Watch Out Parkside!

Both Simmons boys started their new year this morning with Parkside Elementary! Grant is in 1st grade this year with Ms. Paulsen. Beckett is starting Kindergarten (yikes!) and has Mrs. Schneider (Grant's teacher last year.)

Last Thursday we had Meet the Teacher. Both boys were beside themselves with excitement. I was nervous as all get out to see who their teachers were going to be. I have some reservations about Beckett being placed with Mrs. Schneider. She is strict. Beckett likes to push the limits. At Meet the Teacher she seemed genuinely excited to have him in class and he was very excited - HUGE hugs. And his best buddy Greyson is in class with him. Hopefully they will find a way to balance his exuberant personality and her orderly classroom.

Grant was very serious about the night and ready to get down to the business of learning. He chose a desk at the front of the room so he could "get in the most learning possible."

 For Meet the Teacher and Kinder orientation, Beckett's Kindergarten group made tye-dye tees. Easy to spot in a crowd and easy to find your friends. :-) Grant's group made them last summer.

 Grant wanted to look nice for his new teacher - not that you can tell from this goofy photo! 

Beck and Greyson. Not sure why Beckett looks like this. He has been bugging out in pictures lately.

And today was the first day of school. Both of the boys were VERY ready. I cried a bit, but not too badly. :-) Looking at the pictures I realize that I didn't get too many of Grant and it's because he really just wanted to get to his desk and get to learning!

 I really like this one for some reason.

 Typical goofballs...hugging the tree for some reason.

 I have one of Grant and Roger last year. :-)

 Walking up to school.

 Mr GQ himself! :-)

 Grant reading his morning message before going into class.

 Beckett settling into his new classroom.

Beck and Greyson at after a long first day - Beckett even lost one of his shirts! :-)

Fun Trip to Houston

Roger had a conference in downtown Houston, so the kids and I decided to make it into a mini-vacation. We visited with the Kelleys for a couple of days and then spent the night in the hotel one night.

First up - Fishing with Uncle Randy!

There is a great little pond near Amy and Randy's house - stocked full of fish and turtles. This time out we only caught one fish, but there were plenty of turtles and the weather was great!

New Trampoline Place!
The next day both Amy and Randy had to work, so the kids and I packed up and went to a trampoline place Amy recommended. The boys had a great time and jumped out a lot of energy!

Here they are hanging with the "big" kids. Grant played on the dodgeball court pretty much the entire time - fully enjoying playing with the older boys. In this picture Grant is in the plain blue and Beckett is kicking it against the trampoline

 

Amy was able to get out of work early (YAY!) so we went to one of the many pools in the Woodlands. This one had 3 waterslides - the boys were in heaven! Amy and I were able to perfect the picture of them shooting out the end of the slide. Their faces are priceless!

 

Science, Waterfalls, and Sparkling Volcanoes
The next day Amy and I took the boys to the Houston Science museum. The museum was so much fun - the boys were truly amazed by the dinosaurs, geodes, and butterflies.

First stop of the day was Pure! - the smoothie shop where Drew works and is Assistant Manager! Yay Drew!

Then we headed downtown. As soon as we entered the museum there was a dinosaur with a saddle strapped on his back. Heck yea!

Once we made it into the museum, our first stop had to be the dinosaur exhibit. I felt like a kid again looking at all the skeletons - truly awe-inspiring! Beckett learned a new word - EXTINCT! and he kept telling us - these are all EXTINCT! He was very expressive with that word. Grant wanted to read all the plaques and compare. :-)

The boys loved this one. There were 2 human skeletons being tossed around by the mammoth. You can kind of see one of the skeletons in the upper right corner of the picture.

Such a cute pic! Beckett loved this "little guy"

Prehistoric armadillo being attacked by a super-cat

Pre-historic sloth - never seen one of these! 

This was classic Beckett! The museum was laid out in a sort of maze...each era behind a corner or partician. Beckett walked around the corner, saw this dinosaur shark jaw and yelled "YOU HAVE GOT TO BE KIDDING ME!"

Dino-sea turtle!

** Story I forgot to tell **

When we were in the dinosaur exhibit, there was a series of cases showing the evolution of the human skull - small to big...ancient to today. Amy and I explained it to the boys, talking about bigger brains, better tools etc. As we were leaving the exhibit, I realized Beckett wasn't with us. I turned around to be angry with him and instead I got a big proud lump in my throat - he was holding hands with a little 3 year old boy and was explaining the cases to him, pointing out the differences and teaching him everything he just learned. Sigh.....

After a quick lunch, we headed into the butterfly/insect area. I have to admit that I had serious doubts about the butterfly exhibit. I had visions of Beckett wreaking havoc. But he did a great job and actually really enjoyed seeing the butterflies upclose - observing how they drink nectar, floating through the air. It was just a magical place and I am so glad Amy insisted on it. :-)

Kids checking out all the different kinds of butterflies we would see.

Beckett was the first one chosen by the butterflies. I think we all had one on us at one point.

Checking out the butterflies sipping nectar.

After we left the museum, I packed up 2 VERY tired boys and headed to the hotel. Roger got out of his conference as we arrived. We went for a walk outside to check out an amazing waterfall/fountain. The water in this fountain made me incredibly dizzy. I guess it was the concave shape combined with the dizzing height and the water going in all different directions. I am hoping the video gives you an idea of how amazing it is...

For dinner, the boys chose Rainforest Cafe. If you have been there...enough said. :-)

Roger surprised the kids with an "exploding" brownie volcano.

We had an amazing time! We didnt make it to the zoo or Children's Museum -- we will be back Kelleys!