Alex Turns 6!

This kid.

The card is right, the best way to describe his personality is "AWESOMENESS!". He is excited and happy and smart and just plain awesome. He has undergone an enormous amount of growth; physically, mentally, emotionally in this 5 - 6 age year. He is now a kindergartener, a solid reader AND an incredible swimmer. We are so very proud. 

The child we know today is a far cry from the little boy who would tantrum when he couldn't get his point across. He still takes his own, sweet time when doing just about everything (he CANNOT be rushed into getting dressed, putting on shoes, eating or getting to the point of a story), though he has a unique and thoughtful way of describing the world that both amazes me and cracks me up. He still describes yesterday as "the day before this day" and a little piece of me hopes that he always does.

Texas had a pretty serious tropical storm (Imelda) roll through the week of Alex's birthday. We were fortunate in that we had no flooding and the kids' schools came through pretty close to damage-free. We were extra lucky that his birthday party wasn't planned until the Sunday after his birthday, so our Houston-area friends were able to attend without any water issues. 

So the actual birthday DAY itself was spent indoors, with our family of five, eating his favorite spaghetti and meatballs dinner followed by cupcakes with a side of presents. 

In a weekend of "favorites", Alex had a birthday party at his favorite place to go: Little Beakers. I have to admit, this is also one of my favorite places to take kids (ages > 4). It is a science lab geared for hands-on experiments and learning. It is rarely crowded, you pay per hour for open lab and birthday parties are prepared and led by a staff member. They pre-arrange your experiments and clean up after your kids (and you) are wowed. I am not much for making a mess at our house... so this is ideal.

We got there early to set up, so Gretchen and Alex spent some time assembling molecules. Look at the cute coats! And the goggles! And the counter height that is perfect for children!

This birthday party was a great mix of long-time friends that we are thrilled to live close to, best buddies from preschool AND some new faces from kindergarten. The kids were at a perfect age to be amazed at the acidic reactions, create take-home fake snow and glow slime (though the slime NEVER comes inside the house. We've been burned before...) and the birthday boy got a special grand finale.

This picture shows what happens when you mix Mentos and diet soda, and Alex pulled the trigger on the Mentos drop. He was all smiles, which is the point at a birthday party!

For our middle child who has kept his sensitive side while maturing into a big-kid, Happy 6th Birthday!! Keep loving science and swimming and reading and Bey Blades, you are such a terrific kid!

Adult DC!

I know that New York gets all they hype, but if I had to chose a US city as my favorite, it would be Washington, DC without hesitation. There is food, culture, history, public transportation and all four seasons! The last time that we lived close enough to the city to visit Jon and I were childless, both working full time, and as with many places that you have access to, we took for granted that we were so close to so many great things. 

Combine that sentiment with this year of celebration in which we were no longer tied to our house with doctors appointments and blood draws, chemo and radiation were over and our children were old enough to stay with Grammy and Papa Mas for a weekend, and we created Adult DC!

We coupled with some of our bestest friends, both couples that appreciate DC as much as we do, and we planned a weekend of touristing our beloved city. For those that know the city, DC is incredibly spread out. That monument row of the Lincoln Memorial to the US Capitol Building is almost a 2.5 mile walk. Add in a detour to the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, the White House and the Smithsonian Museums and that is a long day on your feet! So, as the tourists do, we went on a Segway tour. A great, fast way to see the sites without needing a nap. 

 

East Coast Summer Tour 2019

We were ambitious, we were brave, we almost abandoned a stroller on the platform, but while in Virginia we took the Amtrak train up north to visit friends in Philadelphia. What a fantastic way to travel! Admittedly, it's easier when you don't have a stroller, and when you don't have full sized luggage to tote along with three children, but it was fast and fun and so much easier than flying! I hadn't quite thought through how we were going to find seats together AND I was going to get our luggage on the train AND I was going to fold up the stroller and carry it up the steps while leaving all three kids in Gretchen's 8-year old hands while I made multiple trips. But we did it, and some kind commuters had mercy on me so we didn't need to all sit apart from each other in four separate middle seats.

The sheer fact that we were on a train was a portion of the trip's entertainment for the kids. The Nintendo DS helped too. 

Thankfully, once we arrived at the train station, my fantastic friend Jenn was there waiting for us, ready to help unload our many things. Additionally, our children love each other so the weekend was full of constant entertainment. 

Philadelphia is full of interesting things to do. I wish I could say that we ran the Rocky steps, toured Independence Hall and took a picture in front of the Liberty Bell. Perhaps when our kids are a little older, for now, we visited the Please Touch Children's Museum and I wouldn't take it back. There was a whole station where you could wash your hands, then go to a blow drier to dry them off. Graham was obsessed. His hands have never been so clean or so dry. His shirt, however, was drenched. 

And I got to ride a Dodo.

We had the chance to meet up with college friends, the Mayes family! They live in the Philly area and were willing to weather the incredible rainstorm to drive and meet us at this fantastic spot, The Creamery of Kennett Square. It would best be enjoyed on a lovely sunny day, but our crew of kids spent the entire time eating and creating the Zelda Tri-Force out of a life-sized peg board on the wall. What a fun treat to have so many favorite people under the same roof.

Through a few families that live in the greater Philadelphia area, we had heard about this utopia called Longwood Gardens. This was another kid-friendly spot that didn't disappoint! The gardens are incredible, however that is not usually enough to keep kids occupied. Never fear, the entrance offers tiered hedges to hide and seek in, a huge rolling hill for dizzy delights and a scavenger hunt that kept everyone happy and occupied. 

In case that's not enough, everyone brought a Pokemon toy to play with.

All important decisions between 8&9 year olds happen over ice cream.

The crowning jewel of the trip (for me) was this unreal dinner spot that Mike and Jenn brought me to in celebration of my 38th birthday. The food was divine, the bubbles flowed, the sun set and the Phillies won - so the night included a fireworks show over the cityscape of Philadelphia. I couldn't have planned anything better. 

Four Amtrak tickets later, we're back in DC! For another kind of train ride, the DC Metro! What used to be my daily commute is now a fun excursion for kids and Grammy's alike. DC is a magical place at almost every turn. There are monuments and history and memories around every corner. Just take a look at what a beautiful day we had to explore the city!

Gretchen, Alex and Grammy at the Washington Monument. Can you spot the line where construction was stopped for 23 years when the US ran out of money for the project and fought the Civil War? 

We visited the World War II monument, my first time there. Everything is symbolic. It is a long awaited sight to be seen.

We went way back in history at the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History. Dinosaurs and birds and gems, oh my! We have a special behind the scenes friend that was able to meet us for lunch, and explain some of what goes on in the non-accessible portion of the museum.

The monument that the kids wanted to see most was the Lincoln Memorial. Who wouldn't! It's impressive! It's larger than life! There are a gazillion steps leading up to it! It took us a few minutes to line up this selfie without background tourists in our shot, but we got the big man included, so that's what matters. 

 To round out the whole trip, we got to see another family friend, this time the Welsh family. Alex and Jon have been friends since elementary school and we were excited to re-introduce the next generation of friends. Kids meeting our friends kids has been such a great part of being back in the US. Thank you to everyone who hosted us and took time out of a busy summer to meet up with us. Back to the Houston heat!

Vancouver Vacay June 2019

There is a constant running list of places that Jon and I would like to travel. After being grounded for a year we were due an anniversary trip, and while it didn't feel like it was the right time for Italy, we have been thinking of cities in the Pacific Northwest for awhile. Vancouver became our 11th anniversary destination.  

Vancouver has been on this list for awhile because it has so much to offer. Mountains, cityscape, water, and while it is an international trip - it's as easy of a border crossing as you can get from the US. 

With the help of Gran and Poppa, we had a lovely waterview room where we could watch the sea plans take off and land all day long. I had no interest in riding in one of these teeny planes, but watching them was lots of fun. They were constant, one taking off or landing every 15 minutes. 

To take advantage of the lovely weather, and the fact that we didn't have anyone with training wheels, we rented bikes from Spokes to sightsee around Stanley Park. We took the seawall route and cut through the island instead of completing the entire island perimeter. There were so many interesting things to see! 

First of which, my biking partner. I'm a lucky lady to be married to this fellow for 11 years! And he continues to indulge me when I want to do silly things like...

At the entrance to the seawall route are these incredible totem poles, the ones pictured below are a part of the Children of the World grouping. Colorful, interesting, the more you inspect them, the more little surprises you can find. 

Watch seagulls on the beach! Not just any seagulls, these are EATING STARFISH! I watched bird after bird pick at and try to choke down these pointy, tough-skinned sea creatures. 

This determined bird attempted to swallow, gagged up and choked down the same starfish several times. The starfish has no defenses except his shape! The bird flew away, this tough sucker is safe for another day.

After having the worst year of our lives, this trip also felt like a retrospective of all of the strength and determination that it took to get through a trip to the ER, a serious diagnosis, surgery, radiation, chemotherapy. And just when I thought we won the determination prize for the year, our trip around Stanley Park shows us this. This tree. Who told it to grow there? Some seed embedded itself on a rock and decided to grow into a nice, leafy tree. No soil, just rock. Good on you tree, you've got a prime spot overlooking the water now.

And this pretty little flower, just growing on the side of a cliff. Not worried that there are no flower buddies around it, just standing on its own, reaching toward the sun, bringing a bright white bloom to the cold grey stone. It was a great bike ride indeed.

We also visited the Bloedel Conservatory, which was a picture-taking wonderland for this bird lover. The conservatory is built into Queen Elizabeth Park's Little Mountain, everywhere surrounding the conservatory dome is overlooking Queen Elizabeth Park.

It took me a long time to sort through my hundreds of photos of birds during this visit. Jon and I checked each bird type off of the scavenger hunt list given to us at the front (possibly intended for children). Here are a few of the brightest highlights. 

We had lunch at the Original Tap and Barrel which sits directly next to the Vancouver Olympic Torch. Took morning runs through the city and around the cruise ship terminal. Jon's cousins recommended their favorite restaurant, Bishops, for a special dinner and sent a lovely bottle of wine to the table. We took a tiny tugboat ferry to Granville Island and enjoyed the beauty of being on vacation. Vancouver was just the relaxing, friendly, outdoor location that we were looking for in a perfect anniversary trip. 

Bike Parade Through The Years

Our precious preschool puts on a bike parade each year. Now that all three children have participated, it's fun to see just how much each of them has grown! 

2014 was our first year here and it is incredible to see our big, grown up, almost 3rd grader here on a balance bike! Look at how precious the "car wash" is for these kids to go through! I don't even think we had our moving shipment delivered yet at the date of this parade, so I certainly was not put together enough to decorate the bike. 

2015 was the year I learned at that inflated balloons are a bad idea to tie to the back of a bicycle. The colorful balloons were instantly tangled and popped and dangled as a limp clump of color at the back of her bike the whole time. This little ray of sunshine didn't mind one bit. She is all smiles and energy this year too. 

Alex joins in on the fun in 2016 with his blue scooter. His lefthanded-ness had become clear when he started scooting, using the opposite foot to propel himself. He is a natural scooter-kid.

Gretchen is still enjoying the parade - and I have a rare year of having all children participating in the bike parade, and I was able to take photos without chasing anyone around. This was the year I was pregnant with Graham.

The absolute height of my decorating skill was 2017 when Jon brought home this fantastic balloon "G" from a work event. It fit perfectly on Alex's bike handles and he thoroughly enjoyed having a decorated bike. Note that this was our "cold" year at the bike parade. If I remember correctly it was around 70F and everyone is in jeans and long sleeves. Texas is funny like that.

Alex graduated to a larger, SpiderMan bike in 2018. It's the little things like the slight bend in his elbow and his long-looking legs on that big bike that let me know how much he has grown since last year!

Welcome to the bike parade, Graham! 2019 is your year, where you inherit Alex's blue scooter, he follows suit by bringing his big red and black scooter, and you both have precious letter decorations courtesy of cousin Lydia. I am pretty sure Graham is right-handed, but he uses the same foot as his brother to power this scooter and I find it adorable. 

2019 is the last bike parade year for Alex. It is also a new location for their preschool, and I am thrilled that this tradition lives on.