First big outing in Texas

So a friend invited us to go to the Aquarium on Monday.  I had originally thought that it would just be me, Chris and the girls.  Then I remembered that is was Martin Luther King day so Damon and Tyler could come too.  We went as part of a 'preschool' group.  It was how we got such a great deal on tickets.  I guess a mom in another ward teaches and she got us and a bunch of other families tickets.

The drive wasn't bad, I-45 is a big and busy freeway, but at that time of day we didn't really have any bad traffic.  It took us about 30 minutes to get there.  I followed my friend Kasi so I wouldn't get lost.  We got there early so we waited a bit for it to open.

We went through the exhibit first.  It was nice, but the Denver one is much bigger.  They do have a cool white tiger at the end that the kids liked.  We also got to touch the Sting Rays.

The fun thing about this aquarium is that it has rides.  We went on the train ride twice; (you get to go through a tunnel to see shark swimming overhead); the carousel twice; the Ferris wheel (Damon was nervous to go); and Tyler, Chris, and I went on a falling type ride.  They also had a mini 'Frog Hopper' version that even the girls went on.  They were startled, then Kaylee liked it, but Jenna remained concerned.  It was a bit jerky.  By then is was about lunch time so we loaded up in the van and I had them eat lunch on the way home.  I do this in hopes that it will keep the girls awake - not this time.  But they did transfer when we got home and they took a really good nap.  I guess we wore them out.  It was a fun outing to do with the kids.

 Yes, Tyler is giving bunny ears to Damon - typical brother.

 It was very bright on the Ferris wheel.  The aquarium in right off of I-45.

 The view on the other side, the Houston skyline.

 Chris and the girls really liked the carousel - I don't think they had been on one before.

Tyler and Chris loved this ride.  Chris was just tall enough.  They wanted to go again, but we ran out of time, and Damon was feeling left out.  He was good to watch the girls along with my friend Kasi.  

Tuesday I went to kickboxing - it was a good workout.
Wednesday I went to the Zumba class and then to play group.  I went to the wrong park originally but we finally found it.  Thank goodness for cell phones and Google Maps.
Thursday I had thought I was going to go to story time in the morning, but then I realized I had the wrong day - it had been Tuesday.  So I did a big grocery shopping trip with the kids instead.  They were being pretty bad at the beginning, but thankfully they calmed down for the second half.  I spent over $200.  There were a lot of things on sale that I usually stock up on and my pantry/food storage is pretty low - so it was time to fill it up.  It took almost 2 hours to go, shop, pay, and unload everything.  And of course it was raining pretty hard.  I brought out my laundry basket to put the bags in so I didn't have to make as many trips.   My visiting teachers came over afterwards and actually helped me unload the last of my groceries and then we visited for quite awhile.

Naps are getting harder, the girls don't want to go down as easily and if they nap too long they don't want to sleep at night.  But if they don't nap they are so grumpy at night.  Such a hard time.

Friday I made sugar cookies and I delivered them in the evening to my visiting sisters and my companion.  I actually took all the kids since Doug had come home not feeling well.  Then we all went to McDonald's to


play in the Play-place.

Saturday was clean out the garage day.  I wish I would have taken a before and after shot.  It was so full of boxes, mostly empty ones, plus all of our basement things.  We took everything out and then Doug hung up our bikes, put up shelves, hung the tools, and hooked up the pulley system for our Sky Box.  It looks a lot better now and we can almost park the van - we just have a few more things to get rid of.

I also cleaned the house with the kids in the morning.  They are pretty good helpers.  Damon is good to just get his jobs done because he wants to play quickly when he is done.  Tyler gets distracted and plays too much and is therefore much slower getting his jobs done.  It was too bad this week because we told Tyler that if he got his jobs done by 9 he could go with Damon and Doug to do scouting for food.  Well, he didn't quite make it.  He was close but we knew this would hopefully be a good learning opportunity - so he stayed home.  He was so mad and upset for a long time.  When he finally calmed down I talked to him.  I hope he learned something :).

Face-book has been helpful here.  I am part of a local mom's group and the info I have found has been very useful.  I located someone who needed boxes and she came and took all of our boxes and packaging paper - so that was great.  I also posted a few things that we didn't need anymore and got some them off of our hands quickly.  Hopefully the others will go soon.

Today I got called as the 2nd counselor in the Primary and Doug is going to be team teaching Christopher's class.  I think Doug has only taught once in primary back in Logan, and that was with me teaching Sunbeams.  So this will be a change for him, but he will do great.  I was in a primary presidency in our apartment ward in Logan, but that was 5/6 years ago.  The primary is huge, I have a lot of name learning to do.  We had a linger longer after church today.  We didn't visit too much - too hard when you helping kids and keeping track of them.

I think that's all that has been going on this week.  As a side note, Jenna is pretty much potty trained.  She has been in underwear 24/7 all week and has only had a few times where she just didn't get to the bathroom in time.  Kaylee however has regressed and is back in diapers.  She doesn't even try to tell me anymore when she needs to go.  She did manage to take off a messy diaper and then told us she had gone poo.  Luckily it wasn't too big of a mess.  (sorry TMI)  So hopefully Kaylee can get back on track here shortly.  I guess I'll just have to start over with her again, she probably just wasn't ready or something.  Sigh, we are almost done with diapers. :)