another night @ the museum

we went to the children's museum during grant's break. thursday nights are free, so that's when we headed over (1.5.10). as always, it was extremely fun.

lucy chose to map out a development:

hazel set to work building a model of it:

and lucy took a quick break:

before heading out to the site:

once off work, she headed for the disco:

where she did a tap-dancing number:

she was a hit, obviously. hazel gained access...:

...to a secret room where she voted herself into office:

after which, she borrowed the company car:

and got her grocery shopping done:

such healthy choices, again. it was then time for art class:

where she met up with lucy:

and what is lucy drawing?

just your average, everyday, rabid squirrel. hazel then headed for the disco to relax after her hard day of work:

she was disappointed to learn she'd missed lucy's performance and got a little violent with the flashing lights:

after they kicked her out, hazel headed for the country to check on a milking cow:

she was so happy it was ok:

since she had gotten dirty, she cleaned herself up at a beauty parlor and reapplied her make up:

meanwhile, lucy was conducting experiments with sensitive materials:

it took a lot of concentration:

after organizing all of the materials, she flipped the switch:

and happily didn't blow up:

then it was time to meet up with hazel at the beauty parlor:

she wasn't quite as smooth with the application but didn't lose an eye either.

hazel hopped onto her scooter:

to find herself some dinner, preferably something ethnic:

mission accomplished. and you'll never guess who the entertainment at the restaurant was:

 the end.

's all from god

i'm not putting any pictures in this post. i know, shock! i didn't think i'd ever be able to do it. i really just wanted to write about what happened today. curious? well, i went to the grocery store (so exciting), in the rain (lucky me). it has been a while (long enough that we were drinking powdered milk, really) so it was a big one. it's never fun going with the girls, so when i can, i grab the huge car-attached-to-cart things. you know, the ones that you can't really steer but usually keep the kids somewhat entertained. fortune cracked a small grin and i got to pick between a clean, wet one or a dirty, dry one. i picked the wet one and packed the mini-monsters into the car part. the mad dash to get everything, before the meltdowns started, began. the girls on the whole weren't too bad. hazel kept standing up out of the windshield part and headbutting lucy, and lucy kept dragging her hand on the ground and losing her binky. finally, i made it to the checkout lane. sadly, i picked the one with no bagger. bad news for my overflowing cart, the cashier, and the antsy woman in line behind me with just 4 cans of buiscuts. between throwing my things onto the conveyor belt and frisking the girls for candy grabbed off of the shelves, i was ready to just leave everything behind and starve to death.  eventually i got back outside, where the rain had picked up a lot. of course, i had forgotten where i'd parked and i went up the wrong isle. in time, i found a gap big enough for my cart to get through without hitting any cars. i pulled up beside our car, soaking wet, digging through my purse to find the keys. that's when a car stopped next to us. "oh great, some [person] wants my spot and there going to be [impatient] about it...." the driver rolled his window down and said, "i'm gonna help you. you get dem babies into the car and i'll put your bags away." i'll be honest, my first reaction was "oh, no thanks. i'm ok" said out loud, and "is he going to try to steal my food/purse/kids?" in my thoughts. yeah, maybe i have trust issues. anyway, as i tossed lucy into her carseat, he came back from where he's parked his car saying, "we saw you wid dem babies and thought dis girl needs some help. we can't have you or dem little ones gettin' sick." he asked where i wanted everything and started putting it all into the car. soon the kids and groceries were all tucked away. as i started thanking this man, he just shrugged his shoulders and said, "'s all from god, ma'am." and he walked off with his wife/girlfriend/sister to get his own shopping done. i was so touched. such a small thing and it really made my day so much brighter.

i choo-choo-choose you

during our last visit to the zoo, we decided to fulfill hazel's oft neglected wish of "widing the twain" again. she was pretty happy about it. see? we are good parents:

lucy wasn't excited about waiting for the train to start moving. she kept trying to dive off so she could wander into the path of other large vehicles:

notice her little red nose? it was fra-eeeeee-zing that day. we had a couple of weeks of never-above-and-more-likely-much-below-35-degrees here. i know, i know. it's always soooo much colder in utah, blah blah blah.... folks, we're in houston. a humid subtropical climate. in utah, i expect and can handle this. i even enjoy it at times. here i expect to wear flipflops year round. "it's a hard knock life for us..." anywho, it was cold while we were waiting and then the train started moving.....brrrrrrrrrrr!

to keep our minds off of our numbing, gloveless hands, we kept our eyes peeled for random things:

like these guys with fishing poles:

we saw a paramedic feeding a squirrel:

 odd sculptures:

and even odder things:

(i think it's supposed to be a dog?) lucy reacted to this train ride much like she did the last time by sinking into a stupor:

and last may:

nothing says "bor-ring" like those two faces. sorry, lucy. everyone else had fun.

g @ galveston

grant started school yesterday. it's his final semester of classes (he still has a year of testing and two years of dissertation writing, so really we're far from done) and it'll probably be one of the more stressful (hooray.) anyway, two weeks ago (tuesday the 29th of december) he took the girls down to galveston island state park. i've been nagging him to post this before he had no time to call his own and as usual that nagging was ignored. i can't imagine why, i'm never annoying...ever...well, i've decided to post the pictures.  there are a lot so it's probably a good thing i didn't go or you'd have to deal with my lame commentary as well. that's right, i stayed home and had a fabulous day all to myself. it was lovely. on to the pictures (i made him take the old camera......because i didn't have a memory card at the time, not because i didn't trust him with it.....i promise...):

it was a dream come true for the girls: new boots, endless puddles to splash in, and no mommy to yell at them. lucy wasn't too thrilled at first:

so bored....and dry....here grant goes trying to make her feel involved:

judging by her glazed expression, it didn't work. grant's friend, mike, was the one who came up with the idea to go. fishing is free on all state park land (don't mind the old camera-ness of the pic):

finally, lucy was set free:

she was just a little bit excited to get out of the stroller.

she almost immediately proceeded to fall in the water:

my punishment for having a day off? lots of stinky, muddy laundry... grant got into taking pictures with the girls reflections:

then it was time for the girls to tramp through the grassy stuff:

a bird was spotted:

and the port-a-potty was used:

then grant changed the girls into the dry clothes, that i so thoughtfully provided, and bundled them into the stroller:

here's a shell:

and a bridge:

where mike finished up fishing:

some birds (great picture, grant):

lucy stayed strong (look at those eyes!). though, i do have to tell y'all that she got the stomach flu right after this and was living up to her old nickname, "barfy" for nearly a week. she's all better now but it was very sad that she knew when and how to hang her head over a bowl to vomit.  poor thing:

hazel crashed:

the end.

ps. i guess i lied about my not commenting at all....but come on, you would have missed it if i hadn't.....heeheehee.