Our Spring Break

We had so much fun during this week off from school. The latter part of the week was a tad more hectic than the beginning. But now that the week is coming to a close, I'm hoping for a nice and relaxing weekend ahead. In case you were wondering what we were up to... The beginning of the week, we rested most of the time. I did a few projects for Madi's room. I hung some art/prints on her wall and hung a bulletin and dry erase board. Just part of my effort to make it "hers." I started Silver Linings Playbook on Saturday night, and finished it Monday. I hate when you get so into a book that you don't really know how to continue on when you finish it. (lol) We spent some time at parks around here. There has been such nice weather all week, we had to get out some. Tuesday, we went to a park in the Woodlands and I ran pushing her in the jogging stroller. It is 2x as hard as running by yourself. But she's good encouragement ;) Then Wednesday, Daddy came with us and we took turns running. He took her walking around while I ran, and then we traded. I beat my 5K time and chopped off 2 1/2 minutes. I was SO excited. On Wednesday night, Clayton and I went with some friends of mine from high school to the Houston Livestock Show & Rodeo to see Jake Owen. We had such a good time. The performance was amazing, and the company was even better.  

 Then the chaos began! We went to the Houston Children's Museum with our playdate buddies Holly and Izzy. Izzy's big sister Ellz came along for the ride too. So that's three adults, two toddlers, and an 8 year old, at the museum during Spring Break. It was crazy there. So many people, and lines, and kids, etc. You couldn't walk in a straight line for 4 feet without bumping into someone. However- the kids had a blast. We hung out in the main area for awhile and let them run around, and then found some quiet refuge in the Tot Spot. Madi led Clayton and I into a little area for toddlers that had no kids, and said, "Come on. There's too many people over there." I think the crowds got to her too. Despite the crowds, Madi left super excited about her day. Which was the main goal in the first place. Plus, we slept good that night for sure! 

 

she's a kisser :*

 

the ever so popular squinty-eyed smile

 

On Friday, My mom, neice, Madi and I headed towards Galveston to go to Moody Gardens. We anticipated crowds there too but it was not near as bad as the Museum. We definitely hit some traffic going there and back but Moody Gardens was a breeze in comparison. We went into the Aquarium and literally 10 minutes after going in, my camera died. (After I was bragging about how long the battery pack lasted!) So, there aren't many pictures to show. The ones I do have were taken quickly by my phone. It was nice walking around without a bulky camera though!  

 

 

 

Like I said... she's a kisser

 

I spy... two little girls

 

It's safe to say that we are POOPED. Madi fell asleep talking about all of the animals we saw today. She said, "We saw birds chirping, fishies swimming, butterfly's flying... what else did we see, Mommy?" and then fell asleep as I was about to reply. I am so happy that she had a good week, and that we got to "relax" and get away from school and our normal routine for a bit. This weekend, we're spending time with family and going to take as many naps as we can before the week begins again. I hope that everyone had an awesome break! We sure did :) (Madi and Me is now featured on TopMommyBlogs.com! If you like reading this blog, vote for us. Just click the link, or the icon on the right side bar. All it takes is 2 clicks.)

Date Day Adventures: Geocaching at Sunrise!

Okay, I think that my husband and I have officially found a new hobby: Geocaching. I had never even heard of it until a few days ago when he introduced it to me. He had only found a few "micro's" (tiny cache's with only a log book) in the Kingwood area and when he told me about it, we decided to go try and find more stuff. But I guess that I should kind of explain what geocaching is before I continue... A "cache" is a weather-proof container that someone hides somewhere and registers the coordinates so other people can go search for it. These container's contain log books (which you sign when you find it), trinkets that people have left there, and little GPS devices which you can take and place in another cache. It is SO much fun. Plus, it's free (other than gas to get you around), and it's exercise! I am positive that we hit out 10,000 step goal for the day.  

   

  We left at sunrise this morning, maybe a little after, and started searching. The Geocaching App for iPhone is awesome. You can see where every cache is in the area you are. We found about 15 within a 5 mile radius of my house. I explored area that I've lived in for years but it all seemed new to me. I've never been under the bridge at the end of my road, or walked through the woods a few miles away. We also found a cache near the cemetery that my Grandfather's brother's and parents are buried at so we got to visit them while we were there.  

  Some of the cache's were easy to find, some not so much. The app has a place for the person who hid it to give you a description, a hint, and photos. Some are fairly easy, and some are hidden pretty well. We looked for one for like half an hour and the GPS said we were within 5 feet of it but couldn't find it anywhere. Finally I picked up a black rock and it ended up being hollow with an "Official Geocache" sticker on it. I pulled the middle out and there was the log. For another one, we walked about .2 miles down a trail and then ventured into the woods to find a giant ammunition box in the woods with a bunch of cool trinkets and the log book dated back 5 years. Definitely worth the hunt.  

 

It's strange to me that I've lived in this area literally all my life but have never really appreciated it. I always say, "Oh I want to live there! It's so pretty!" But in all reality, I've never just looked around. I noticed so many beautiful things today as we were exploring. It's not that I've never drove by these areas, it's that I've never taken the time to appreciate them. There's beauty all around if you take the time to look.

 

Little treasures are hidden, you just have to seek them out.

 

Spring Is In The Air, A Picture Post

Ok ok- I know Spring isn't officially until March but if you live in Texas, you know it goes from cool to HOT quick around here. The last week or so has been wonderful! Perfect temperatures and so much sunlight. I love weather like this. I have a very hard time doing anything when it's colder than 50 degrees outside. I need sunlight and a warm breeze to function and that's exactly what we have had the past week or two. With Texas weather, you kind of have to take advantage of good weather as it comes because the next day could be the complete opposite. So, we've been spending a majority of our time outdoors. That's where Madi is happiest too. I am also working on a project that I will show y'all in about a week, so look for that soon! For now, I hope you enjoy this "picture post." :)   

 

 

It is like pulling teeth trying to get her to look AT the camera, so I'm pretty glad I at least got one close up ;)

 

 

Like I said, stay tuned the next week or so for a debut of a special project I'm working on. If you're an outdoorsy person, this means YOU! :)