First Time Camping

This past weekend marked the first excursion out into the wild as a family.  Since the Jordans had been on camping trips several times (with an even younger daughter), we were emboldened to join them on a weekend in the East Texas woodlands.  Hunstville State Park is about 1.5 hours from Katy directly north of Houston.  If you know where the gigantic statue of Sam Houston is, it is right there.

          

We left the house in good order (since it is now on the market), and loaded up the Volvo for a long-awaited weekend retreat.  Jackson and Emily had been behaving great to ensure they didn't have to lose any privileges - namely this camping trip.  The excitement had been building all week, and Jackson wasn't quite sure what camping was, but he insisted on asking if we were camping the entire ride up I-45.  Upon arrival, the "Don't fee the gators" sign didn't instill any comfort in me, but the park facilities were great.  Running water at every campsite, and plenty of room for the cars, tents, etc.  It was only a short walk down to the pier where we spent a good part of Saturday fishing.  Jackson is getting pretty good at casting, so soon we might fix it up with a real hook.  For now, it is the plastic fish for practice.  We also had the rocket launcher rod that shoots the lure about 50 feet out into the water - sweet :)

          

Once it got dark the kids were really wound up!  Throwing leaves into the fire was a favorite nighttime activity after a yummy chili dog dinner.   Dinner and breakfast were great - including our improvised coke can eggs.  Anyone know if it is harmful to eat eggs  cooked in an aluminum soda can?  Of course we roasted marshmallows and had s'mores that were a team effort by all campers.

It was pretty cold Sunday morning, but we didn't let that dampen our plans for a bike ride with all of the kids in bike trailers.  Huntsville SP has some decent trails that are wide enough to pull without worrying about hitting trees, etc.  The kids really enjoyed being able to zoom down the hills and through the tress without having to do any of the pedaling!

          

Please enjoy these pictures from our first of what we hope to be many successful journeys into the great outdoors:

http://www.snapfish.com/thumbnailshare/AlbumID=186691292

 

Above is the pier we were fishing off from

Shamu! Shamu!

This past weekend we followed Angel's school choir to Sea World in San Antonio to watch them perform and have a fun day at the park.  The kids had a blast, although Jackson was upset he wasn't tall enough to go on the Steel Eel with Daddy :)

   

Jackson and Emily were grinning ear to ear as we went from the penguins, to see the sharks and dolphins.

   

The dolphin pool let the kids get up close and personal with some friendly porpoises.

   

And of course, what Sea World trip would be complete without a Shamu show!

   

No other album from Sea World.  These were most of the good pictures we got so I went ahead and just posted them all up here on the blog.

2007 Holiday Recap

So we are now back in Katy and beginning to get back into our routine for 2008. Remembering back over the past 2 weeks, we had a great holiday season in 2007.

As mentioned in a previous post, we had Christmas at Spur Branch where Santa left us a healthy bounty of gifts. Emily got a play kitchen and Jackson got a Spiderman web shooter and basketball goal. We also were happy to find a digital studio art center that can be plugged into the computer for drawing and other art projects. Once we finished opening our presents and eating our Christmas breakfast, it was off to San Antonio -- aka the I-10 boogie.

the Beals had some other family in town from Mississippi, so we got to celebrate on Christmas day with a good sized group. The kids had lots of fun singing and playing around with Mark the Moose and the Bouncing Penguin which has become an annual tradition at the Beal Household. Good food and good cheers were had by all.
While in San Antonio, we also had a chance to go see the Spurs slaughter the Bulls with James and Andi Garcia. The following night we got and hang out with some of Angel's friends from high school. Alfonso organized a party at La Fogata (where Angel and I went on our first date!), so that was a fun time for the adult half of the Texas Batemans.

After a few days in San Antonio, it was back to Katy for a quick change of the bags and a journey out to IAH. This was to be the first 2-kid flight so mommy and daddy were a bit scared for the flight to Utah. The fear was with good reason as the flight was tremendously frustrating. This difficult flight was all that stood between the TexasBatemans and a fun-filled snow adventure in Salt Lake City, Utah.

Once we received our boarding passes, it was apparent that this was going to be a small plane. 4 seats across with an aisle in the middle is not ideal when you have only purchased 3 seats. Our estimation was that Emily would be best as a lap traveler and Jackson is 3 1/2 now so he needs his own ticket. The journey was an exercise in baby passing as Angel and I traded off appeasement duty for Emily. Jackson seemed content enough as long as he was able to watch Spiderman 3 on daddy's laptop.

Now Emily was not the only fussy baby on the plane. There was a baby right behind us that was easily more discontent and disturbing than Emily. While Emily would fuss, this baby was CRYING! For Jackson, this was not only an inconvenience, but it also was a strong enough overriding noise that he couldn't hear his movie anymore. About halfway through the flight, his frustration was apparent with the ruckus when he exclaimed "Get that baby off the plane!" I am sure others had similar thoughts toward us, so we tried to bear down and just make it to the SLC airport. I pointed out to Jackson that the pilot had turned on the seat-belt sign and that it was dangerous to be standing up on his seat playing with the lights on the plane. Amazingly enough, the concept registered, and Jackson sat down to buckle his seat belt which remained fastened for the duration of the flight.



The approach into Salt Lake City revealed a city under a fresh blanket of snow. It it easy to tell even from a high altitude because of the characteristic halo around all of the lights caused by the fluffy white stuff. Once on the ground, the pilot let Jackson and I take a peek into the cockpit to see all of the controls, gauges, and switches that had brought us safely to Utah. After a brief survey of the complex panels, Jackson had only one question for the pilot, "Where is the fasten seat belt button?"

As this was a small plane, we actually de-planed down stairs right out onto the runway and into a covered walkway to the terminal. Two of the sections of the walkway had a break in them that opened up to the flurry filled sky above. As the kids caught their first memorable (it snowed on Christmas 2004 in Houston) glimpse of snow, the excitement was apparent in their faces. Jackson was much more interested in building a snowman than he was of going into the terminal building. We finally corralled everyone into the airport and met Nana and Grandpa Orren just after leaving the secured area. It was a great feeling as it had been 2 years since the TexasBatemans had been back to Utah.

---

Our first night it continued to snow, which made for a perfect day of sledding on December 30th.

See our Utah Snow pics here

---

Grandpa Orren lined up the sleds as well as the location for a fun day in the snow. We rode sleds down the hill, made snowmen and snow angels, and even had a family snowball fight. We got to visit with lots of the Utah family, most of whom had never met Emily before. Many stopped by Nana's place on New Year's eve for a fun kid-friendly party. At midnight we banged pots and pans (a long-lost Utah tradition), and started 2008 off right with a Guitar Hero tournament against friends Tom and Alisha.

New Year's Day was spent at the Canyons resort in Park City. I got to hit the slopes with Grandpa Orren and one of my buddies Keith who was up from Arizona. The snow was epic, and probably the safest deep powder can be. Since an avalanche (at the Canyons) killed two skiers a couple of weeks earlier, most of the danger zones had likely been gunned into a very safe and boardable state. We also got to meet up with my cousin Dave from California who was staying up at the resort. His wife Evangelina, and kids Justin and Ashley were enjoying a fun week in the snow.

---

See our See all other holiday pics here

---

A Spur Branch Christmas

This morning we woke up just in time to hear the sleigh bells ringing as Santa and his reindeer sped away from our Katy abode. We all ran out to see what Santa had brought and we were pleasantly surprised by our holiday bounty. Above is a pic we snapped in our Christmas PJs before our Navidad Nap.

---

We also got some pictures taken at a studio for Christmas, so you can see those pics here:
http://www.tabblo.com/studio/stories/view/721666/

---

Christmas Lights in Houston

This year, we wanted to find a really good display of Christmas lights now that Jackson and Emily are both old enough to truly enjoy them. After a short search on the web, it sounded like the Prestonwood Forest Drive display was going to the best and closest option. This spread of luminescent joy has received mention by numerous media organizations including The Sun Group, The Houston Chronicle, and The Travel Channel.

Saturday night, we packed up the kids and headed out for the lightshow. To get there, most of you reading this would take 249 north from the beltway past 1960. Exit the first exit after 1960, pass the light at Schroeder road, then hang a right on Prestonwood Forest Drive.



The main street cuts right through the neighborhood with numerous cul-de-sacs off to either side with dazzling light displays. The most impressive part of the display is how widespread the decorations are without any official mandate from the homeownership association or anything like that. None of the individual houses in the neighborhood are going to knock your stockings off, but the sheer magnitude of the displays make it worth the trip.

Each street follows a common theme, and it is obvious that there is a high degree of coordination between the houses on the street. One street has all Disney characters, one has a Snoopy theme, another lets you drive through Frosty themed displays that will make it impossible for the car to keep from singing along. The residents of one street put up properly timed lyrical cue boards for the whole "Frosty" song.

This display goes through the end of the year (and is up every year), so swing by if you want to see some great Christmas lights. We thought it was well worth the trip, if for no other reason than to see the kids' reaction to the spectacular light show.

Drummer Boy

If it wasn't apparent from recent posts, time is flying by and the kids are growing up at an alarming rate. Daddy just got back from a 1 month trip to Mumbai, India for work and it is amazing how much the kids have grown in that short period of time. Emily it fully conversing now, and seems to understand just about everything you say no matter how complex the subject matter or words. Jackson is continuing to amaze all of his teachers with his ability to read and make sense of the world around him.

Last night we attended Jackson's first big performance at his school. He was a little drummer boy in an amazing show that had the crowd smiling and aaaahhhhing at how adorable all of these little tykes looked in their holiday gear. Front and center, Jackson was on cue with all of the drum beats, song lyrics, and other gestures and antics of the performance. Pictures were not very easy to take at the event, but we were able to get this one back in the star's dressing room. We will be getting a DVD of the entire show if you'd like to see Jackson in action.


Afterward we had a celebratory trip to the Toll House mecca of sweets in La Centerra here in Katy. There were some carolers signing out by a gigantic Christmas tree they had setup in the main esplanade. It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas...

Daddy's Home

My little munchkins were there to greet me at the airport after returning from a work trip to India. I can not imagine a better welcoming that the kids with Mom and Mamo there to pick me up and welcome me back to the comfort of the great US of A!