Last Day in Houston

One last day to play! Joseph and I started the day with a run along the waterway of the Woodlands. It's such a pretty spot and was quiet and calm on a Monday morning. It started out cool and lovely but was hot hot hot by the end—summer in Texas already!

We came back to the hotel to swim and relax in the sun before packing up and checking out. 

Then it was back into the city for the much anticipated American Girl store (Caroline's #1 request during our trip). I have to admit that I was pretty excited too, and it was a huge success. Those stores are just so awesome and so huge and filled with the cutest displays of every doll and all their darling little accessories. Cares and I had so much fun just wandering around looking at the little soccer balls and flutes and darling pairs of shoes for the dolls.

With it being her birthday 2 weeks later her one desire was the new doll of the year Isabel. We got it for her, got the doll's ears pierced at the salon (seriously the cutest idea ever!) and then saved her until Cares' actual birthday. It was such a fun outing for us (the girls :) and reminded me again how lucky I am to have daughters and know full well their excitement and love for things like American Girl dolls. I know I was purely obsessed when I was young and I cherished mine for years and years (and still have them!)

We wanted to hit a Lego store for Bentley too so after much searching on maps and Google on our phones we found one in a seriously gigantic mall. We had already ordered Bentley's big set for his birthday but he just loved looking at all the options and seeing so many cool sets right before his eyes. Neil and Ruth Ann were so cute to just hang out and enjoy watching our kids get so excited about their current passions.

We only had until mid-day to hang out Monday before our flight so after the Lego store it was off to the airport and saying good-bye to the amazing Nanny and Grandpa. It felt harder to leave them this time knowing we won't see them for a full year+ when they are done with their mission. But we loved knowing more about where they are and how they are settled in and what life is like for them as they serve. We love them dearly and felt really spoiled to get to spend 5 days with them doing everything together. We haven't had that continual one on one time with them since our Phoenix days and even then we had lots of other siblings who joined them whenever they came to stay with us.

One friend of mine commented that she visited her grandparents when they were on a mission and it was an awesome memory for her throughout her life. I am hoping that will be the same for our Bentley and Caroline, and have a lasting impression on them. I am just sad we didn't have enough points to redeem for 6 plane tickets so we could have brought Olivia and Luke—I know Ruth Ann and Neil miss them so much too and they are totally adorable! But it was an awesome trip with big kids who are independent and amazing little travelers too. We were out and about a ton and that would have been so hard with our smaller ones. Plus, we just snuggled up in the LeBaron's spacious Crown Vic and rode all around Houston in one car (3 in front, 3 in back!) And my parents and Cec and Chad took great care of our littles while we were away and that was a huge relief.

Just waiting to board our flight back to Salt Lake.

Love these easy, obedient and fun kids and our awesome adventure in Houston!

NASA and the Temple

Typical Sunday activities to combine, right?! We started the morning with the huge and complimentary breakfast at the hotel—yummy and tons of it (eggs, waffles, bacon, sausage, cereals, granola, yogurt, fruit, and lots of juices. Huge win for the Residence Inn!) Then we drove a few miles over to the nearest ward building for sacrament meeting which was such a great meeting (maybe because I sat and listened to all of it without wrestling a toddler :)

After church we headed south to the Johnson Space Center (40 miles or so from where we were). It was such a cool place and one spot Bentley had earnestly requested as we planned our trip. I think he could have stayed there for hour on end and soaked up the facts and history and science of it all. It truly mystifies me but space travel has always been one of those unbelievable things that I just can't wrap my head around, but it's still fascinating and intriguing exploration for sure.

 We were there on May 4th which is an annual Star Wars day for "May the Fourth be with you."

 

Our favorite part of the day was the tram tour all around the official NASA grounds seeing the real deal buildings and offices where astronauts train in simulators, engineers build and test, and where mission control actually directs, observes and communicates with each space mission.

The sheer size of these rockets which launch astronauts into space is astounding. And the construction and chemistry and preparation has to be completely perfect for all of it to work right. All I could think about there was Apollo 13 and the near fatal experience that mission was.  

Some of the quotes I wanted to remember on the display about all the Apollo missions.

 

  It was such an awesome afternoon learning all we did and feeling inspired and completely humbled by the vast size and power of the universe, and space in general. 

 Last stop for the day before heading back to our hotel was the lovely Houston Temple.

We roamed the grounds and found more lovely magnolia trees:

 

  

 

Saturday in Huntsville

 

We started our morning with a little 3 mile run from the apartment to campus and beyond to the small town main street of Huntsville. It was such a pretty day and we ran past the most potent and beautiful white flowers on a tree—I suspected they were magnolias and it turned out I was right. Then I just had thoughts of that great movie Steel Magnolias in my head throughout our run. How cute is my Bean all happy and eager to join us? Joseph was going to take a pic so I hurried and turned around so he could capture my way better side in it :)

Then it was off to the institute closing social—a BBQ and pool party at a member's house who lives on about 500 acres! We got there early to get things going and then Nanny sent all of us out with Brother Harris in his pick-up truck to get a tour of his huge ranch.

Brother Henry Harris on the left and an institute student who was early and joined us out exploring. These guys stood in the truck bed while Neil and I rode in the cab.

We saw this huge eland right away. Bro. Harris told us it basically thinks it's a cow these days as he hangs out with them all day.

We also saw a few ponds and the huge reservoir they built on the property, a handful of horses including a pretty two-week old colt. On the far end of the property we saw Henry's herd of antelope. They were so swift and spry and really pretty to watch as they sailed through the brush. Pretty cool set-up for all those animals with so much space to spread out and roam. Our institute friend pointed out some dewberry bushes as we drove so we stopped to gather them up and have a little sample—basically tasted like blackberries.

Back at the house and pool we found that a bunch of kids and a set of missionaries had arrived for the social. The missionaries seemed to be pretty good at showing up at anything that involved Ruth Ann's food :) but they really love the LeBarons and have worked with a lot of their students and new coverts this year. I was happy to see such a great turnout! I can't even compare this little institute to my experiences at ASU while in grad school because it's a completely different dynamic. ASU institute was filled to the brim with undergrads all day every day—hundreds of LDS kids at a super huge university while Sam Houston is a small college with a very limited number of LDS students...lots of missionary work to be done there :)

The pool was ice cold as it wasn't heated and Hunstville had one of their coldest winters ever this past year. It was a gorgeous 85 degree day so of course my kiddos popped right in, shivering and all, and played and played. Two other students joined them in the water and were such good sports to play frisbee and keep away and even brave the slide with them. Oh and Joseph got suckered in for a bit too!

In the afternoon we returned to the apartment and packed ourselves up to head out for more excursions and eventually to our hotel for the next few nights nearer to Houston in an area called the Woodlands.

First stop was the enormous Sam Houston statue just a few miles down the highway:

The kids aren't even as big as his face (but Joseph is :)

Our next stop was Sam Houston State park on a huge lake where tons of people were camping for the weekend. It's a place you can spy alligators when the day is calm and quiet so we were kind of (kind of) sad that we didn't see any :)

On the highway heading south again we saw a Nike store and thought we'd pop in just in case they had the newest, coolest, brightest socks Bentley has had his eye on. They didn't, unfortunately, but we discovered that it wasn't just a Nike Outlet store but a Nike clearance store! It was kind of a jack-pot find and we all got some great finds (including my favorite Nike dri-fit v-necks for $7.99! They are usually $25.00 so that was a great steal).

A few miles from Nike we found a "Texas classic" and ate at Texas Roadhouse (yeah, super cliche but we love this place!)

We made our way to the Woodlands, checked in to our rooms and took the kids swimming yet again. How had we not worn those kiddos out yet?! Double shoulder ride adventures in the pool (love hotel pools because there aren't any lifeguards to keep you from trying crazy things!)

Ruth Ann was spent after her busy day cooking and prepping for everyone at the social and then entertaining us with all our outings so she went to bed right after we got there, right around 6:30 pm. We invited Neil over to watch our redbox with us (The Book Thief) while the kids played with their new Lego sets (early birthday gifts from Nanny and Grandpa). Another great day in Texas!

PS—I love how flexible senior missionaries can be with their schedules! We loved doing all the institute activities they had planned but also loved letting them be our tour guides in their free time and showing us so much of their city and Houston in general.

Deep in the Heart of Texas

When Joseph's parents left for their mission last summer, we promised our older kids we would take them to see Nanny and Grandpa while they served in Houston. We knew nothing about the city but were eager to see Ruth Ann and Neil and especially where and how they are serving. We took Bentley and Cares in May which was kind of perfect with it being their birthday month. It was also the last week of activities before summer break at the institute where the LeBarons are working.

 

Thursday May 1st we popped on the airplane and flew to Texas—I had never been! 

 

Traveling with these two was so easy and so fun! They carry their own bags, pack their own entertainment and sit sweetly in their seats the whole flight—ahhhh so nice!

 

 Plus they are best buddies :)

We met Nanny and Grandpa at the airport and it was a happy reunion. The we were off to downtown Houston for some museum exploring. The first spot we hit was the Museum of Natural Science:

 

Found this street to match our cute girl as we wandered around:

 Then we hit the Children's Museum: 

It was such a fun spot! The hubby and I even got to play a little ourselves which never happens when we have our crazy Luke along with us!

We stopped at a little taco shop near the museums for some dinner and then drove back up to Huntsville to settle in at Ruth Ann and Neil's apartment. We were pretty worn out by about 9:00 pm that night so we all crashed early.

The next morning Ruth Ann made us the most delicious buttermilk waffles and syrup with her new Texas waffle iron. Cares was pounding out her sleep (as usual—but doesn't she look sweet?) One reason I adore about Neil so much is that he knows me so well and had their fridge stocked with icy cold Diet Mountain Dew right when we arrived! I have the best in-laws.

That day Ruth and Neil hosted their weekly Friday Forum complete with a guest speaker and a delicious lunch (provided by the amazing Ruth Ann of course). We were over at the institute a few hours early to get things set-up and help with meal prep and then we spent some time wandering around campus and exploring Sam Houston State University. 

 

The speaker was the Houston Temple Matron and she did an excellent job. We were there to hear her along with a handful of other students and it was fun to meet the college kids Ruth Ann and Neil have spent so much time with this past year. Of course Nanny's lunch (Navajo tacos) was totally delicious too.

After lunch clean-up we walked across the street to the Sam Houston Folk Festival. We got there just before it was done for the day so it was nice and calm and we got to try all sorts of cool things. Cares learned the proper way to curtsey and tried weaving some fluffy wool into yarn. We also painted with oil and water, made beaded bracelets and made our own candles in dipping wax.

We also tried the coolest looking snack—a huge potato swirl which was fried and salted. Oh, so yummy! I didn't grab a picture of it (as we inhaled it pretty quickly ;) but it looks just like this (a pic from the internet):

The park where they held the festival had some cool old cabins and lots of gorgeous, shady trees—and really is right across the street from the university. Such a pretty afternoon. We ended the day with t-shirt shopping, huge smoothies, a rest back at Nanny's watching The Bourne Identity, and dinner at Double Dave's for pizza and pepperoni rolls (try them if you're ever in Texas—we saw Double Dave's all over Houston).

 Cares at dinner with this cool license plate Texas