LEGOLAND

While in the Dallas/Ft. Worth area we visited the LEGOLAND Discovery Center, which is an indoor mini theme park/play space for kids. Tyler was the perfect age and thoroughly enjoyed himself. Daphne had fun too but she was below the height and age limit for a few things she would have liked to have done. They had a few rides, a little movie theater, LEGO-building stations, a mini LEGO version of Dallas and Ft. Worth, and playground structures.

Daphne enjoyed crashing her LEGO race car on this steep ramp
and then having me re-build it so she could do it all over again.

Tyler loved building a race car.

Tyler's car did really well on the racing ramp and won often.
He could have raced that car all day long!

The princess room had karaoke for kids. You
could sing to the classics like Old MacDonald
(Daphne's choice) or recent Top40 hits.

Ready for a 4D movie. We felt wind, rain, snow, and a dragon
sneeze throughout the course of the 15-minute animated LEGO short.

Tyler currently loves the NINJAGO series of books
and TV shows. They had a neat ninja "training"
area where you could dodge laser beams in the
dark, but Tyler was too afraid to go in.

Tyler and Michael riding Merlin's Apprentice

Daphne had to take a potty break right as she was finishing up
her building. While in the ladies room she told me, "Don't
destroy my beautiful creation." Then she raced back to her spot.

Cameron Park Zoo

We took a fun mini-vacation to the Dallas/Ft. Worth area during the second half of spring break to visit our good friends Chris and Angie. On the drive north, we stopped in Waco and spent a good part of a day at the Cameron Park Zoo, which is very nice. Our kids have always enjoyed playing at zoos as much as they enjoy watching the animals.

Checking out the white-handed gibbons

Who is more venomous in this picture?



Why get eaten when you can ride the snake?

Saying hi to the cheetah

I am always amazed at how
human-like the orangutans are

 

Mock Ski Vacation

At the beginning of the year we started planning a ski vacation for Tyler's spring break, which was last week. However, I had a work conflict come up and so we had to postpone any ski vacation plans until New Year's or next year's spring break. Michael says I now have to plan him an awesome ski vacation. Tyler concurs that we are in need of a ski vacation because he loves snow as much as Daddy.

Last week during spring break I found Michael and Tyler
playing a skiing video game. I told Michael I was glad he got to
take his ski vacation after all! Michael was not as amused as I was.

The 'S' Word

Tyler has gotten after me twice this past week for using what he calls the 'S' word, which is 'stupid'. I think school has hammered home that you shouldn't call people stupid and we support that at home. However, I have a habit of calling inanimate objects stupid. Last night Tyler got after me when I muttered, "Stupid phone!" after repeatedly pushing the OK button on my phone without any success of turning off the timer. Guess I'm going to have to watch my mouth!

End of a Bathtime Era

Now that Tyler is 6, he is ready to take baths solo without his sister. Daphne is not too thrilled about this as she loves splashing around with Tyler. Since they often get ready for bed at the same time, Tyler has been using our bath tub while Daphne uses the bath tub in the kids' bathroom. Of course Daphne wants whatever Tyler has so we had to compromise and start rotating who uses which tub so that Daphne can use our tub too. I know I am going to miss the easiness and efficiency of bathing them together!

Daphne at Pre-School

 A few recent photos from Daphne's pre-school teacher...

Last week's theme was flies

Making shamrock art with a bell pepper ring

Tyler's Birthday Party

We finally had Tyler's birthday party last weekend. We had to re-schedule since Tyler had his stomach bug/parasite when the party was supposed to take place. Since we had to move the party to the first weekend of spring break quite a few of his friends were out of town. But Tyler and his friends that were in town still had a blast!

Held captive for photos before pizza and cake

Can I eat the cake yet????

 

You can tell how much fun Tyler had
by the amount of sweat in his hair!

The kids bounced and did the inflatable slides but I think they
spent the vast majority of the party in the foam pit, which is
why Tyler wanted his party at this particular facility. A staff
member had to come over several times to remind the kids not
to throw the foam blocks, which is apparently against the rules.

Happy St. Patrick's Day

Daphne Red Beard

At pre-school today, Daphne and her classmates made leprechaun hats and beards. I tried to get Daphne to wear green to school but she is stubborn and does not listen to my suggestions. Most of her classmates wore green!

Protective Gear

The kids suited up in helmets, elbow pads, and knee pads to ride skateboards in the driveway with Daddy. When I came home from running errands both kids were playing basketball with their helmets on.

Soccer

Tyler missed his last 2 basketball games because he was sick and he would have missed the first soccer game last week but it got re-scheduled due to cold rainy weather. His first soccer game was today. Tyler is #6 on Team Cameroon (teal uniforms in the photos). Except for one new player, the other players on his team were also on his soccer team last fall. It's amazing the difference in skill level between the first game last fall and today's game. Team Cameroon lost by 2 but put a valiant effort.

Tyler fighting for the ball

Daphne kept cheering "Yo-ho Tyler!" She is quite the
Jake the Pirate fan and their secret password is Yo-ho-ho.

 

Click the video below to see Tyler score one of his 2 goals:

The Fashion Stylings of a 3-year Old

Daphne comes up with some pretty interesting outfits. This photo doesn't do this outfit justice. The Aggie track suit is maroon, white, and gray. Daphne hiked the pants up to her knees and pulled on brown knee socks. Her blue shirt has patterns with white, red, and hot pink. And her shoes are on the wrong feet. I know she can't tell left from right but she refused to change the shoes after I informed her they were on the wrong feet.

Aargh Matey!

Vintage

This sweet polyester shirt dress was mine in the late 70s. Daphne originally put it on with tights but it was far too short and so we compromised with some shorts underneath.

Feeling Better

Perry the Parasite is either dead or on death row. Tyler is on Day 8 of his 10-day course of medication and is feeling much better. After 2 weeks of no milk, limited dairy, and bland food we are starting to re-introduce some of his favorites. Tyler didn't even have to attend a full week of school last week. AISD cancelled school on Thursday for fear of freezing rain all morning and although it rained in the middle of the night and dropped down around freezing the roads near us ended up being just fine.