A lady from a homeschool group I belong to arranged a field trip to the BAYOU WILDLIFE PARK in Alvin, Texas.  It was a good 90 minute drive from our house, but Kalani and Mason had a GREAT time.  Our first encounter with the wildlife was with an ostrich as we were driving to the parking lot.  This bird came right at me and then to Mason…I had to quickly roll up the windows!  And then an emu also tried to get into our car…you can hear Mason crying in the background of this very short video.

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We saw alligators, cattle, goats, giraffes, antelopes, camels, bison, lemurs, deer, peacocks, pigs, etc.  They even had 2 ZONKEYS … donkey and zebra offspring.  Most of the animals came right to the tram that we were riding and the kids had a fabulous time feeding them.  Mason had a great time petting the deer that roamed free.  The weather was great, the company was wonderful and it wore my children out.  The only bad thing about this field trip was that Matt couldn’t be there with us.

ZONKEY

Kalani and Mason making friends with the wildlife

This deer became Mason's best friend

One of the many animals Kalani fed during our tram ride

Matt had to go to California for work and had the brilliant idea to take Mason along with him since both of our parents live in California, and Mason is still FREE to fly.  The grandparents loved the opportunity to be with their grandson who they really only met at Christmas last year.  So that meant that Kalani and I would have a week of doing “girl things” or at least things that would be difficult to accomplish with 14 month old Mason!

So, here is what our week consisted of; plus some eating out and Kalani swimming at our aunt’s house:

Sunday – Kalani had her cousin Olivia spend the night

Laundy room painted with bead-board and trim

Monday – Kalani and Olivia watched my niece Jaedyn while I painted and put up bead-board and trim in my laundry room.  It turned out pretty well, especially since I didn’t know what direction I really wanted to go when I started.  Went to blockbuster and Baskin-Robbins to end the day.

Tuesday – Painted Mason’s room…nothing excited just the same color as the rest of  the house.  Attended a Hawaiian Family Culture class in the evening…going to try to learn how to make some of the traditional Hawaiian crafts.  And Kalani had her cousin Caleb spend the night

Toy Story 3 in 3-D

Wednesday – Watched “Toy Story 3” in 3-D and then went SHOPPING!  Kalani has been wearing the same 3 shirts and 3 jeans for the past 5 months…hopefully now she will change her wardrobe a bit and actually wear some shorts in the hot, humid Texas August!

1st fondant cake decorated

Thursday – My wonderful sister watched Kalani so I could attend the temple.  Then I took advantage of my alone time and finally used the massage gift certificate that I have had since I was pregnant with Mason.  After I picked up Kalani I went to a friend’s house and learned how to decorate a cake with fondant.  So, easy and fun…I think I may have cake decorating a part of our homeschool curriculum this year!

Jedi Kalani...or maybe a Bounty Hunter

Friday – Our year pass expires at the end of the month so we went to NASA for a couple of hours.  This summer they were showcasing Star Wars Clone Wars and Kalani was excited to try to be a Jedi.  I then had lunch with a friend from California and her daughter while we were down by NASA.

Kalani's idea of fun while I was being pampered

Saturday – I got a free facial at ULTA and then spent the day cleaning the house and doing laundry.  My reward for my hard work and for Kalani being such a good kid this week we went back to the movies and saw “Despicable Me”

Sunday – Matt and Mason got home and we are a happy family together once again.

I wore her out with all of our mother-daughter time

No Training Wheels

A couple of months back we tried taking off Kalani’s training wheels, but she couldn’t balance that well without them.  So after months of practicing we decided to try again.  Seriously I just took off the training wheels and held on to the back of her seat for 5 seconds and she was then riding by herself.  She was so proud of herself that she showed all of the neighbors that day and always wants to be outside “practicing”.

Mason is also proud of his big sister

Elder Jon Limary

Tia and I wanted to do something fun and spontaneous on Memorial Day weekend, so at the last minute we decided to hop on a plane to surprise our brother Jon, serving an LDS Mission in Denver, Colorado.

Tia and I both served missions about ten years ago (El Salvador and France) so we know what it’s like to be so far from family and friends for an extended period of time.  Contact from family is usually restricted to letters and two phone calls a year (Mother’s Day and Christmas).

We arrived on Friday morning and spent the day at the 80 acre, world famous, Denver Zoo.  The exhibits did not disappoint, and my personal favorite was obviously the reptile collection (they even had some large Komodo Dragons).

Friday night we drove to Jon’s address and surprised him by knocking on his window at 9:30pm (the missionaries live in the basement of a host family’s house).  He was definitely shocked (and happy) to see us show up out of the blue and we made plans for Saturday night dinner.

Saturday we spent a good six hours at the Denver Museum of Nature & Science.  Here we watched two iMAX productions: Hubble and Arabia.  It was my first time in an iMAX theater and both shows were well worth it.  The rest of the time was spent at the many exhibits.  Kalani’s favorite was Gems & Minerals.  Like his dad, Mason really seemed to enjoy the Wildlife Exhibits.  There’s a video below of him walking around chanting crazy Polynesian war cry.

That night we picked up Jon and his missionary companion and took them to Olive Garden for a relaxing dinner.  It was really fun to catch up and hear more about his mission (he doesn’t offer much detail in his emails).  He’s definitely matured a lot and looks great.

At the airport waiting for the car rental shuttle

Jon's first time meeting his nephew Mason

Moments before the surprise knock on the basement window

A herpetologist in the making

Below we see Mason’s Hawaiian side make an appearance as he bellows his ancient Polynesian war cry.

As some may know Matt and I decided to homeschool Kalani this past year…and we/I survived!  It wasn’t that bad or that big of a transition.  Well, I guess the biggest transition was throwing a baby (Mason) in the picture.

I joined a local homeschool group (Cypress Homeschool Association) and LOVED meeting new people through that.  These ladies are on top of things.  We participated in a Halloween Trunk or Treat, Thanksgiving Friendship dinner, Christmas party and a Co-op every Monday.  There were other activities, but we didn’t or couldn’t attend.  I also had Kalani involved in a homeschool singing choir (Super Singers) where she got to perform for friends and families and also sing to the elderly in assisted living locations.  And she also was in an Art Club and Book Club.   Let me tell you that this homeschool child is NOT socially awkward!

Halloween Trunk-or-Treat

Santa visited the kids at the Christmas Party

Kalani's mask from Art Club

Book Club Activity

Super Singer Homeschool Choir

I think that Kalani enjoys staying home with me…I know she likes to sleep until 8-9am.  Then we are done with school before noon.  If she went to the local elementary school she would board a bus around 8am and wouldn’t get home until after 4pm.  I just think that is too long of a day for a child.  Besides, she gets all (or at least most) of my attention during our “school hours, ” and we can take field trips all the time.  We have also met some fabulous friends through CHA and church members who homeschool.  If you want to homeschool, Texas is the place and I found the perfect niche.