Easter and Other Happenings

We got home from Houston after midnight on the day of Easter, so it was a little different this year.  No egg coloring in the days prior, no Easter bouquet or other common traditions.  We made sure to study the scriptures of Holy Week in the hotel in the evenings, but once we got home, all we really had the time/energy for was the egg hunt.  The kids still seemed to enjoy it, though.  We did our usual money game and the kids got about $17-22 each.  We also had the missionaries over for a dinner that Kelly prepared and that was wonderful.

In other happenings, I took a trip with the women of the stake to Kirtland this past weekend.  175 women in 3 tour buses.  It was fantastic.  I love Kirtland so much and the absolute highlight was the fireside inside the Nauvoo temple.  There were some amazing speakers and testimonies and beautiful musical numbers all while sitting in the seats facing the pulpit where Joseph Smith would’ve stood, just as the sun was setting and shining through upon all of us. The spirit was so strong there. I think one of my favorite things said was when the speaker shared D&C 84:2 which starts “yea the word of the Lord concerning his church established in the last days for the restoration of his people…”  She made the comment that the restoration is ongoing because what he’s really restoring is us. He has established his church for the purpose of restoring us to a covenant relationship with Him and that is a process that takes a lifetime. I thought that was really beautiful.

Track season has started and Christian is doing great.  He's running the 2 mile, 1 mile, and 800m.  So proud of how hard he's working.

Greenfield Village reopened and so we excitedly returned.  Looking at this picture, this horse looks so creepy!  I promise it's not in person.  

Peter was hoping we'd get to ride the open-top Model T but the Depot Hack rolled up when we were next, so we took that one.  It was just fun to be back riding the cars again.  Someday I want to work at Greenfield Village.  What an awesome place.

Let's Go to Houston

I was happily minding my own business thinking that my traveling was done for a little while when I got a call from Christian's robotics coach saying the team qualified for the world championship in Houston, Texas in 10 days and could Christian make it?  What!?!  I wasn't thrilled at the unplanned cost, but I'm never one to turn down a trip and this was a once in a lifetime opportunity, so off we went to Houston.

Peter came with us and we had a fantastic week down there.  At first it was wonderful to have some warmer temperatures but the excitement of that wore off fast.  I will never travel to Texas in the summer if that's what April is like.  So hot and humid!  In all other ways, the trip was great.

We stayed at the Hilton which had an indoor overpass directly into the convention center.  It couldn't have been more convenient.  The FIRST organization that ran the event went all out to make it fantastic.  Hundreds of teams from all over the world, live bands every day, giant lawn games, food trucks, face painters, caricature artists, etc.  My favorite part were the dozens of vendor's booths advertising their products while doing really cool hands-on demonstrations (anyone interested in dissecting a squid? testing your reflexes against a robot's? driving a VR tank? etc etc).  You never needed to leave the immediate area to have a great time.  Thankfully, because Christian was kept so busy that he never actually did leave the area until the event was over. 

The team did amazingly well and got further than any middle school team ever has at world's, so despite the loss in the play-offs, they have a lot to be proud of.  As a mom, I'm sad that the decision was made to let someone else drive the robot rather than my son who'd proven he was the best driver, but Christian was ok with the decision and after some time spent emotionally processing, he's okay with the result too.  He was a part of that decision after all, so even though it eventually proved to be the wrong decision, no one could have known that at the time.

The only playing around Christian did during the week was swimming in the evenings.  What a gorgeous view from the 24th floor - sunset over the city.

Peter wasn't willing to just sit and watch robotics matches all day so we watched what we could but we also made sure to have fun in the city.  The zoo, the aquarium, the natural history museum, the children's museum, and countless parks and playgrounds all made it onto the itinerary.  We had a great time.  Thanks to Houston's public transit system, we did all that traveling for less than $10 and the city pass allowed us admission to all the places for 50% off.  Even travel to and from the airport was a breeze because they have a bus that goes directly (no stops) from the airport to the convention center and back every 30 minutes for $4/person.  It was awesome.  It sounds like Houston is paying me to say that, but really, I just wish Detroit had better public transit.  Houston also has some no-nonsense fare police!  They were hard core don't-mess-with-us folks when it came to kicking free-loaders off the trains.  A little entertainment for us as we rode along.

The only somewhat down-side to the week was that the hotel had promised to put a pull-out couch in our room for Peter so he wouldn't have to share a bed with one of us, but they didn't.  When I got there they told me that such an addition was against fire-code even though they'd agreed to it on the phone.  They denied having said that and refused the accommodation.  "What can we do it make it up to you?" they asked.  "Free breakfast," I answered immediately because that had been my other stressor.  Breakfast buffet at the hotel was $30/person and there were no other convenient healthy food options nearby so early in the morning, as Christian had to be at his post by 8am every day.  "Happy to do that" was the reply and they proceeded to give me vouchers to cover all three of us for every day that we were there - a $360 value.  We had the best breakfast of anyone on the team, most of whom were stuck eating Starbucks muffins every morning.  We dined on the finest every day and I'd have to say of all the things we did and saw in Houston, the breakfast buffet was my favorite and the thing I miss the most.

But as for the other things we did, check out this guy's horns!!!  Only in Texas.

Every zoo needs animatronic dinosaurs. They never get tired or hungry and they are eerily realistic. Unlike all the actual real animals that are often sleeping, hiding, or "currently off exhibit."  I'm not sure who liked them more, me or Peter.

The Sam Houston statue next to Hermann Park.  (The best park in the city, imo).  Sam was definitely a controversial figure but it's an impressive monument and the funniest thing was that as we stood there reading the inscription, a family walked up and the dad starts telling his kids about how it was his great-great-great grandfather (I forgot exactly how many greats he said) that sold Sam Houston that horse that he's riding.  What a quirky legacy.

The coolest way to learn about the periodic table I'd ever seen - an interactive game that you play by running around and lighting up the elements.  I wanted to play so bad if there hadn't been a museum guard staring me down.

Hermann park had the best playground.  So many really cool play areas.

Peter's favorite part of the trip was probably Louie G's gelatto truck outside the convention center.

This playground was right outside the convention center and was the best we found in the city.

Complete with a hill to slide down Texas-style - on cardboard!!  So fun!

This was my favorite piece of art in the city - little fountains inside what looks like a construction zone.  How much more appropriate can you get for downtown? So cute and funny.

By the aquarium they had a little carnival.  Peter desperately wanted to ride the ferris wheel and the "lighthouse drop."  I rode the ferris wheel with him but I'd lose my lunch if I attempted the drop ride so he agreed to ride it alone. The ride conductor gave me a very confused look when I sent my little guy in there alone but he allowed it.  I worried Peter would freak out once it started, but he was laughing the whole time!  70 feet stomach lurching drop and he laughed hysterically.  He is one brave kid.

Funny note about that stroller - on day 1, the front left wheel broke off.  The metal fatigued and snapped.  So we were riding around on three wheels all week.  I just couldn't find a place to buy a new one that was less than an hour train ride away.  Not worth it.  We made it work, but that thing went in the trash immediately upon getting home because it was exhausting.   I guess after serving us in Chicago, Indianapolis, St. Louis, Jefferson City, Boston, and of course, Detroit, it decided Houston was just too much.

Hands-down the place we spent the longest amount of time was the Lego car building station at the children's museum.  Nearly 4 hours of building Lego cars and racing them down the track.  Is anyone surprised?  I'm not.  

Christian was able to go swimming with us in the evenings but otherwise he was too busy until Saturday to do much.  So we spent the last couple hours in Houston in Hermann park together and then we flew back home.  Definitely worth the trip.  We made some wonderful memories.

In case you're wondering, while we were gone, Kelly was crazy busy with tariff-related messes at Ford and Bella had a ton to do at school and work, but they made time to have a belated birthday dinner at Benihana's together.

Peter Update

Peter continues to grow and learn more everyday.   He's a lego master and he's become such a good swimmer that he's graduated out of the program so no more swim lessons for Peter.   He was also accepted into Webster - the same academically accelerated program that the other three attended.  We're very that he'll get to be there too.

We bought him two lego sets to work on during General Conference hoping it would keep him occupied.  Well, the joke's on us - he did all 3 cars and two motorcycles in one session.  Not even half of General Conference had passed.  After that he broke them all down to individual pieces and rebuilt them from scratch two more times.

On St. Patrick's day I made leprechaun rocks and then had him hunt.  He found every single one and then got to dissolve them to find the money hidden inside.  He loved to watch them fizz.

Where you'll find Peter every day:

Christian wants to make an athlete out of cerebral little Peter.  This is his attempt to teach him basketball.  It went ok until he took a ball to the face.  Then it was all tears and over in a flash.

Ice skating lessons are slowly getting better.  He's picking up some speed on the ice and actually seems to be having some fun out there.

I find pictures like this on my phone nearly every day.  This one highlights his other constant - eczema, especially around the mouth.  Some lotions help but the only sure fix I've found is a prescription steroid cream which I only use when it gets really bad.

More lego creations.

He went to the dentist a few weeks ago and I had to take a picture.  His depressed stoicism was going strong as he sat like a convicted felon in the chair waiting for his execution.  Those sunglasses they give the kids were the best part.

This was after he graduated from swim lessons.  All that's left is the swim team but after training with them once, he decided he didn't like it.  He kept up beautifully for the first 30 minutes and was every bit as good as the other kids, all of which were multiple years older and much taller than him, but he just wasn't used to swimming laps for 60 minutes!  He's never swum more than a few laps at a time and his lessons are only 30 minutes with lots of breaks.  So after 30 min, he tired out and started hating it.  I assured him that he just needed to build up stamina but he wasn't having it.  "When I'm much older, like 7, maybe I'll do it again," he told me.  I guess we'll just swim on our own this summer.  I'm still so proud of this guy - in 14 months he went from hating water to swimming all four strokes fluidly.  I really hope he does choose to go back some day because he's a natural.

One of his favorite places is sky zone.  This past time he dared to go on the big slide that's always scared him in the past.  He rocked it.  It was so fun to hear his laugh as he shot into the air!