Trip to Houston

Matt's been out of town for almost 4 weeks now. He's been able to come home on weekends which has been great. I decided to save him a roadtrip and the kids and I drove to Houston to see him over Memorial Day weekend. Matt's apartment is a few minutes walk to the hospital he's been working at. It's kind of interesting to me that there are about 12 hospitals all across the street from each other in this one section of Houston. Right next to these hospitals is a great park with the Houston Zoo and gardens, and a natural science museum, etc. So we spread out the fun over the weekend with Matt's sister and her family who live in Houston just a few minutes away.

Saturday morning we hit the zoo.

I think the lion drinking fountain is a staple at all zoos.

Matt's sister got the kids tickets to ride the carousel. Luke chose the panda.

Maya chose a dolphin.

It was a lot of fun. We headed back to the apt around noon, which was nice because we avoided the major afternoon crowds at the zoo.

Here's Matt and Seth hanging out in the apt.

Matt's sister watched the kids and sent Matt and I on a date. It was really nice to be kid free for a couple of hours. Maya and Luke had a blast playing with their cousins.

On Monday morning we headed back to the park to check out the science museum and see a shark movie. While we waited for the movie, we checked out the exhibits.

Maya striking a pose next to the triceratops skeleton.

The T-Rex skeleton. Maya heard scared face and Luke heard scary face. Love it!

In front of the shark next to the IMAX entrance. It was a 3D Imax movie about all different kinds of sharks. Really cool. Felt like I was really next to the sharks, minus the cold ocean water and fear. Once again, Maya being scared and the boys being scary.

Luke was waiting all week to see the "Bruce" movie.

In the museum, they had a fun chemistry demonstration. I even learned a thing or too and a bunch of fun "experiments" we can do at home in our kitchen. In these pictures, the kids are learning how things expand and contract with temperature. They are holding a little glass tube that had colored water in the bottom. Their warm hands made the air trapped on the bottom expand and push the water to the top of the crazy straw type tube.





After the museum, we decided to walk to some playgrounds on the otherside of the park. At the halfway point was this great splash area near a pond with paddle boats and ducks. Luke had fun getting his feet wet in the heat.

It was a fun trip. Seth even slept through the night! Maya and Luke loved playing with cousins and getting to see Dad. The 3 hour car ride wasn't even that bad. Any longer and it might have been. It was a fun Memorial day weekend.

1 more night and this whole ordeal will be over. Matt will be home to stay! YAY!