Sunday, December 22, 2013

Living Texas History


Still back in November, we took a day to go visit Alex's baby bird who was still being bottle-fed and not able to come home yet (part of his birthday present). My friend, Barb, works at the Barrington Living History Museum, which is part of the Washington-on-the-Brazos State Park, and for years, I've been waiting for the kids to be at a good enough age to appreciate it. This seemed like the perfect opportunity.


Texas became its own country here, and we visited Independence Hall, where our forefathers all gathered to sign our Declaration of Independence.



Trust my husband to find out that directly behind Independence Hall is a geocache!


And if there is one thing Team Danger likes to do in a park, its a geocache. Or three or four. ;)





Then it was on to see Barb, who possibly has the coolest job of any person I know.


 She gave us quite the personalized tour, including showing us how to sort cotton seeds.


And split rails!


Team Danger was in seventh heaven.


 Dangerous tools and weaponry, and showing off our brute strength.


And walking (splitting?) in Abe Lincoln's footsteps. (and how appropriate that Alex was wearing his Lincoln's Hat t-shirt from the Smithsonian to split rails in. Could I have planned this any better?! Does anyone but me even notice or care about these small, yet horribly important and very crucial details?!)


It was so cool listening to the wood split, even after they had hit the mark. And when they were all done with their piece of split rails, they felt like real MEN.


 Feeding the pigs grass they pulled up from the ground was also a highlight.


Who knew?!


The Barrington Farm was the home of Dr. Anson Jones, the last president of Texas. After we visited the farm life and slave quarters, we saw the family home.


The boys were thrilled to find a checker board, which is *almost* as good as a chess board.


 I'm such a sucker for living history spots. Call me a history geek, but there is nothing quite like really "living" in history to make you appreciate where we have come from. And I couldn't be prouder to have raised two budding historians. :)



Saturday, December 21, 2013

Our Night at the Museum


Also back in November, we spent a Night at the Museum with Alex and the Webelo scouts, at the Houston Museum of Natural Science.

I loved this camp"in" (and not just because I found this location and convinced our leaders this was the way to go).

But mainly because it was lots of fun, getting our own geology session.


And our own planetarium session.


And most importantly, a flashlight scavenger hunt through the dinosaur halls.






Our Night at the Museum rocked!!


This is a fantastic museum for kids, possibly my favorite in all of Texas. How we've never taken the kids before, I have NO idea. #parentingfail


The Egyptian and Mayan rooms rocked. I mean, look at the entrance to them.


The boys were FASCINATED watching this replica of Foulcoult's pendulum swing back and forth.


Waiting for it to knock down the stones consumed probably a full hour of our time.


The next morning, we got to spend some time with the butterflies in the Cockrell Butterfly Center.


Love this place.



When I worked in Houston before law school, this was one of my favorite places to visit.


We had a great time in Houston, and since the museum is located close to where my dad lived, we got to eat at some of our old favorites, like the 59 Diner and Goode Company.  Mom's old Houston haunts were so far away from where Dad lived that it often felt like we were visiting a different city. So it was nice to return to my 1990s era of Houston. Miss you, Poptarts.


Friday, December 20, 2013

Thanksgiving in Concan

So.


I am WAY behind at this blogging thing.


Call it I work full time and have two very busy boys.


Call it my mother has been living with me for three months.


Call it life kinda sucks and there is too much going on.


Anyways... we had a great Thanksgiving.


We started the day with my mother-in-law and family here in the Austin-Pflugerville area...


and then we drove to Concan, where we spent the rest of the weekend as planned with my family.

We had a great time.


We gecoached, hiked to really crazy heights, drank a bit(lot) of wine, ate a bunch (not at all) of pies, and generally had a fan-effin-tastic time.


The colors have never been more amazing, and it was wonderful to spend a bit of time in this little heavenly part of Texas.


The rest of the pictures... well... if I narrated each one, it would be another month before this post went live.


 So just imagine you are with us along the Frio River, seeing really beautiful sights..







 






 





  
  







And there you are.



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