Chicken Dance

For my birthday JD picked out this card with a chicken on it. When you open it plays the chicken dance song.

JD has danced all weekend for us. I have always thought JD's school was great but now I have PROOF!!! They are teaching him many of life's important lessons LIKE ---

THE CHICKEN DANCE!

Why eat out just once on the weekend of your birthday if you can convince the family to take you out TWICE. Friday we went to one of my favorite restaurants where they make their own homemade root beer. YUMMY!
Saturday night we went and had crabs. Double YUMMY! Why can't every weekend be my birthday?

Let Them Eat Cake

Since tomorrow is my birthday JD made me a cake.

He measured out the flour. (OK - he had a lot of help but don't burst his bubble if you see him. He thinks HE made a cake.)
He put on the decorations. We decided on Wall E and mini M&Ms since that is what we had in the pantry.

JD had to sample a few of the decorations to make sure they tasted good.

He decided I needed two candles on my cake and -- TA DA -- the masterpiece is finished. NO -- I am not telling you how many candles my cake REALLY needs. Let's just say we don't have a cake pan that big.

Art Appreciation

Two different people told me how much their children liked going to the art museum so JD and I decided to give it a try today. JD would not go into the European gallery. We looked through the door and it was too dark with pictures of spooky looking people in it. He found modern art more to his liking.

This red sports car was art that JD could appreciate.
We wandered among these sculpture pieces.

This penny sculpture was fun. This was art that you could actually touch.

I have to admit this wasn't our favorite summer outing but Thursday's admission was free so the price was right.

Tuesday's Excursion

We haven't been to the Children's Museum in quite awhile so we went to see what was new today.

This was a brand new exhibit with instructions and pretend ingredients to make tamales. JD practiced. He's ready to help at Christmas time.
He also turned the wheel on the kaleidoscope.
AND - he played this musical instrument.
TUESDAY PART II
Pioneer Day is one of my favorite holidays (also because it is my birthday). To get ready for the celebration JD and I turned his wagon into a covered wagon for the primary parade.
He started out pulling it. Just like all those folks headed west in the 1840s JD got tired.

He had to ride a little while too.

The Red Chicken

What has these dogs mesmerized?

Their current favorite toy . . .
. . . the red chicken. Well, it used to be a chicken before they ripped its legs and beak off.
Once in awhile LuLu wins the battle for the red chicken.

But when she does it isn't long before Libby is able to steal it back - sometimes right out of the black dog's mouth.

A Presidential Field Trip

We had a Saturday field trip to the George Bush Library. That's Bush 41 NOT 43. Bush's Library is on the Texas A&M campus. I knew when we planned a trip to Aggieland that I should expect hillbillies but THIS came as a surprise.
These two boot clad young men stood in line in front of us at the McDonald's right across the street from Kyle Field. George couldn't figure out why I was taking a picture but I couldn't let this fashion disaster go undocumented.

We made our way past all the animal clinics and cow fields to the museum.

WARNING - I took lots of pictures starting with this Bush 41 train.

JD thought this really big car looked fun.

He plotted on ways to win the first Persian Gulf war in the situation room.

We learned about life in the White House.

I had a serious chat with George.

JD likes Star Wars on his TV but was afraid of this Yoda when he was life size.

JD and I had one last photo disguised as astronauts. It was a fun adventure.

THE Bookcase

George and I have been thinking of moving and pulled the fliers from half a dozen houses for sale in the neighborhood we like. PLEASE don't notify the change of address people yet. We have been "thinking" of moving for quite awhile now.
I showed JD one of the fliers from the houses and asked if he wanted to move to a new house. He said, "No, that house doesn't have a bookcase." Well, there you go. We can't move because we would have to leave behind this bookcase that holds all JD's books and dvds.

Primary Lesson

JD's primary lesson today was on families. He cut and pasted this picture of his family. Notice there are TWO dogs in his picture along with the appropriate number of people. When I asked him about his artwork JD said, "I have two dogs, Lulu and Libby." and pointed them out to me.

Happy Independence Day

Our family went to see Ice Age this morning. George snored through the beginning and I snoozed through the ending but JD seemed to like it. At least he watched the whole thing without going out to the bathroom even once. That's a record and a sure indicator that he liked the movie.

Hooray for Grandma's House

George had today off for the 4th of July so we headed to the wide open spaces of Grandma's house. Libby took her ball.

JD took his motorcycle.
The young pups played and played.
The old dogs sat around in the shade.

Everybody was tired out for the ride home. You know they are SERIOUSLY tired when JD can't finish his chicken nuggets and Libby isn't trying to steal them.

Another Field Trip

JD and I had another summer field trip. Too bad Dad has to work all the time. Someone has to finance our fun!
We went a Aquarina Springs to ride on the boats. Before our boat ride we went on this Wetlands walk.

JD said the water was really yucky!

Every since Dad went fishing JD has been wanting to ride a boat. This was the best boat ride I could come up with. The boats are 50 years old and a little creaky but they worked.

The views were pretty.

JD could not resist sticking his head out the window even though our tour guide kept insisting it was dangerous. HA - we were going 3 miles an hour and there wasn't anything nearby I figured she was being overly cautious and didn't worry about it.

The boats have glass bottoms so you can see the fish below.

The rubber snakes in the gift shop were also fun.

Of course no summer field trip would be complete without a trip to our favorite eatery with the golden arches. We hit the jackpot with this one. It had an INDOOR AIR CONDITIONED playground. WOO HOO!!!