Of course the ice shut down the city. Schools were closed, and I worked from home, but it ended up being kind of fun. We turned on the fireplace, and the kids made the best of what we got and had fun eating the ice.
Friday, January 31, 2014
Polar vortex
Not even Houston was immune from the recent "polar vortex" and we had a couple days of freezing weather recently. Olivia and Carmen were really hoping for snow, but the best the weather could throw our way was a little ice.
Of course the ice shut down the city. Schools were closed, and I worked from home, but it ended up being kind of fun. We turned on the fireplace, and the kids made the best of what we got and had fun eating the ice.
Of course the ice shut down the city. Schools were closed, and I worked from home, but it ended up being kind of fun. We turned on the fireplace, and the kids made the best of what we got and had fun eating the ice.
Tuesday, January 28, 2014
Car show
I really wanted to go to the car show this year (has it really been 4 years since last time?), so despite the fact that none of us were at full health we drove to Reliant Park. We got lucky and found this parking spot right in front (ha ha).
The kids were pretty excited at first, and all went in different directions to get into all the cars they could find.
It soon became one of those days when I am acutely aware of how many young kids I have. I was in charge of Damon, and I lost him a couple times as he darted from one car to the next. Luckily, they had a kids area, so Amber and I took turns watching the kids there while the other went out for some precious alone time.
The show itself was very good. All the major carmakers were there, plus there were lots of exotic and classic cars to drool over. My personal favorite was this Jaguar F-Type.
It costs as much as a small house, but who worries about that kind of thing? Actually, as much as I like to dream, the more I looked at the nice cars, the more I don't think I could ever justify the price, even for a nice car in my price range. When it's time for my current car to go, don't be surprised if you see me in cheap mid-size sedan.
Amazingly, we were able to see pretty much everything, but everyone was very ready to go home by the time we were done. I'm looking forward to going again in another four years for a slightly less stressful visit.
The kids were pretty excited at first, and all went in different directions to get into all the cars they could find.
It soon became one of those days when I am acutely aware of how many young kids I have. I was in charge of Damon, and I lost him a couple times as he darted from one car to the next. Luckily, they had a kids area, so Amber and I took turns watching the kids there while the other went out for some precious alone time.
The show itself was very good. All the major carmakers were there, plus there were lots of exotic and classic cars to drool over. My personal favorite was this Jaguar F-Type.
It costs as much as a small house, but who worries about that kind of thing? Actually, as much as I like to dream, the more I looked at the nice cars, the more I don't think I could ever justify the price, even for a nice car in my price range. When it's time for my current car to go, don't be surprised if you see me in cheap mid-size sedan.
Amazingly, we were able to see pretty much everything, but everyone was very ready to go home by the time we were done. I'm looking forward to going again in another four years for a slightly less stressful visit.
Tuesday, January 21, 2014
Hike in the woods
We took advantage of a mild weekend to hike some trails in the local forest park.
I got bored of the paved trail, so I took the three older kids to explore a dry gully. It was much more exciting.
The gully led to the playground, where the kids took a short break.
Then it was back to the trails, where we found a stump throne.
It was nice a nice, mosquito-less day, but too soon the kids reached their limit and it was time to head out for some lunch.
I got bored of the paved trail, so I took the three older kids to explore a dry gully. It was much more exciting.
The gully led to the playground, where the kids took a short break.
Then it was back to the trails, where we found a stump throne.
It was nice a nice, mosquito-less day, but too soon the kids reached their limit and it was time to head out for some lunch.
Saturday, January 11, 2014
Miles the mover
I've made several allusions in past posts to Miles's increased mobility. Well here's some video proof, a veritable "best-of" where you can see him coo, crawl, sit up, bite, drool and even spit up.
He is constantly trying to go, go, go. We find him all over the house. Nothing under 2 feet is safe, including sleeping mothers.
Oh, did I mention he's been able to pull himself to a stand for quite a while now? Amber is in denial.
He is constantly trying to go, go, go. We find him all over the house. Nothing under 2 feet is safe, including sleeping mothers.
Oh, did I mention he's been able to pull himself to a stand for quite a while now? Amber is in denial.
Wednesday, January 08, 2014
Christmas vacation
After Christmas I had the rest of the year off of work and it was fun to just spend some time at home playing with the kids and relaxing. I tried to have at least one big activity each day, with lots of other little things along the way.
The day after Christmas we went out front and the girls tried out their new scooters. They did pretty well, but I think Amber and I had more fun riding them than they did.
The next day my big activity was cleaning up the lawn, the day after that we all went bowling. One day we took down all the Christmas decorations, on another we went to the park.
In my spare time I played Sorry and Apples to Apples with the kids, and Lego Batman 2 with Amber. It was also nice to be able to stay up late and watch a few movies together. We watched The Great Gatsby, The Wolverine, and Hugo, and liked all of them.
I also had time to relax with a couple books (A Brief History of Time by Stephen Hawking, and Brainiac, by Ken Jennings), start learning a new Chopin piece on the piano, and take apart the digital piano to figure out why one of the speakers kept going out. It turned out to be a broken solder joint (see picture) which I was able to solder back together good as new.
The highlight of the break was the date Amber took me on. She had gotten it in her mind recently that we needed to go ice skating, so she found someone to watch the kids and I took her to the Galleria Mall, where there's a small ice skating rink. I was a little apprehensive because I had never been ice skating, but was pleasantly surprised at how quickly I got comfortable. The hardest part ended up being dodging all the slow people.
For New Year's Eve we stayed home and watched a bad movie together, one of our old favorites, The Giant Gila Monster, then enjoyed some Martinelli's and a cheese ball. It was hard to keep the paparazzi away.
Our last big activity was going to Houston Zoo Lights. Around Christmas they put up something like 3.5 million lights all around the zoo.
It was kind of cold, so the kids weren't as enthusiastic as they could have been, but Amber and I enjoyed it.
Eventually I had to go back to work, which coincided with a hard freeze (and the accompanying freak out around here) to make it that much more miserable. It was difficult to adjust at first, but the weather is back in the 50s and I'm back in the swing of things, ready for a new year!
The day after Christmas we went out front and the girls tried out their new scooters. They did pretty well, but I think Amber and I had more fun riding them than they did.
The next day my big activity was cleaning up the lawn, the day after that we all went bowling. One day we took down all the Christmas decorations, on another we went to the park.
In my spare time I played Sorry and Apples to Apples with the kids, and Lego Batman 2 with Amber. It was also nice to be able to stay up late and watch a few movies together. We watched The Great Gatsby, The Wolverine, and Hugo, and liked all of them.
I also had time to relax with a couple books (A Brief History of Time by Stephen Hawking, and Brainiac, by Ken Jennings), start learning a new Chopin piece on the piano, and take apart the digital piano to figure out why one of the speakers kept going out. It turned out to be a broken solder joint (see picture) which I was able to solder back together good as new.
The highlight of the break was the date Amber took me on. She had gotten it in her mind recently that we needed to go ice skating, so she found someone to watch the kids and I took her to the Galleria Mall, where there's a small ice skating rink. I was a little apprehensive because I had never been ice skating, but was pleasantly surprised at how quickly I got comfortable. The hardest part ended up being dodging all the slow people.
For New Year's Eve we stayed home and watched a bad movie together, one of our old favorites, The Giant Gila Monster, then enjoyed some Martinelli's and a cheese ball. It was hard to keep the paparazzi away.
Our last big activity was going to Houston Zoo Lights. Around Christmas they put up something like 3.5 million lights all around the zoo.
It was kind of cold, so the kids weren't as enthusiastic as they could have been, but Amber and I enjoyed it.
Eventually I had to go back to work, which coincided with a hard freeze (and the accompanying freak out around here) to make it that much more miserable. It was difficult to adjust at first, but the weather is back in the 50s and I'm back in the swing of things, ready for a new year!
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