Love at First Bite

Like a frozen Almond Joy. 

Made with Coconut milk, but no coconut flavor.                                 Chocolaty Coconuty. 

 A Taste Sensation!!!

A Day at the Opera

Jon and I were so excited for this day! A few years ago at our annual Moab trip with my family, the movie of Phantom of the Opera was on TV and Collin loved it. We got home and dug out our CD and it has been a favorite ever since. At my sisters trip to NYC we went to see it on Broadway (for me it was in honor of Collin). So, when we found out it was coming to Houston we HAD to go! We got there early and walked around a bit and had to have a picture by this sculpture that reminded me of Moab - birthplace of our love of "Phantom". 

A rare photo of all of us . . . (please no comments on my hair!)

We didn't tell the kids what we were doing so they were really surprised and excited when we told them. Although since we were out in public, they couldn't show it, of course. 

Midgie Moodles waiting for the boys . . . 

After the show. What a great Saturday!!

Field Trip Day

We had such a great day yesterday at the Houston Museum of Natural Science with our homeschool group. We were able to go see the Terra Cotta Warriors from China and it was amazing!

I couldn't take pictures and I got dragged through there at high speed by a 10 year old boy who wanted to see the swords and the mural of them chopping heads off, so I didn't get a lot of the history and interesting facts, but you can go here to read about them. The things we thought were so interesting is that: 1. they know where the Emperor is buried and that there are thousands more pits underground (they have only dug up a handful of the pits that are around the tomb) and yet they have been left alone for over 2 thousand years! 2. every single warrior is different - their faces are all unique. And 3. Each warrior takes over a year to put back together. It was fascinating. The thing the kids liked most though (other than the swords and gore) was the "real warrior" as Grace calls him or "the scaring man" as Collin calls him. This guy is part of the exhibit and travels with it. Talk about a fun job - he stands on his platform like a statue and waits for curious patrons to take a closer look and then frightens them by moving. The kids could have watched it all day. 

He walks around after and walks like he is made of clay. Amazing. Xie xie for the good time Mr. Warrior!

The New Midge

Before . . . 

After . . . 

Too busy running around twirling her new 'do to let me get a better picture now that it's dry. I'm sure more will come . . . 

Tennis = Dangerous Fun

The kids have started Tennis lessons and are loving it, for most part. A lot of their friends are there too, so they've had a good time. . . and the best part is, they're free!

Collin was very excited to learn that the girl he thinks is pretty divine signed up too. He is definitely Jon Bybee Jr. - 10 going on 17. When he's not hitting the ball, he's chattin' with the ladies. The blond girl in blue, Addison, is the girl-of-interest.  Also, an action shot. 

You've heard of Tennis elbow, but Grace has Tennis ear after she got hit with a racket. It looks so much worse in person. Poor Midge!!

These are a few . . .

Of my favorite things 

Sunscreen = the smell of fun in a bottle. You know if you're going to be using it, you're going to be having fun. (Especially the kind that smells coconuty - the BEST!)

Mmmm . . . Pineapple . . . sunshine for your mouth. 

The sound of waves makes my soul happy. 

Bigger and Better in Texas

Happy 4th of July!!! It is my second favorite holiday of the year and in my opinion, the best place to enjoy it is in Provo starting the day with the parade and ending it with fireworks with family bbq's in between. Unfortunately, we weren't in Provo, we couldn't find a parade to go to, there are always fire bans in Harris County and we have no family to have bbq's with,  but we DID go see the fireworks!

(Watching a pre-fireworks volleyball championship)

 It is usually so wet and muggy on the 4th that we've just watched them on TV, which is NOT the same. It's been so dry here, which also translates to less humid, so it was great. And since Houston is the 4th largest city in the U.S. I was always afraid of the crowds, but they were fine!

(waiting for the show to begin and looking so cheerful)

Houston has the largest "land-based" fireworks show in the nation (FYI) and without meaning to turn my back on my roots, it lived up to it's name!! It was only about 20 minutes long, but it was like a finale the whole time. It was so amazing, I didn't even think to take pictures!

The actual finale was so intense you could feel it down to your hair roots. There were quite a few that we had never even seen or heard. It. Was. Great. The kids said it was worth the 3 hour wait and hearing the ice cream truck next to us play the same song about 324 times. We've decided that if we can't get to Provo for the 4th next year, Houston just might be a great alternative!

Houston Oddities

We have been braving the record breaking heat to get out and see some the sites around town and getting us some culture. The first place we went is called the Beer Can House and we stumbled upon it when we took a wrong turn on our way to our favorite gelato place. We thought it was extremely cool. . . 

The guy who lived here, John Milkovisch, had lived here for 20 years when he decided to repave his driveway and put some marbles in it for decoration. He liked it so much he decided he'd do his whole yard like that and then he wouldn't have to mow his lawn any more. 

When John got that done, he decided to make use of the apparently many cans of beer that he drank, so he started cutting them up and using them for siding. He figured he'd never have to paint his house again. After he got that done (his wife told him the INside of the house was OFF limits) he decided to do a little decorating around the yard. . . 

Much to Johns surprise, after they had covered their house up, their electrical bill went down! Who knew? And no part of the can went to waste. He put the tops and pull tabs in chains hanging from the roof and it makes the prettiest sound in the wind. 

We decided to head to another Houston Landmark called the Orange Show next. Across the street there is a tall pillar with plaster cars all around it that the kids could have spent MUCH more time looking at if it hadn't been 105 degrees (thankfully it's not very humid because we have had NO rain). 

This place was interesting, but in a . . . Psycho sort of way. The guy that built this was obviously "out there" and had a peculiar love of oranges. You might even say he was obsessed with oranges and thought that if he built an amusement "park"/shrine for oranges that it would eclipse Disneyland in entertainment value. He was so sure that millions would come, that a month after it opened, and only a handful of people had come, he basically died of grief. 

It's got a Fun House maze-type feel . . . 

And there are mosaic sayings on all the walls having to do with oranges. So in the words of good ol' Jeff:

Life . . .

is interesting. These past few weeks have had some good news and some sad news: One friend finds out she's pregnant after years of infertility, another has a miscarriage halfway through her pregnancy, a brother of a friend (who is waiting for a heart transplant!) gets killed etc. I know all these things are for our good and experience but sometimes, it's just really hard and sad. Thank goodness there is some smooth road in between the bumps. 

Scout Day Camp '09

Well, we survived another year of Cub Scout Day Camp, I think. (I feel like I aged 15 or so years since last June. I don't remember being so tired at the end of Day Camp last year!!) We had a great time, did lot's of fun activities, learned new things and made new friends. Collin was a first year Webelo so he got to do a lot more this year than last. I went as a Webelos session leader, teaching and instructing them in some of their projects and belt loops and Grace got to go as a Sibling again and have fun all day.  Let's get on with the pictures . . . 

Collin making Mount Guacamole, based on Balanced Rock in Moab, but with much more foliage around it . . . 

Grace hogging the "trike" in the Siblings group. (I kept hearing, "Grace it's someone else's turn now!)

See Collin in the middle of the picture? The one in the black hat? (You can click on it to blow it up) This is his reaction when they pulled out the 5 foot rocket at the end of rocket launching. The kid loves explosives!

One of the leatherwork projects he did - a keychain. 

He loves archery, but doesn't have a great aim, so he gets frustrated. His new best friend Sean is next to him. They were inseparable! We found out at the end that he is LDS too. 

BB guns is Collins favorite part of day camp. He got the 2009 Jr. USA Shooting Team Patch by getting 45 points out of 50 on his target. 

We can't wait till next year!!