Gator Country

We like Gator Country, we've been before but the last time we went it was about 567 degrees outside and we were miserable. It was perfect this time.

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The boys were just beside themselves getting to touch this nasty ugly stinky disgusting snake.

Caleb even got in on the action.

It's okay Mom. I know you just gasped and are probably reaching for your "Oops I Crapped My Pants" but the trainer guy was right there by the snake, I promise. The picture makes it look worse than it really was. Or something.

Caleb reached out and tried to touch the "ah gah gooeys" mouth and when we grabbed his hand he cried. Then he got pissed off, screamed and slapped the alligator on the tail.

Maybe it's just me, but I think it's totally weird that they serve fried alligator there. Steve Irwin is rolling over in his grave.

What crazy looks like:

Um, hello?! It's only a 13 + foot alligator. No big deal.

The Downtown Aquarium

Overpriced and not much to see, that would be my review. It cost forty something dollars to get in, and then another THIRTY to ride the freaking train through the shark tunnel. We'll stick with the Moody Gardens aquarium, thankyouverymuch. The kids enjoyed themselves, but it's not somewhere we'll visit again.

Jacob and Jonah drooling over a huge icky snake. Keep dreaming boys.

Jacob getting up close and personal with a ray.

Caleb torturing the poor things. The sign said something to the effect of "touch with one finger please." Yeah I'm pretty sure that's not what he did.

The thing looked like he wanted to eat us.

On the train ride, of course Caleb enjoyed that.

The driver let Train Boy pose for a picture.

Dory!

A cute seahorse!

Scary!

Emmy's 6th birthday party

All photo credits go to Becca, she had control of the camera and did a fabulous job. Thanks Bec!

This is my favorite from the day. This little boy is in her class at school.

Whew. Done birthdayin' till July.

Ice skating at the Galleria

Emmy was the one who wanted to try it the most and she was the first to quit. Haha. She skated around a few times but it's way harder than it looks - not that I would know, there was no way I was getting out there. Basil said that muscles that he didn't even knew he had were sore though, so I'm glad I sat out. ;) The boys were really into it, they were having a blast racing each other and Basil around and around. Jacob fell hard once and cried, Jonah fell flat on his back once and his head came inches from slamming into the ice but he managed to keep it up. I thought he would be bawling because it looked bad but he got up laughing. Emmy stumbled once and that was it, she was done. Smart girl.

Caleb mostly climbed up and down the stairs the whole time we were there. I had to wave every time he made it back up to me.

He did manage to sneak out onto the ice once or twice but after he fell flat on his belly and ice got all up in his shirt, he didn't try it again. He was not impressed.

I either didn't pay attention the last time we were at the Galleria, or they've added it since we were there last but The Rainforest Cafe was calling to the kids from the minute we got there. Actually before we even got into the mall, they saw the sign hanging where we parked. Reading has ruined everything. We can't spell things and get away with it and we can't act like we don't know what something says anymore.

I'm glad we went though, they brought Emmy a birthday volcano (VOOOOOOOOLLLLCANO!!) and sang to her. She was so cute.

The Children's Museum

We spent the first day of our "Great Spring Break Tour of 2010" at the Children's Museum in Houston. If you've never been, go. It's awesome, we should have done it a long time ago. We spent about three hours there and didn't get to see everything, and there is something for everybody no matter what age.

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Our first stop was Kidtropolis, a kid sized town with a bank, HEB, police/ambulance station, city hall, restaurant, news station, vet clinic. You name it and it was there.

The kids shopped and rang each other up at the Kidtropolis HEB...

created masterpieces in the art studio...

cooked for us and for each other in the kid cafe...

took care of animals in the vet clinic...

pretended to haul prisoners in the popo car...

took care of each other in the ambulance...

learned about molecules and DNA and stuff that bored the crap out of me but held their (and Basil's) interest...

painted their faces...

I seriously don't know what look Jacob was going for (with the face paint AND his "smile") but if it was the doof look he was going for, he pulled it off.

played all sorts of different instruments (notice Caleb's tongue, it was like that ALL day. He does that when he's concentrating or really interested in something)...

made ramps and watched balls race down...

There was also a whole area just for Caleb. Tot Town or something like that. Nobody over 3 was allowed in and there was tons for him to do/climb on/slide down. He really enjoyed it.

Basil took this picture and I think it's my favorite from the whole set. I love the how he captured Caleb's reflection in the flower petal and the lighting is really cool.

They have a whole outdoor water area but it was sort of cool so we didn't even go outside. Maybe we'll try to go back in the summer sometime and start with the things that we missed this time around.