Spring Break 2017!

Spring Break with a 3 year old isn’t quite the same as it was in my college days but we decided to take Forest’s week off of preschool and crash at my parents’ beach condo in Perdido Key. We broke the 10 hour drive into two legs, stopping at my parents' 2nd home in Lafayette on the way down. My brother and his girlfriend also came in for the night to spend some time with Master F which was a nice treat. 

My mom and I left the next morning with the plan to stop in Baton Rouge so she could swing by to see my Grandpa and I could have lunch or coffee with my BFF April. Traffic was so crazy that it ended up taking us 2.5 hours to get from Lafayette to BR (roughly 60 miles of mostly interstate) which kind of thwarted our plans. Still we needed to eat and let Forest run some sillies out so my mom dropped me off at Zoe’s to meet April for a quick bite and then took F to my Pawpaw’s house just up the road. 

We got back on the road at about 2 and continued to face pockets of Spring Break traffic all the way to Florida. All those darn Texans congesting the road!!! 
 
After a two long days of traveling, we were ready to relax but the weather had different plans. It was pretty rainy, windy, and chilly  the first two days of our trip. 

On Day One we went to the Aviation Museum at the Naval Air Base and it was awesome! Not only did they have tons of interesting planes (the first one to fly around the world, George Bush's WWII plane, Nazi and Japanese jets, etc) but they had a plethora of hands on equipment for the little one’s to enjoy.

#41's plane

Forest had a blast pretending to drive the helicopters and flighter jets. That coupled with watching Disney’s Planes in my mom’s suburban on the trip there made him come home saying that planes are the new trains. We’ll see how long that lasts. You can see we’ve already gone ‘all in’ on the train obsession so fat chance he ends up with a similar plane collection. 

Anyhoo, it was the perfect way to spend a yucky morning and I was so impressed with the museum! We will be making a return trip next time for sure. The rain held off that evening so we went for a wee walk on the beach. 

Scottish born lad has no hesitation about getting in freezing cold water.

Oh yea, Forest can write his name now! Had fun practicing in the sand. Such a big boy!

The next day was even worse weather-wise but luckily my in-laws were at their condo (which has an indoor pool) just up the road from my parents so we shipped Forest off for a morning with them. Of course, once he got there he only wanted to play with the train set they brought so didn't get in the pool at all. 

That evening we had a DVD movie night and finally got to watch Moana! 

Forest liked it but was super scared of the lava monster and would run out of the room screaming anytime it showed up on the screen. He would stand around the corner until we told him it was safe to come back in, but man that lava monster just kept on coming back! 

By the third day of our trip the rain was clearing out but the temperatures were dropping even lower. It certainly wasn’t the warm sunny beach vacation I packed for! Jonathan’s parents wanted to take Forest to the Foley Train Museum and the Gulf Shores Zoo so we spent the morning on those outings. 

The train museum was a huge hit of course. They had an incredible display of model trains in a very detailed town. 
 
 
James from Thomas& Friends was one of the trains on the track so of course that was a huge hit for Forest. He could have spent all day just watching the trains going on their routes. They also had big trains outside that they could go in and explore as well as a mini steam train they could climb in. 

Next we went to the zoo and it was packed! Lots of spring breakers who also found it too cold and windy to enjoy the beach or the pool. We didn’t get to spend much time there since we were running up on F’s naptime but Forest enjoyed the animals he got to see. 

The next few days were heavy on sunshine but in the 30s and 40s most of the time. That’s cold y’all! I seriously didn’t even know Florida got that cold. Of course it was in the 70s back in Texas. Eye roll. My dad wanted to take Forest bike riding on the great trails they have across the border in Alabama and my mom and I tagged along to do some dog walking while they rode. 

 
I still think it’s the coolest thing ever that we can now take our 3 year old bike riding. He is such a pro now.  He was a big hit with all the other cyclists and walkers and everyone we passed made a comment about how good he was riding. He still doesn’t do so well with the rules of the road or listening in general which is one of the pitfalls of teaching a 3 year old to do something they can physically yet maybe not cognitively master yet. 

The great thing about this trail was it was super wide and not very populated and nowhere near vehicular traffic. I really wish we had something similar in The Woodlands. We have so many trails but most run alongside the road and cross several roads on all of our routes. He’s getting so much better at keeping a good pace and stopping at every stop sign but occasionally he’ll blow through a stop sign claiming ‘well there weren’t any cars coming!’. He’s still learning…. 

He took a big honking nap that afternoon so we didn’t do much else that day other than heading downstairs to try to get some pictures of Forest and the beach around sunset. Unfortunately he ran into the freezing cold ocean before the sunset actually happened and it was still really bright outside but I still got a few cute shots. 

I’m still learning…. 

The next day was Jonathan’s parents turn to take Forest bike riding and they brought a bike along for me to join them. It was a beautiful day and a smidge warmer than the day before but still pretty darn cold! 

Warm enough for an alligator spotting and a 40 minute bike ride. I’m curious as to how long Forest could ride his bike if we just let him go. He didn’t show any signs of being tired on this occasion and didn’t feel the need for a nap afterward. It’s not fair that my 3 year old has better endurance than me. No wonder I feel so tired all the time! 

Without a nap we were all pretty lazy that afternoon so I think we just played trains and watched Planes (again) and then went to dinner with Jon’s parents that evening at a gorgeous restaurant on the water, Shipp’s Harbor Grille. 

The next day was our last full day on Spring Break and luckily it was great weather! We still needed long sleeves but as long as we were in the sun it felt great. We decided to use the opportunity to finally take my dad’s boat out. 

Since it was St. Patrick’s day we went boating for cocktails and felt pretty darn lucky to see some incredible dolphins along the way. I’d never seen wild dolphins so close. 

They were touching the boat at one point and jumping up to where all we had to do was reach out to touch them. We decided out of respect not to actually pet them, but it was still a thrill! 

They stayed with us for a good 5 minutes just swimming around our boat and showing off for us. I call Forest my little dolphin and he’s in the ‘dolphin’ classroom at preschool so he was pretty excited to see them so close too! 

We ate lunch to the Tiki Bar and then boated back to the condo for naptime. 

Forest woke up with terrible sunburn! I felt like such a bad mom. He was wearing his hat most of the time on the boat and then I didn’t think to apply sunscreen for lunch even though we ate outside. Those little sunkissed cheeks were adorable though and didn’t seem to bother him at all so I’m hoping it wasn’t too bad of a burn. He didn’t peel or anything. 

After nap, my parents headed out to the Luke Bryan concert at The Wharf while Forest and I finally enjoyed some warmer temperatures on the beach. Funny story- the two afternoons I brought him down to the beach in his cold weather gear and instructed him not to go in the water, he ran straight in. The day I put him in a bathing suit and old him it was ok to get his legs wet, he stayed totally dry. 

That sand is a real bummer though. If I lived on a beach it would drive me crazy! It was everywhere. 

The next morning I went for one last sunrise run on the beach before we packed up the car and headed to Lafayette. 

We broke up the trip again and got back to Houston Sunday around naptime…though he actually hasn’t napped nearly at all since so…..that’s a different post for a different day but I blame you, Daylight Savings Time!

Go Texan

It's Rodeo time in Houston which means there have been no shortage of Texas themed events going on around town. For a kid who spent most of his life in the breathtakingly beautiful state of California, it took no time at all for Forest to be indoctrinated with the 'Texas forever' mindset. 

Many of you know that Forest is our little geography whiz and knows most of his US states, but if you ask him which is his favorite or where he'd like to travel 'Texas' is his answer every single time. I seriously don't know where he gets it from but at the risk of getting deported out of "God's country" I swear it's not happening at home! Most of my time I wistfully wax on about the beauty of Scotland, the weather of California and the culture of Louisiana. 

In fact, his 'Go Texan' week at school was during Mardi Gras so on Monday I dressed him in Louisiana/Mardi Gras gear and on Wednesday I put him in his Lake Tahoe shirt. 

 
By the end of the week I felt a little guilty and I finally caved and bought him a Houston Astros shirt for his official rodeo day on Friday. 

That's the best I could do. Admittedly, cowboys are not really his thing at this moment in time so I doubt he'd wear a hat and boots even if I wanted him to. I actually would love to take him to the rodeo at some point because it really is one of the best cultural events in Texas and I think he'd love it and would probably be pretty darn good at mutton busting.  

Here's some cute footage of him being his shy self at the Rodeo night sing-a-long at preschool. (He's in the very California-esque outfit of jean shorts and yellow jacket with natives. He's also the only kid not making pig noises.)

I was actually shocked that he left my side and went up when they asked all the kids to come forward, but guitar dude is crazy if he thinks Forest is gonna humiliate himself by acting like a pig in front of an audience. Also, Forest isn't lying about being pretty clean at home. Another thing that I'm not sure where it came from but he's pretty compliant about picking up after himself. Maybe this is one of those traits that skips a generation? The other day he asked me 'Is anyone coming over or can I get my toys out?' Ha! Sweet sweet Texas-loving boy.

Office Remodel

Our neighborhood is about 15 years old, right at that age where the houses are starting to look outdated. We were lucky that the family who owned the house before us did a lot of updating so the house was nearly move in ready when we got the keys. We changed some of the light fixtures and other than that, the only room we were unhappy with was the office. While it was fine by classic Texas standards, all that wood and midnight blue paint was a bit dark and dungeon-y for me. 

Since I'm the one who uses it as an office the most, we decided to give it a facelift and soften it up a bit. We painted the cabinets, molding, and walls and replaced the desktop with a granite counter. 

 I was super nervous when the contractors started working on the cabinets because at least two of them came to me and asked: "Miss, did you know that the paint is green?'. It had me second guessing my color choices for sure. But what can i say? I am a green kind of girl. I always gravitate to earthy tones and love my parents' sagey green kitchen cabinets which is where I got the idea for our office.   

We still need to get a rug, put in new hardware and hang some wall art but I'm very happy with the way it's turning out!

Touch-A-Truck

A few weekends ago there was an event held in The Woodlands called Touch-a-Truck. Basically for a morning, trucks of all shapes and sizes took over the parking at one of the major parks and children were allowed to climb all over them. 

The first hour was ‘sensory-sensitive’ without lights and noise which I thought was awesome. Forest isn’t on the spectrum but he’s shy and sensitive so we appreciated the gesture and went early. Forest was in hog heaven and star struck at all the emergency vehicles. 

He loved pretending to drive though he got very annoyed that all of the trucks were missing their keys. As it started to get crowded he definitely got a little overwhelmed so we stopped for a snack and let him pick one more truck to sample before calling it a day. By this time there were long lines for all the heavy hitters (fire truck, garbage trucks, police cars, etc) but Forest surprised us and waited patiently in line for his turn in the garbage truck. The man working at this station was so kind and good with the kids. He was a pro at getting them to look up for that perfect photo op and even let them toot the horn. 

It was a great event and a huge hit for this vehicle-obsessed 3 year old boy!