Last Day of Summer

I am back tracking a little bit to our last day of summer, 8/23. (School started three days ago.) Boogs spent the week before school started at my mom's house so I could work all week. He got to go visit museums, go swimming at the YMCA, go to the Blue Hole Regional Park, and other things. He had a great time but said he was a little bit homesick.

We decided to spend the last day of summer on a family outing to Main Event Entertainment for bowling, mini-golf, rock climbing, and laser tag. They offer special Summer Funpass tickets that let you do all of those things as many times as you want from 9 to 4.

We had a good time bowling. I remain the undisputed bowling champion of our family. :-) The lighting was very dark, I did not get any good pics.

 

Next, we went to the laser tag area. There were about 20 people waiting to play. Several times in the past, it was just the three of us in the laser tag arena. This was the first time we played on teams or with a crowd. It was fun. We were on the red team. I was the top point earner for the red team. Sadly, my score was half of the score of the top point earner on the blue team. The red team lost by a lot of points but it was still fun.

 Daddy, no fair shooting your own team members!

The mini-golf course was so dark that it was difficult to see the holes. The entire course is lit by black lights and there is glow in the dark paint on the walls and in the hole. My flash had to be bright to get this picture. Boogs told me I almost blinded him with the flash.

We spent an hour at the rock climbing wall. Boogs is a little monkey. He scaled the wall with ease. Me, not so much. The little toe I broke in May is still not completely healed. I attempted to climb the wall twice before I had to quit. It was fun watching Boogs and Daddy climb.

Boogs climbed up in several different spots and kept ringing the bells at the top of the wall.

 Daddy was a great climber, too.

Boogs and Daddy had to be very careful with their foot and hand placement to make it over this angled wall.

Boogs told me this is the only time he is going to turn and smile for the camera. It was a little bit scary up there.

 We also played a few video games before we left.

Main Event was a good place to spend a few hours on our last day of summer. It was too hot to be outside. We made it home in the middle of the afternoon. I spent the rest of the day cooking meals for my freezer in preparation for the school/work week.

Family Time at Main Event

Last Sunday, my husband suggested a family outing to Main Event. We took advantage of Main Event's Summer Fun Pass. The pass lets you have unlimited access (there are some wait times) to laser tag, mini-golf, rock climbing, and bowling for $15.95 each + bowling shoe rental. That is an incredible deal. We got there when they opened at 9 a.m. and pretty much had the place to ourselves.

 

Suiting up for laser tag. 

 

Glow-in-the-dark mini golf

 

Daddy was the first one to ring the bell.

 

Boogs was scared at first but then conquered his fear and climbed all the way up.

 

Boogs was very proud when he rang the bell at the top. Daddy was right behind him.

 

Boogs enjoy rappelling down the wall.

 

He was exhausted after climbing up and down for about 45 minutes.

 

Ready to bowl!

 

Go, ball, ball! Get me a strike!

 

Yes, I did win both games. Check out those strikes!

 

Boogs played a few video games. UFO Stomper is one of his favorites.

 

There was a tough round of competition for air hockey but Daddy was the champion.

We had a lot of fun at Main Event. It was nice for us to do something as a family. We missed Daddy while Boogs and I were on our camping trip.

Snake Farm Zoo

Last weekend we took a trip to New Braunfels to visit the Snake Farm Zoo. According to their website, it is now called Animal World & Snake Farm. I have driven past the Snake Farm many times and never stopped in. I thought they only had snakes and reptiles. I was completely surprised by the variety of animals in this zoo.

 

They did have an extensive collections of snakes and reptiles, including at least one each of the Top 10 most dangerous snakes in the world. The poisonous snakes were tightly secured in their cages. We were able to get up close and personal with Hercules, the giant white python. I have decided that I am not really a fan of snakes.

Boogs favorite animals to watch were the Prairie Dogs. They were extremely active and adorable. I think we watched them for at least half an hour.

My favorite animals to observe were the hyenas. Wow, are they swift. They can change direction in a split second while running full speed. They have one of the most powerful jaw pressure bites in the animal kingdom. Daddy said he liked the hyenas, too.

 

There were lots of other animals to see - camels, turkeys, Patagonian Cavy, and lions. The Cavy look kind of like overgrown rabbits but they are actually rodents closely relate to the guinea pig.

The petting zoo area was fun. Boogs and Daddy fed pigs, goats, a duck, and even a llama. One of the goats ripped the paper feed bag out of Boogs hand and ate it before Boogs could retrieve it.

Boogs really enjoyed watching the five otters play in the water, under the small waterfall, and on the rocks. He thought this Fennec Fox looked a lot like Skippy Jon Jones.

The zoo brings out different animals throughout the day for visitors to see up close. The little piglet was cute and the little tortoises were surprisingly fast.

We had a great visit at this small zoo. It was clean, well kept, and the staff was helpful and informative.

It was a hot day so we stopped at Buc-ee's for cold drinks on the way home. Buc-ee's is a 67,000 square foot convenience store. They have 60 gas pumps and a huge variety of items for sale including food, hunting & camping equipment, clothing, books, barbeque pits, swim/tubing supplies, and tons of other stuff. It was our first time to stop into Buc-ee's. I think I may have to go back and purchase the All American Car-I-Oke sing-along CD and song booklet for our upcoming 3200 mile camping/road trip. That should make the car ride a bit more interesting. Of course, we had to take a picture of Buc-ee the Beaver before we left.

What We've Been Up To

The month of April has simply flown by! Boogs has been busy this month with turning 8, Easter at Nonnie's house, swim team, soccer, Math Pentathlon, Lego Bricks class, playdates, cooking, visiting parks, playing video games, and just hanging out at home.

We almost missed our family Easter get together. SOMEONE forgot to tell me that the family gathering was taking place on Saturday, not Sunday. Boogs, Daddy, and I went out to brunch with friends on Saturday and then started taking care of some errands. My sister called about 1:30 and asked where we were. What? Apparently, everyone was waiting to eat until we arrived. Oops! We told them to go ahead and eat. It was almost 2:30 by the time we made it. At least Boogs did not miss the Easter egg hunt. I did not have a chance to get my camera before driving to Nonnie's house. My phone pics did not turn out well.

Eight egg hunters raced to find eggs in Nonnie's backyard and in the greenbelt area directly behind the house. Each egg contains 25 cents and a few special ones have $1. The kids have never complained about not getting candy in their eggs.

Boogs had to work to get down the high eggs in a couple of trees.

Only Easter eggs were found in the woods, no snakes. Yay!

My brother made 3 dozen cascarones (confetti eggs) this year and filled them with confetti and glitter. I HATE when he puts glitter in them. I took pictures from the protection of the living room.

 Everyone was covered in glitter.

 I stole this picture from my niece. Boogs loves this part of our Easter family get togethers!

Boogs got a little bit of help from Daddy for better aim.

Counting the egg money is always fun! Boogs collected $9.75 this year. Wahoo!

After the hunt, we spent a few hours visiting, eating lots of junk, playing games, and trying to pick glitter off each other. I think Boogs still had a few pieces of glitter stuck to his scalp for at least three days.

Boogs made up his own game in the backyard. He took an ice chest, bucket, foam roller, and his bike helmet to make a crash dummy. He then used his bat to see how far he could make the crash dummy fly. I played too and it was fun.

My husband called a lawn service to come an aerate our lawn. Before they came, we had to mark the sprinkler heads so they would not be damaged. My husband decided to turn the sprinkler marking into a fun job for Boogs. Boogs had to go around putting flags by the sprinkler heads while they were spraying.

He got soaked but had fun with this chore.

Boogs used his Christmas, birthday, and chore money to buy a 3DS. He has been very happy with his purchase. (Daddy approved it.)

Boogs and Daddy worked together to finish Lego Mindstorm Robotics R3PTAR.

 

The R3PTAR is like a King Cobra snake. You can program it or use a remote control to make it slither around. I has a sensor in its head that causes it to strike when something is in front of its face. It is really cool! 

This weekend we are working on Boogs' Science Share Project. I better go see how he is doing with it.

Family Time

Grandmaman and Grandpapa are visiting from Canada. When they left home, there was still several feet of snow on their front yard and the temperatures were in the low 30s. We have spent a lot of the first five days of their visit enjoying the 70+ degree temperatures in Texas.

After a big breakfast on Saturday, we spent most of the day in the backyard. The weather was perfect for several rounds of Bocce ball.

 The competition was tough on the bumpy backyard lawn.

 Boogs threw the ball by winding up and tossing it when he was still sideways.

 We frequently had to take out the tape measure to determine who got the points.

 The evening was cool enough to have a fire and roast marshmallows on the back porch.

Sunday was Boogs' second soccer game. GM and GP went to his practice and game to cheer on Boogs.

Boogs received the "Sportsmanship" medal (1 of 2 given) after the game. He was really excited about it. His team won the game 3 to 1.

After the game, we gave Boogs' an early birthday present - Lego Mindstorms. We wanted him to have time to work on it with Daddy and GP during their visit. Boogs was really excited about making the snake.

 It was hard getting back into the school/work routine on Monday. After school, GP and Boogs got in a little soccer practice before dinner.

 It was perfect weather to grill burgers and eat on the back porch.

After school on Tuesday, GP & GM were able to attend Boogs' swim team practice. They picked a great practice to watch. Boogs was really focused on using correct form today. The coach singled out Boogs for improving his form. The coach said Boogs "started the practice session with T-rex arms, but after he warmed up he had a nice long arm reach and strong kicks."

GM and GP have not seen Boogs since Christmas 2012. It has been a wonderful visit so far. They will be here for one more week. Hopefully, this gorgeous weather will hold out for their entire visit.

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