March Catch-Up: Spring Break

I don't want catch-ups to be the new norm for the blog, but that's how it's working out lately. Things are kind of crazy around here, which I'll explain in a separate post at some point. But for now, Spring Break!

Paw-Paw came in the first weekend of Spring Break and we took him to see the LEGO Movie. It was my first time, too. I enjoyed it but Paw-Paw spent a little time snoozing. I took off Monday and Tuesday so Spencer and I could have some quality time. On Monday, we went to the Austin Zoo to say "Hi" to all of our friends, like Cesar the lion. Then we went to Boardwalk Burgers for lunch, had a quick rest, then headed to Hoppin' House for classmate Ivy's birthday party. It was a great day!

On Tuesday, Spencer and I went to the Austin Star of Texas Rodeo Carnival. Boy, did we have fun! It was the third year in a row we've gone, but the first without Daddy. We missed him! We both had a wristband to ride all the rides. Spencer rode the biggest roller coaster he's been on so far (The Caterpillar, I think? that's it in the selfie below). Probably his favorite thing was going thru the 3 fun houses over and over and over.

This year he didn't feel like doing the petting zoo or any of the "fair" activities - just the carnival. Of course we made time for a corn dog and lemonade. And a few total ripoff games.

I noticed Spencer was quite brave this time around. He seriously contemplated riding a big ride that spins and goes backward (there was a ride like this at the Brazoria County Fair when I was growing up and it was my favorite!). After debating a bit, he decided to ride a very similar one in the kiddie section that was a little calmer, but still went backwards and made me motion sick. :)

Spencer spent Wednesday, Thursday and Friday with Geep and Pop in San Antonio. They saw the Mr. Peabody & Sherman movie, which Spencer deemed "too intense." They also did fun stuff like visiting the Witte Museum and checking out a sand sculpture competition at the Botanical Gardens. This was the first time Spencer has ever called us from San Antonio kind of acting like he wanted to come home. It tugged at this mama's heart, but once he and I chatted he perked back up. He always has so much fun with Geep and Pop, so I wasn't worried.

I got sick while Spencer was gone, so when he got back Friday he and Daddy spent a lot of time together - during the weekend, too. They got some good re-connect time.

It was a fantastic Spring Break!

Comets and Telescopes

Last week was full of astronomical adventures. Spencer and I had the rare treat of seeing a comet. One evening after dropping off Daddy downtown for SXSW, we returned home to find our neighbor Gail looking into the sky. She told us that the comet Pan-STARRS was supposed to be visible in Austin over the next couple of days.

Well, we never spotted it that night, but the following night after we dropped Daddy off, we were driving down South Lamar and I spotted it. At first I thought it was an airplane, but the streak was not changing or moving and I finally realized what I was seeing. When we got home and realized we could see the comet so well from our yard, Spencer said, "Let's text Gail and tell her to come outside!" I told him that I don't know Gail's number and he replied, "Well, email her then!" I suggested we do it the old fashioned way and knock on her door. As the sun went down, the comet appeared slightly reddish — look closely and you can see it below.

We also got to see a full-scale model of the James Webb Telescope during SXSW. It is the successor to Hubble and the largest space telescope to ever be built — as big as a tennis court and as tall as a 4-story building. 

NASA also had a tent set up with all sorts of educational activities and giveaways.

Looking at sun spots.

Interactive model of the universe.

Thermal camera - that's Spencer on the right. He put his had in a warming glove and in a bucket of ice water to see the difference on the screen.

 We definitely had some fun Spring Break adventures this year!

Rodeo Time

Spencer is on Spring Break this week so I took today off and we went to the Star of Texas Rodeo carnival for the third straight year (Daddy, too!). Spencer's pal Koen and his mommy and baby sister went with us and the boys had so much fun together. It's the perfect age to have a little pal to go on the rides with. Koen was a daredevil, so that helped Spencer stretch out of his comfort zone a bit. This was one of those outings where we just didn't get very good pictures (and we really didn't take that many), but here's a little peek.

Spencer had two particularly brave moments today. First, he went down the big super slide all by himself. I wish you could've seen the look on his face when his blanket started going a little sideways. That's him in the pink lane.

And Spencer's second big moment was riding a little roller coaster for the first time — the Dragon Wagon. He was a little unsure at first, but by our third loop he was saying, "Wheeeeeeee!" The picture below is the "before" shot. He was all smiles afterwards.

We also went to the petting zoo, saw the K9 Kings dog show (lame), had corndogs and lemonade for lunch, and ended the day with an ice cream cone. Spence fell asleep on the way home and I was able to get him to lie down with me in our bedroom and we ended up sleeping until 7:00! It's made for an interesting evening, but well worth it. Fun day!

Spring Break

I took off Wednesday and Friday this week to spend some time with Spencer since he doesn't have preschool this week. Luckily, Daddy didn't have any SXSW responsibilities yesterday, so the three of us got to hang out together. We had such a fun day exploring on South Congress.

First we went to the parking lot of Hotel San Jose to listen to some live music. Then we walked across the street to Amy's Ice Creams and had a little pre-lunch treat. Then we walked a little further to the food trailer lot for lunch. After that, we had a look around Uncommon Objects - I was surprised that Spencer was so interested in looking at all the old treasures in there. He was so careful about all the breakables, too. It was VERY difficult to resist purchasing one of these fedoras for him, but they were $45! Question to ponder: Were fedoras popular for kids in the 1920s or did men in the 1920s have heads roughly the size of my 3-year old's?

On the way home, Spencer said he wanted to go to Butler Park to ride his scooter, so that's how we ended our little outing. It was a great day in Austin, TX with my boys!