April: NASA - Johnson Space Center

We had wanted to take the kids to NASA the whole time we lived in Texas, but wanted to wait until they were a little older.  It was a fun day.

Lots of cool rockets!

Inside one of the rocket engines

Touching a moon rock was pretty cool!  

There are only 7 in the world available for the public to touch

(we've since visited the Air & Space museum in D.C, so the girls and I have now touched 2 of the 7!)

We walked through a replica of the space station

At the end of the day, the girls had fun playing at this massive indoor playground.  They kept going up and down this big slide

Astronauts Elaina

Astronaut Erin

Shuttle engine

(April): Erin learns to ride a bike

It took Erin no time at all to learn to ride a bike.  We just took the training wheels off, and she was on her own the first day!  She still loves riding her bike all over the neighborhood!  A few weeks ago Mike took the girls on a 9 mile bike ride, and they both did great!

Whoo-hoo!  Go Erin!

April: Vet School Open House

Mike took the girls to the Vet School's Open House again this year.  This time they went to the reptile room and then to the petting zo.  It's impossible to do everything, and the reptile room always has a really long line, so they got there early and were able to get in. 

I'm glad the girls were brave enough to touch the reptiles

Even I wouldn't be this brave!  This was a reticulated python

(April): Hat Day

Elaina chose this fun hat for Hat Day at school, just before Easter!

(April): Happy Birthday to Mike!

Erin made mike a colorful, beaded necklace for his birthday.

Elaina crafted a paper pencil holder out of paper and tape.  

He didn't even know how badly he was missing out until he got one of his own.

These are the best birthdays of our lives because our kids come up with the best ideas for gifts.  It doesn't get better than this

(April): Uncle TJ Visit

Our brother in law, TJ, was stationed at Fort Hood in Texas before going to Afghanistan.  During most of the duration of his stay, we weren't able to see him, but we found out near the end of his time there that he would have a few days off.  So we were able to go spend a day with him since he was only 2 hours away. It was so great to see him!

 I know he missed his wife and kids tremendously, so I hope that seeing some family helped lift his spirits in some way.  It was so wonderful for us to see him too.  We really enjoyed our time with him, and he was able to show us around the base and share some of his life with us.  It was a great day.

We got to walk around the base and see some tanks and helicopters.  It was pretty cool.

At the end of the day we went bowling. 
And yes, I did take a picture of the screen, only because I have never in my life won a game of bowling.  Ever.  I'm lucky to get over a hundred.  

To be fair, I have to point out that TJ played the game left handed.  

And Mike....well, Mike just lost.  To Me.  I beat Mike.  The end.

(April): Gymnastics

The girls did another season of gymnastics lessons.  They really loved it.

Isaac had fun playing on the equipment on the last day

TA-DA! Gymnastics graduates!!

(April): Easter Morning

We had a fun Easter egg hunt on Easter morning with the kids.  Isaac went after the same egg and was content just playing with it.

Isaac was so cute that morning

He was determined to get that egg under the couch, but unfortunately just kept pushing it farther underneath

Finally, he got it!

He even tried to share with Millie

After church the Easter Bunny left a Easter scavenger hunt with clues to find each egg.  The girls were thrilled with the fun activity and had fun guessing what the clues meant.  I hope the Easter Bunny makes this an annual tradition!

We also enjoyed watching an Easter video as a family and had a good discussion about the meaning behind Easter.  The girls were interested in why we have an Easter Bunny, and so we had a good discussion about the symbols of spring as a rebirth and how our Savior made a rebirth possible for us.  As the girls get older I enjoy discussing these things with them and growing and learning together.