hoped for and is ready for first grade!

The graduation ceremony was different than when Will graduated a couple of years ago.  It was outside in the beautiful sunshine.  The students entered the playground area where they would be seated from the school building.  All of the sections of the kindergarten class had dances, songs, and poems to perform.  Ben was a part of the group that recited the "Kindergarten" poem and for each letter in kindergarten there was a special line to recite with a special memory from that school year.  

Ben's line was, "G is for good friends. We made more each day."  After that they received their diplomas and posed for photos. 

Here is our big guy proudly accepting his diploma from the principal.  

He looks so big!

Sweet smile

Ben was loud and clear when it was his turn to say,

"G is for good friends. We made more each day."

Precious kiddos

It's always hectic on the last day of school because Mark and I have responsibilities on our campus but thankfully our co-workers help out so we don't miss the boys' special days.  We had to hurry from Ben's kindergarten graduation to Will's 2nd grade awards ceremony, and I'm thankful we were able to get a photo with Ben in his classroom before we had to leave.

This photo is precious!  

Ben had such a sweet teacher who watched out for him and loved on the class like they were her own.  He learned so much and I'm thankful for all she invested to help him grow in knowledge and as an overall person.  Each year I can't believe we are fortunate enough to get teachers who care about our children as much as they do.  Their good work does not go unnoticed or unappreciated.  I just wish I could do more to show them how thankful we are for caring for our babies and helping them learn.

Even though this blog post is 2 months late! (How is already August?  My goodness!)  I wanted to share this special day and Ben's accomplishment.  My baby is a big boy now!

Will's 2nd Grade Awards Assembly

Will's 2nd grade school year was full of learning and fun.  He loved his teacher and was lucky enough to get in the same class as his best friend.  

This is the end of year awards assembly at the beginning of June.

Will received a 2nd place medal for UIL Chess Puzzle.  He studied and practiced for that competition and was excited to get 2nd place.  He's slightly competitive so when they announced the winner at the meet (which was earlier in the school year) he asked his teacher who got first.  We're still super proud of his accomplishment even if it's not first place!

Will received a participation ribbon for UIL Creative Writing.

This sweet friend will be at a different school next year.  She's been a buddy of Will's since they attended the school's early learning center when they were little bitty.

Will's teacher was kind and sweet and appreciated all of Will's funny interests.  It's almost hard to put into words the gratitude and respect we have for the teachers who are truly educators at heart. Our boys have always had gifted teachers and this year Will lucked into another classroom that helped him thrive.  I have this saying in my classroom, "Teachers who love teaching, teach children to love learning."  I can honestly say this applies to all of the teachers Will and Ben have had so far.
Isn't that awesome!?!  We are lucky!

One more in Will's classroom with little brother and Will's best friend in the background.

One more thing we are excited about.  Will was one of the top readers in A.R. points for this school year.  He worked really hard and read the entire Little House series, which helped him achieve this goal.  What a good lesson in setting a goal and reaching it.


Once again, it's hard for me to believe that Will is going to be in the 3rd grade!
I might not be ready but he definitely is!