Jolly Trolley Ride

On a sleepy Sunday, after a rousing morning of Legos, Learning and singing "Les Mis" (One Day More!) all together, we decided to hop on the Uptown Trolley and head down to one of our favorite parks downtown!

Waiting for the Trolley to come was fun! It was delayed, but we talked, played some games (like Rock, Scissors, Paper and Hawkeye) and I even told you both the whole story of Les Mis.

But then- ding ding! Our ride arrived!

As soon as we got down to the park, the two of you knew you wanted to get wet- so you changed into your swimsuits and got splashing!

You splished, you splashed, you climbed, you ran. We ran into some old friends, and you played with their son Brooks while we chatted. Then we got Popsicles, played soccer with Brooks and his dad, and then we decided to dry off and eat dinner out of the Food Trucks at the Park.

Hamburgers, fries, bahn mi, pizza. Yum yum!

And while we waited for our Trolley ride home, Julia you 'gabbed' on your 'phone' with Moana and Maui.

Aidan, you played Pokemon- your newest interest!

And Snuggled...

and then our Trolley arrived!

Except it was full...and we were nearing bedtime...so we started off on a mile-long walk back to the car. We walked, skipped, rode shoulders, talked, held hands, took breaks, and then -ding ding- another trolley came from behind us and took us all the way home!

What an adventure!

Spring Break 2017: Part 2- Staycation

Anything that ends like this sure had to be good!

After we got back from our little trip to Glen Rose, Texas, we still had a helluva lot of Spring Break left to rock and roll and relax!

So we spent some hours hanging out at the playground,,,

and enjoying the crisp spring weather...

 ...and putting the "spring" in Spring Break.

There were sleep overs with Baba and Yaya, where new skills were learned, high fives exchanged, and tickly secrets were shared:

There was Shabbat with Mimi and Pops:

Self-portraits... 

... art work...

"aidan pichir" - spelling and drawing by Julia

...and some yard work/ hard work!

Playing at home... 

Bike rides...

Hanging out...

Legos...

...and a very tasty last-night of Spring Break Donut run!

A sweet ending, for a really sweet Spring Break!

Spring Break: Snot, Rocks, Hotels, and the Ostrich

Sometimes you just gotta get out of town...so this Spring Break we hit the road for a family adventure!

Our first stop was Dinosaur Valley State Park, where we hiked and waded in the frigid Paluxy River bed and stepped in the fossilized footprints of 130 Million Year old Dinosaurs!

And after the interest of  130 million-year old fossils wore off rather rapidly, you guys discovered and gathered SNOT (algae) balls! Amazing!

Then we dried off an hiked some more, to see the BIG (inaccurate) statues <and the gift store>:

Next stop on our adventure: Big Rocks City Park!

And, true to it's name, it had a LOT of big rocks, which you guys LOVED to leap across and climb and explore:

...And then you found the Paluxy River again...and all bets (and dryness) were off:

Then we dined in one of downtown Glen Rose's finest restaurants (Pizza!) And went to our hotel (wow!) And then went to another hotel in another city, because they accidentally didn't record our reservation. But, we just went with the flow! And you guys LOVED the hotel. Apparently you haven't been in a hotel before, Julia. And Aidan, you were just a baby when we went to San Antonio and then down to the border. So this hotel thing was a NEW and EXCITING experience!

"Wow! There's a fridge near the beds!!"

"Whoa! There's a TV in the Bedroom????"

"OH MY GOSH an IRON in the Bathroom? WHAT????"

Your amazement led to a few rounds of bouncing between beds, and then the excitement of the day quickly led to heavy sleep for all of us.

The next morning we rose early, and went to Fossil Rim for a wild, awesome Safari!

Unbuckled, poking through the sun roof, and amazed by the peaceful scenery and amazing animals, we meandered for 3 hours through the safari, feeding some very cool critters!

This European Red Deer came RIGHT into our car and ate out of Aidan's hand!

The giraffe stiffed us.

You both stood atop the center console and peaked through the sun-roof. And I just thought that was cool. 

ZEBRAS!

The Ostrich was very forward and we had an emergency roll-up-the-window situation as Julia jokingly screamed. The Ostrich then sat down in front of our car. The ostrich was a star.

And then we hit the road and came back home for a relaxing, yard-work, play-time filled rest of our spring break . But that road trip- full of dinos and snot, and rocks and hotels, and ostriches and deers, and a lot of PB&Js was a hell of a lot of fun. 

I can't wait to hit the road again.