Git Yourself to Gator Country!

For our twelfth anniversary Benjamin and I loaded up the boys and headed down I-10 for a morning filled with all things gators!

Monster Jam 2019

Saturday morning the first thing Truman said when he woke up was, "Is it time to go to Monster Jam?" 😍 He had been counting down the days!

Magical Winter Lights

An add on my Instagram feed caught my eye one evening when I was scrolling.  It was for the Magical Winter Lights.  I clicked the link and within seconds of being on the site knew that it was something festive that our family would enjoy.  I showed it to Benjamin and we made a plan to make the drive to La Marque after Winston's last day of school for Christmas break.    

We left our side of town at 5 PM and made a stop at IHOP on the south side of Houston for some grub.  Our family loves a good dinner of breakfast foods!  By the time we arrived at the Gulf Greyhound Park, it was completely dark outside and perfect for looking that the lights!  

Houston Zoo Lights 2018

The boys and I took our annual trip to see the Houston Zoo Lights during their member's preview weekend.  This Zoo Lights event is one of the first things that we do to kick off the holiday season.  We decorate the wagon with Christmas lights and dress the boys in Christmas jammies.  The weather had turned cooler so we grabbed some blankets to bundle up with!  Benjamin was out of town so my Mom accompanied us for her first Zoo Lights experience!  

Strawberry Picking at Froberg's!

There are maybe two or three weeks in Houston each Spring that are perfect for being outside, where the sun is shining but it's not too hot, a breeze is blowing but it's not too cold.  When these weeks happen, I aim to take full advantage of being outside with the buds.

One activity that we all enjoy doing together is strawberry picking!  I have memories of helping my grandparents pick fruit and vegetables from their garden when we would be home for the summers.  Since I don't have a green thumb {God bless Vera my Aloe plant who is hanging with me!}, finding pick your own places around town takes me back to those days and allows the kids to experience the joy of reaping a harvest!  Strawberry picking is fun for all ages and at the end you leave with a bucket full of delicious goodies.

The boys and I, along with my Mom, ventured down to Froberg's Farm in Alvin.  They have a store full of homegrown vegetables, a bakery with the softest cookies, they sell barbecue and tamales.  After parking, everyone must walk through the store.  Here the buckets are purchased for $1.25 {you can bring them back year after year!} and tokens are 12 for $15.  Tokens are used for duck races, cannon shooting, and tractor rides!  You pay for the strawberries that you picked as you leave the store.  They are $3 a pound.    

Truman loved picking strawberries!  He was very diligent to show me every.single.strawberry he walked by! 😂  He was also a professional at telling me what color each berry was and proudly filled his bucket with the bright red ones!

After picking, we ventured over to the section of the field containing the games.  The boys both enjoyed the duck races {1 token each} and the tractor ride {3 tokens each}.  Winston loved the corn shooter!  For this time of the year instead of corn, tennis balls get shot out of the cannon.  This was 3 tokens for 3 tennis balls.

We had a fabulous time and left with three buckets full of scrumptious berries!  To ensure that we put them to good use, I made my first batch of homemade strawberry jelly and let's be honest, I was surprised at how tasty it turned out!  😂

Tips for Visiting Froberg's

• Check the website for availability.  Each day Froberg's website will let you know if they are open, listing the hours and availability of the berries.  
• Take cash.  While they can take credit card payments, cash is an easier form of payment for buckets and tokens.  
• Take along water.  It's easy to work up a thirst with all the picking you + your family will do!
• Go early.  We arrived at about 10:15 and there was still open parking spots.  We weren't overrun with other families.  We enjoyed a leisurely time picking and the activities as well.  
• Try the cookies!  Both of the buds were a little snacky and the cookies were deeeelicious!
• Bring a wagon.  If you have multiple littles or plan on picking bushels and bushels of berries, I would suggest bringing a wagon along to help with the aid of transporting everything to and from the fields.  Strollers are another great option too!
• There are bathrooms inside the store.

Weekend Recap: Los Trompos + Brickfest

Saturday morning started like usual with donuts and hash browns.  Then we loaded up in Kermit and headed downtown to our first big event of the weekend: BrickFest!  The event took place at George R. Brown so we parked by Discovery Green since it was a beautiful morning and enjoyed the Los Trompos exhibit.  It's these really awesomely colorful structures that spin around and around.  Winston had a blast riding them!

Benjamin may have gotten a little dizzy from all of the pushing he was doing at the request of this little happy buddy!  But I give him mad props for snapping this photo of Winston and I while the top was moving!  It's quickly becoming one of my favorite pictures ever.  

We continued our adventure into BrickFest and was pleasantly surprised with the event.  There was a Duplo building area, a place to build a car and then race it, a place to build a picture and ...

 ...and Winston's favorite: Mini Golf!!  The kid loved mini golf!  Every time he put the ball in the hole he would exclaim, "GOAL!" 

It was getting to be lunch time so we headed to Midtown to try out a new to us lunch spot: Natachee's.  Everything was very tasty!  The fried pickles hit the spot and Winston's chicken nuggets came in an lunch box!  I highly recommend this spot for lunch if you're in the area - especially if you have kiddos!

The afternoon consisted of family nap time and this little monkey sneaking a few donut holes before dinner!  

The boys put together some minifigures and Winston played doctor performing lots of check ups on Truman!

Winston is super cute when it comes to Truman.  He puts his hand on my belly, gives it squeezes and tells him that he loves him.  I have mixed feelings about Truman's arrival.  On one hand I am ready for him to be here so we can move onto settling into our new routines.  And on the other, I am not ready soaking up my one on one time with Winston.  What I do know is that when he gets here, Truman will be one well loved little guy!  

Berry Picking at Moorhead's Blueberry Farm

I put berry picking as an item on our summer bucket list because it seemed like an activity that Winston would really get into and enjoy.  After doing a little web search, I came across Moorhead's Blueberry Farm.  It was the closest pick your own place to where we live and open on the weekends.  The weather was calling for rain {and it had rained that morning} but we were all set for any situation as we packed our wellies to come along!

The farm itself is set waaaaay back off the main road.  As we were driving in the middle of what seemed like dirt and sand mounds we kept seeing car after car coming the opposite direction.  We were pleasantly surprised to see how busy it was when we pulled into the parking lot.  Moorhead's has quite a wonderful, organized operation!  Upon arrival you receive a bucket {small or large} and are told which field has the best berries for picking.  However you are allowed to go anywhere you please!  

Bucket in hand, we traipsed off to follow the yellow flags to where the berry picking was best for that day!

Despite there being a good many people there, we found a row that was empty and ripe for the picking.  Winston was adorable in his enthusiasm for finding and picking the little blue berries.  

"Oh, they are so cute!" and "These are so shiny!" he would exclaim.

"Look, Mommy!  There are more blueberries!!  Don't get them Mommy.  I pick them."

"Look Mommy!  Here some for you to pick."

"Over here Daddy!  I found them!"

And our all time favorite one of the day:

"These are just perfect for my treasure chest!!"

Winston had a great eye for finding the blueberries.  And because we have been watching a heap-ton of Jake the Pirate lately, he was full into pretending we were on a treasure hunt!

This is Winston's concentration face.  I am in love with this face.  When he is extremely focused on the task at hand, this is the face he gets.  Winston was very careful to only pick the ripe berries and some how managed not to squish a single one!  He has fierce concentration and gently hands, two things I'm proud to say he gets from his Daddy.

Speaking of, aren't they just the cutest?  

About halfway through our time out picking, it started to drizzle.  We really didn't mind because to us, getting a little sprinkled was better than sweating in 100 degree Texas weather!  After forty-five minutes or so of picking, our tummies were rumbling so we took that as a sign to head to the car.

{Caught mid "Blueberries!"}

Once back at the front, Winston proudly handed his bucket to the man working the counter.  They dumped his berries into a bag and weighted them.  The cost of berries at Moorhead's is $2.50/lb.  They accept cash and checks only.  We happily went on our way with a little over 1.5 pounds of blueberries!

We had a wonderful time together enjoying the great outdoors and a fun activity not far from home.  Winston had such a good time, I guarantee that we will be going back!  

If you are planning a visit to Moorhead's here are a few things I suggest to bring along:

• Cash
• Cooler {to keep your berries fresh on the ride home}
• Wellies {if it has rained or going to rain}
• Wagon {There were quite a few families with multiple kids who brought a wagon to wheel the kiddos and their buckets around in}
• Water & snacks
• Camera
• Bug spray

Now, does anyone have any great recipes that call for blueberries?!  :)

Houston Zoobilee

Happy Monday, fabulous folks!  Our weekend was quite full of great events, one of them being the Houston Zoobilee, a members appreciation event at the Houston Zoo.  We have been zoo members for a few years now but this was our first venture out to Zoobilee.  The two-day event happens after the zoo closes for the day.  Since Benjamin teaches on Fridays just around the corner from the zoo, Winston and I drove down to meet him for this fun, new adventure!

Each kiddo was presented with a map and a passport that had five different spots to get stamps after visiting specific animals.  Winston did a great job taking his passport to the volunteers and was always proud to show us what the stamp was!

One of the stops on the Passport was the Ring-tailed Lemurs.  I have loved lemurs since I was in middle school.  Their tails are fabulous and their movements just fascinate me.  Since the weather was a little bit cooler {for Houston} and the sun wasn't beating down, all of the animals were quite active making for some great watching.

We ate dinner right next to the duck pond.  Winston loved watching the ducks swim up and would exclaim, "I see a turtle!" every time one of them popped their heads out of the water.  He is taking after his Daddy with a fascination of turtles.

For us, no visit to the zoo is complete without a stop to see the giraffes.  For this event they had the giraffe feeding open for two hours ensuring that anyone who wanted to feed the gentle creatures would have the opportunity to do so.  Benjamin had not yet fed the giraffes with Winston so together they fed Miles the Giraffe!  

All throughout the zoo there were different activities for the kiddos: coloring, music, bounce houses, mazes!  Everyone who attended was treated to a free ice cream with a cherry on top!

Our last visit was to see Jonathan the Lion and as soon as he had this massive yawn we too decided to call it a day.  It was such fun to be able to enjoy the animals after hours and soak up the beautiful evening!

As we were leaving, each kiddo was given a color book at some grrrroooovy glasses!  This is how Winston felt about his time at Zoobilee!

Thanks Houston Zoo!

Houston Art Car Parade 2015

The Houston Art Car Parade is one of those quirky things that happens every year in Houston.  It's been going on for 28 years!  This year we made it downtown, claimed a great piece of parade watching real estate and cheered on over 250 cars and their drivers.  Winston loved seeing the parade and repeatedly exclaimed, "Look at that one!" each time a new car came into view.  Even though at the start of the week the forecast was a ninety percent chance of rain, the weather turned out to be perfect for sitting outside enjoying art on wheels and the company of sweet friends!

This guy's tail feathers moved up and down as it drove along the parade route!

 This car was called the Peep Jeep!  It had thousands of Peeps all over it!  

This is just a smattering of the creativity that we saw that day.  We look forward to next year Houston Art Car Parade!!