Olivia's Kindergarten Field Trip to the Zoo

Today was Olivia's Kindergarten Field Trip to the Fort Worth Zoo. For the past two weeks, Olivia has been proudly displaying all of her "zoo animal"- related school work her class has been working on. One of her worksheets had "What I think I'll see at the zoo" and a spot for her to draw, color and write two different animals followed by a "What I want to see at the zoo" and another spot for her to draw, color and write her animals. She really wanted to see the giraffes so she could "see Giraffey's family" as she explained and the lions. Another one of her worksheets had "If I worked at the zoo, I would.... and she wrote "pet the animals every day." She's so proud of her work and excited about the visit to the zoo.

Since it's always fun to go with a group, I ended up driving Marco, Casey, Shannon and Kate to and from the zoo. It ended up being a perfect day for a zoo visit with it clear and crisp in the morning and in the mid-70s by late morning. As a chaperone, I was responsible for two other girls including Olivia. Unfortunately, Mrs. Schultz was out sick, so Mrs. Coleman, Mercer's mom was the substitute teacher for the field trip. Once we arrived at the zoo, I found out from her that I would be with Olivia, Scout and Annabel. Scout was one of the girls in my group for our field trip to the Dallas Arboretum so I knew should is a little dramatic and wild. I know Annabel from gymnastics and have enjoyed getting to know her mom, Jennifer, while we wait together during the girls' gymnastics class. Both Annabel and Scout's moms work so I wanted to take pictures of the girls throughout the day and forward them to Jennifer and Kelley.

We met the kids just before 10am and were able to explore wherever we wanted until we had to meet back up at 1pm by the entrance. I asked each of the three girls what they most wanted to see during their visit, knowing Olivia's wishes already. Annabel really wanted to see the giraffes and elephants while Scout wanted to see the alligators. We started out by visiting the gorillas and primate house and then headed to visit the meerkats and were soon in front of the giraffes! One of the them was eating leaves off the ground and had his legs splayed out in front of him, and Olivia loved it. She'd never seen a giraffe eat like that and she was amazed. Across from the giraffes were the elephants and the hippo. The girls loved seeing all the animals, especially the hippo that was completely submerged in his pool of water. After the hippos, all three of the girls were complaining of how hungry they were and that they wanted to eat. It was only 10:30am, which is the usual time for lunch of the kindergarteners. We found a bench across from the elephants and pulled out the girls' lunches. Scout and Olivia just wanted to snack, while Annabel ate her sandwich and most of her lunch.

After they were done, we continued on our visit and headed to see the rhinos, white tigers and Bengal tigers and then came to the lions. The lions were having a party with paper streamers and decorations. The four female lions were playing with the decorations, which was really cool. The male lions in the enclosure next door also had decorations, but they weren't nearly as interested in playing with them. One was completely asleep on his side, enjoying the sun and the other roamed around. On the other side were the zebras and the antelopes. With the antelopes were two black African hornbills, who are impressively large birds! I asked the girls what they wanted to see next and they all agreed they wanted to see the sharks! I didn't remember a shark tank from prior visits, but the map indicated that it was ahead of us, before the kangaroos.

We continued walking and made it to the parakeet enclosure, where we could feed the birds. Technically we aren't supposed to buy the kids any souvenirs or gifts but a stick with bird food is only $1 each and I knew how much the girls would love it. Plus, it's not a souvenir but an experience. Each of the three girls bought a stick of bird food and we headed into the enclosure. It was a little nerve-wracking since it was very full of kids and parents and my three girls headed in different directions. They each loved it and had some very hungry birds eating off their sticks in no time. After the bird seed was all off, we headed out and washed our hands. The girls really enjoyed it and I was able to get a few cute pictures of them feeding the birds.

We got to the "Australian Exhibit" which included parrots, various fish and the sharks. So we finally made it to the sharks! However, when we looked inside the tank, there was just one shark maybe 2 feet long! The girls were more excited by the shard display than the actual shark, which isn't surprising. We left the shark and walked through the kangaroo area where all the kangaroos were sleeping. Outside the kangaroo enclosure was a kangaroo statue, which was a huge hit for the kids to climb on and they each wanted a picture taken. We walked through the aviary section and saw various birds, including a kookaburra and several interesting owls. The girls were all hungry again, so we sat down for another snack and to decide where to go next. They all agreed that they wanted to see the alligators and turtles, which was also closer to the main entrance where we planned to meet the rest of the class in about an hour.

The turtles, alligators and snacks were fascinating to the girls and really interesting. Since the animals like to hide in their enclosures, the girls loved trying to find them. One of the zoo workers had a small python that could be touched, so we stood in line to touch the snack. Annabel and Olivia were excited to touch the snake, but Scout didn't want to, so I told her that she didn't have to touch a snake. Once we got up to the python, each of the girls felt the python's tail and really thought it was cool! After, the girls each took turns taking photos with my phone of their favorite animals, which of course got a little out of control and I soon had a few hundred photos on my phone. So, I had to allow each girl two more photos before taking my phone away.

I took a picture of Olivia by a little tree where I took a similar photo of Sofia when she took her Kindergarten field trip. Then, the girls ate the last of their food and then we headed to meet their classmates. I made sure the girls all went to the bathroom and had some water before they left. Olivia had her water bottle with her but the other girls brought juice and milk, so they were both really thirsty by the time the field trip was over. Next time, I'll pack extra waters for all the kids.

We haphazardly took a class photo and then said goodbye to our kiddos. Olivia got a little sad and didn't want to say goodbye, so I told her that we would get ice cream after they got back to school and I picked her up. After I picked up the girls at school, Olivia told me she sat next to Gracie on the bus and they both slept on the drive back to school. We took Sofia to her eye exam to get her new glasses and then we stopped by Baskin-Robbins for much-needed ice cream after a fun day!

The girls looking at the gorilla

Olivia, Annabel, and Scout in front of the zebras

Scout and an elephant.....this picture pretty much sums up Scout!

Giraffes

Olivia with Olivia's "giraffy family"

Snack/lunch time - the first of several food breaks.

Our sweet Kindergartener

Watching the hippo

Olivia with her pretzels

Sweet girl

Watching the rhino enjoy his bath

Watching the lions

The lions enjoying their "party"

Feeding the parakeets

Measuring up to sharks!

Olivia and the kangaroo statue - a big hit!

Olivia at the same statue when she was a Kindergartener

Running into a few of Olivia's sweet classmates

Snakes!

Olivia's photo of the turtles....love her reflection in the glass

Our budding photographer

Touching the python

The girls in the tree

Sofia and her friends in the same tree

Olivia's class photo

Beautiful zebra!

Spring Break 2017, Day 5: San Jacinto and Home

Our last day of our Spring Break road trip. We got up and packed up our things, ready to be out of our hotel which wasn't the best we've stayed in. It worked fine for two nights though and the girls slept well on the coach bed. We checkout of the hotel and headed to a little breakfast place called Bon Appetit Cafe across from NASA that had great reviews on Yelp. It was really cute inside and the hot chocolates looked amazing! Of course both girls ordered one, while CK and I got a cup of coffee that was actually delicious. Usually cafe coffee is pretty terrible (I think). The girls' hot chocolates were delivered and looked almost too good to drink! Of course, they enjoyed the whipped cream and then slowly drank their cocoa. The girls loved their pancakes and CK and our breakfasts were equally delicious! It was a great spot and we were thankful for Yelp's recommendations once again.

After we were all stuffed with yummy food, we drove through Houston to the San Jacinto Battle Monument and Museum. As we started off, Sofia needed something to eat since she'd finished all of her books. She borrowed the book CK bought at the Space Center's gift shop. He'd bought Jim Lovell's book "Apollo 13" and she started in on it. I figured she would look over it, flip through the pictures and read a few minutes before setting it down.

The monument is in a bleak little part of Houston surrounded by a shipyard on one side and a various industrial and chemical plants on the other. It's hard to imagine a pretty significant battle occurred on that location. First off, the monument is proud of the fact that it stands at a total height of 567.31 feet, which is 12.31 feet taller than the Washington Monument.

The Battle of San Jacinto was fought on April 21, 1836. It was a decisive battle of the Texas Revolution which was led by General Sam Houston. The Texian Army engaged and defeated General Antonio López de Santa Anna's Mexican army in a fight that lasted just 18 minutes. Santa Anna was captured and surrendered the following day. Three weeks later, he signed the peace treaty that dictated that the Mexican army leave the region, paving the way for the Republic of Texas to become an independent country. Sam Houston became a national celebrity, and the Texans' rallying cries from events of the war, "Remember the Alamo!" and "Remember Goliad!," became etched into Texan history and legend.

To be honest, I'd never heard of San Jacinto before Sofia told me about it a few months ago. Fourth grade is when kids learn Texas history so she's learned a lot about our state's history and San Jacinto is actually a pretty amazing story. Once we arrived and parked at the monument, we bought tickets for the movie and walked around the museum waiting for the movie to begin. The museum has a lot of things from the battle, including guns and various soldier implements. The movie was really interesting and told the story of the battle, which was fascinating. It was clear that it wasn't just an important battle for the state, but it really was critical for the future of our country too. The battle really paved the way for our country to expand.

Following the movie, we headed up to the observation deck where we could look at the surrounding area where the battle took place. It doesn't look like much now and it's hard to imagine that such an important bottle took place there. We walked around the observation level and then headed back downstairs. CK headed to the gift shop for a bit while the girls and I headed outside to look around. It was a pretty cool place to explore. Sofia loved reading all of the inscriptions at the bottom of the monument. The inscriptions tell the story of the War of Texas Independence in less than 600 words.

After, we'd gotten our fill of San Jacinto, we loaded back in the car and headed toward home. The drive went pretty smoothly and after we'd gotten out of greater Houston, it was actually pretty attractive landscape. We did get a chance to stop at another Buc-ee's outside of Madisonville which is really pretty country. This Buc-ee's is literally in the middle of nowhere off I-45 and yet it is full of people. The girls were so super excited to stop at Buc-ee's again - I'm pretty sure it is their most favorite part of the entire week! We looked around, the girls bought another packet of gummy treats and bbq sandwiches and I got a cod sandwich which ended up being delicious! After eating, we continued down the road and Sofia was still totally engrossed in the "Apollo 13" book!

The drive home went smoothly and we finally made it home. We decided to swing by Casey's to pick up Buddy first. I couldn't believe how much I missed our little dog and worried about him during the week. He was SO happy to see us and it was great to be back together with him. After chatting with Casey for a bit, we headed home with Buddy to unpack, do laundry and get settled into our house after a super fun road trip. All said, we drove 1064.9 miles!

Two girls are excited to dig into their hot chocolates

Almost too beautiful to drink!

The San Jacinto monument

The view from the bottom

The girls in front of the monument

Looking out from the observation level

The Battle of San Jacinto

We made it home! 1064.9 miles later.....

Spring Break 2017, Day 4: Exploring NASA

We woke up around 830am using our alarm because we wanted to get to NASA as soon after they opened as possible. After eating breakfast downstairs we drove the short distance to NASA and parked. We were one of the first groups in thanks to CK who bought the tickets and tram tour tickets on-line the week before. We had about an hour to explore before we had to line up for the tram tour. The girls enjoyed a lift-off simulator and we explored some of the displays, including an astronaut space suit that still had moon dust on the boots! Soon it was time to head to the tram tour and we stood in a short line before we boarded our tram. It was a surprisingly chilly and misty day so the four of us huddled together to try and stay warm. Sofia was still focused on wanting to spend Friday at the beach, so I asked her how much fun it would be to be in a wet swimsuit at the beach today. She agreed it would be best to go to the beach once it's sunny and hot!

The tram tour took us to the Mission Control building and we were lucky enough to be able to sit in the front row of the press area overlooking the original mission control room! It was so cool! It literally looked like everyone was at a lunch break and would be returning any minute. One fact that our tour guide told us that I found fascinating is that the keyboard hadn't been invented yet, so that is why each desk held a monitor and a row of buttons. Everything was controlled from a series of button pushes! He also said that we have enough computing power in just one of our iPhone apps to launch 1,000 Apollo 11 missions simultaneously! That seems impossible to believe! On the wall was a monitor showing the current mission control that is just one floor above the original, where NASA employees monitor activities of the International Space Station and any other space-related activities. It was so cool! I couldn't believe we were actually there and it was such an amazing part of history. Just before we headed back downstairs, we took a few pictures with the mission control room in the background.

We left the mission control room and loaded back onto the tram and headed over to see the Saturn V rocket. The Saturn V rocket is actually displayed on it's side in a huge building. Outside there are a number of other rockets that are displayed outside the building standing on end. We went into the building to see the Saturn V and it was incredible how huge a rocket it is! It is incredible and overwhelming! Of course, CK knows everything there is to know about each stage and each mission. Sofia stuck with him to learn all she could about the rocket and all-things NASA. Olivia and I stuck together and I read as much as I could in the snippets between Olivia wanting to run off to another area. After we'd seen all Olivia and I could, we sat down and waited for Sofia and CK to finish checking out every single aspect of the Saturn V. It was comical to hear all the other dads walk around the rocket with their kids and tell them all sorts of crazy things. I even know some of their comments were completely not true! I thought how lucky Sofia is to have a Papa who really understands everything about the space missions inside and out! In fact, as we left the building CK told me he noticed a mistake on one of the write-ups about one of the missions.

After Sofia and CK were done exploring, we returned to the main building for lunch. Needless to say, lunch was rather uneventful and typical of museum lunch options. Following lunch, We continued exploring the main building. We saw the lunar module replica and we also were able to touch a moon rock! The girls posed in front of the command module. It's hard to believe three men spend a few days together in such a tight spot!!


We headed out front to tour the Space Shuttle, which was a replica of the Independence. The Space Shuttle was really crowded and it was still pretty chilly outside, so we huddled together while we waited to go into the main bay area. The tour started with a walk through the airplane that carries the Shuttle. In order to save on weight, the airplane is very bare bones. It was so interesting to see a 747 without the rows of seats in it. It's actually pretty roomy inside. After seeing the inside of the 747, we headed upstairs to tour the shuttle, which was packed with people! It was incredible to see the insides of the space shuttle, even if it was a replica. The main shuttle controls are so overwhelming and cool to see. The whole shuttle was super cool!

After visiting the space shuttle, we returned to the main building and the girls watched the It's Science show which was really cool! The young man who led the It's Science show was in his 20s and dressed like a scientist. The science guy focused on how to figure out the best fuel to use in a jet or rocket. He actually used a variety of experiments to show which worked badly and which worked well. It was fascinating. He ended by asking who was in middle school. A number of hands shot into the air. He said "You are the ones who will be figuring out how we get to Mars, so get out there and start thinking how we are going to do it." He followed with "For all of you younger than middle school, you are the generation who will end up traveling to Mars. So study hard and good luck." I loved it! It really resonated with Sofia!

After the It's Science show, Sofia headed over to the hands-on tables where she built a circuit that turned a light on and off. She loved it and really loved showing us how it worked and how she built it. Both girls also took turns trying to control a little robot on wheels through various obstacles. It was much harder than it looked. Finally, we decided to head to the gift shop before taking a break before dinner. The gift shop was packed with people and both girls wanted to bolt to opposite ends of the shop to explore. It made me nervous, but also wanted to let them explore. We told the girls that they could pick out one souvenir. Sofia completely fell in love with a shirt that had the NASA symbol but had "NERD" written across the symbol. I tried to talk her into a regular NASA shirt, but she wasn't going for it. Olivia fell in love with a shirt that had a lot of cute space-related words and symbols on it. It was super cute. Finally, CK told Sofia she should go ahead and get the NERD shirt! Sofia was SO happy! CK and I also picked out a NASA shirt each and then we were ready to check out. Frankly, I was done with the crowds and people and just wanted to go. We gathered and headed toward our car. We ended up taking a few great pictures in front of the shuttle and then headed to our car.

We returned to our hotel room and relaxed. The girls and I turned on Kid's Chopped on the Food Network and they loved it! We'd never watched it before and I loved how interested they were in the show. It was fun to watch and talk about crazy food! CK had to do a little work, so he headed downstairs for an hour or so. After he returned, we headed to dinner at a Thai restaurant called Thai Stellar that I found on Yelp. It was absolutely awesome and so delicious! The reviews were spot on and it was great to enjoy something different. After, CK found a Dairy Queen where we ordered an ice cream. After, we returned to our hotel where we cuddled together on their sofa bed and watched Chopped. They really loved it and it was a fun ending to a great day!

We made it to NASA!!

The girls in the flight simulator

A real astronaut space suit!

Trying to stay warm on our tram ride to the Mission Control Building

Mission Control!

Ck and the girls by Mission Control!

The four of us!

Just outside the Mission Control Building

Right next to where the Flight Operations Director worked!

The Saturn V missile

The three of us in front of one of the Saturn V stages - photo taken by Sofia

A rocket

The exhaust of the Saturn V rocket

The girls by one of the stages

On the tram ride back to the main building

The Lunar Module

Touching the moon rock

Command Module

Ready to tour the Shuttle Independence

Inside the Independence

Sitting on the shuttle

Checking out the control panel

Very impressive!

The science show

Sofia's successful light circuit

The four of us in front of the Independence Space Shuttle

At Thai Stellar

Sofia is very proud of her new shirt!