Off to Sunny Florida

Even though we were up extremely late the night before, we woke up at our usual time the next morning. We had breakfast at our hotel, then set out to explore a little more. We walked to the French Quarter, which gave us a chance to show Dad and Mom how tired we were, especially Turner and Hazel. We walked through Jackson Square, where we saw lots of artists and some palm readers, then found a bathroom and an ATM before giving in to the heat and humidity. We rode the streetcar back to the hotel and hit the road, which gave Turner, Hazel and Mom a chance to catch some ZZZs.

Because we hit some traffic and some of us were so grouchy, we skipped our planned trip for the day but the Florida welcome center was pretty fun. We found an astronaut, orange and grapefruit juice samples, and an alligator tried to eat Mom. It was more exciting than we expected.

I found a frogfish!

The most exciting part of the day though, was when we arrived at our destination – Aunt Jen and Uncle Ben’s house. We got there in time to play with Annabelle and have pizza before bed. We needed some sleep because we had a big day ahead of us.

The next morning, we woke up and were quiet so we wouldn’t wake up Annabelle. It gave us a chance to play with our Kindles and for Mom and Dad to sleep in a little.

Next, we headed to St. Andrews beach. We started looking for creatures and quickly found a frogfish. I caught it in my clear container with holes in the lid, looked at it for a while, then carefully set it free. Later on we found a hermit crab and did the same thing with it.

Uncle Ben + a gaggle of kids

We had a blast playing with Annabelle, digging in the sand, looking for shells and swimming in the waves. We all went home exhausted, but Uncle Ben and Aunt Jen revived us with an amazing dinner.

The next day we went to a city called Seaside with Aunt Jen, Uncle Ben and Annabelle. We walked around, had lunch and snow cones, and Mom and I jumped in the waves for a few minutes before heading back. Hazel’s arms were a little pink that day, so we needed a bit of a break from the sun.

Our last full day in Florida, we headed back to the beach again. Dad and I spent a lot of time on the ocean side of the beach, which had bigger waves. Then Mom and Turner joined us and Mom found two more hermit crabs. Then we joined everybody for more time digging and swimming on the calmer side of the beach. As we were leaving the beach, we stopped at Alligator Pond to see what we could find. Sure enough, we found an alligator! It looked at us from where it was floating in the water, and Turner couldn't believe it was real.

Aunt Jen made me a great birthday party!

We wrapped up our visit with yet another delicious dinner made by Uncle Ben, and he and Aunt Jen surprised me with a birthday party! She made me a delicious chocolate cake with chocolate icing, as I requested, and I was pretty surprised when she brought it out and everyone started singing.

Uncle Ben, Aunt Jen and Annabelle gave me a book set I was really excited about, since I knew I could read it in the car on the rest of the trip. I couldn’t stop smiling when they gave it to me, and I said, “Now I’ll never be bored again!” 

It was a really great visit, and we especially had a great time with Annabelle. We all liked making her smile and giggle, and reading with her. 

Click here to see all our photos from the Florida leg of our trip.

Hitting the road to Louisiana

On June 20, we kicked off this year’s road trip. We got up bright and early in the morning, hopped in the car, and hit the road.

Louisiana has a weird way of welcoming visitors

Our first big stop was in Lake Charles, Louisiana. We had a great picnic lunch, then the real fun began. Before our trip, Dad scouted out lots of cool stops for us, including this great park that had a fantastic playscape that had sections that looked like a treehouse, a pirate ship and a castle, and also had a seesaw, which we all really liked, and low monkey bars that Hazel had fun on. The other side of the park had a splash pad, which was perfect for such a hot day.

After a couple hours there, we headed on to our overnight destination, New Orleans. After unloading the car and checking into our room, we headed out on the town. 

Fun at Millennium Park

We walked a bit and to a New Orleans streetcar. It looked just like the trolley from Daniel Tiger. It was fun riding on it. 

We took the streetcar to the French Quarter, where we walked along the Mississippi River. We saw lots of things, including an aquarium with a huge outdoor bird section and a steamboat. There were lots of people on skateboards and bikes. I almost ran into some of them, and they yelled, “Stop! Stop!” at me. After I moved out of their way, I laughed and yelled to Mom and Dad, “This place is crazy!” They thought that was pretty funny.

Walking around New Orleans

Then we had dinner. The menu was pretty exotic, and we all had the chance to try alligator for the first time. We agreed it tasted better than we expected.

After dinner, we were surprised by a Pride parade right in front of our restaurant. We saw lots of fun costumes, and people in the parade gave us lots of candy and fun bead necklaces.

Beignets at Cafe du Monde

When that excitement ended, we walked through the neighborhood to a famous restaurant, Café du Monde. Mom had coffee and we all had their famous beignets. They were delicious; we especially loved eating (and wearing) the powdered sugar.

By that time, it was very late so we took the streetcar back to our hotel so we could get a good night’s sleep before continuing our adventure. Mom asked me if I liked the city and I told her, “It’s pretty good but also pretty stinky.” We all felt like we kicked our trip off to a good start.

Click here to see the first leg of our trip, in Louisiana.

I loved Cub Scout Camp!

Wow, we started the first week of summer off the right way!

I spent last week at Cub Scout camp. It was super fun. The best part was that Mom volunteered so she, Hazel, and Turner got to come too. Unfortunately, Turner and Mom got strep throat, so they all only came at the end of the week.

We did so many activities. There was archery, swimming, hiking, crafts, water slides, a water balloon battle, and even shooting BB guns. We built a stand for our Pinewood Derby cars out of wood, and only one scout smashed his finger with a hammer. We also did lots of science activities.

One of the activities -- the squirt gun battle -- was so fun, we did it again at home Saturday morning, the day after camp was over. It was a blast, and we all were soaked. Even Mom.

Most of the kids at camp were nice. One of the den walkers was a man named Scott who really took me under his wing. He asked me and another boy who likes math as much as I do a whole bunch of word problems. He also asked us random facts like country capitals, which is one of my specialties.

Thursday was my favorite day because we spent two hours swimming at a place called Rock'n River. There was a pool with a huge water slide. My den walkers tried to convince me to go down the slide. I almost did but ended up deciding against it. My favorite part was the lazy river. It was a circle with a current. My buddy and I did the lazy river a few times.

Hazel in front of the archery

Friday, Mom, Turner and Hazel joined me for the fun. Mom walked with my den, and Hazel and Turner did the Tot Lot, which was where siblings went. They did most of the things we did, and they had a blast. Mom was happy to spend the day with me, and glad she had the chance to see what camp was all about and meet the people I spent the week with.

We had some extremely early mornings and long days, and it was an exhausting week, but this was a really great way to wrap up my first year of Scouts. At the end of the first day, I told Mom it was some of the most fun I've ever had. Friday afternoon I said I want to do it all again next summer.

End of the School Year

Making fondue smores at our camping party

I can't believe how fast this year has gone by. The entire school year just ended. I finished first grade, Hazel finished kindergarten, and Turner finished another year of preschool.

The last few weeks of school were pretty hectic. There were lots of parties and lots of activities. It was very fun.

One of the fun activities was Career Day at school. Dad came to volunteer that day, so he helped take Hazel's class around to visit all of the different careers they were showing. We saw a fire truck, a policeman, several construction vehicles, a refrigerated meals-on-wheels truck that we got to go inside (Brrr!), and even a tow truck that was painted just like 'Mater from the movie "Cars."

Hazel's kindergarten party

Dad had to leave before it was over, but Mom came by later and we all got to watch a helicopter land on the school soccer field! It was all very exciting, but I don't think Hazel or I have changed our minds about what we want to do when we grow up.

First graders went on our second trip of the year. We went to the Austin Nature Center, which was super fun. There were lots of birds and animals to learn about. I really like watching a show called "Wild Kratts," which is all about animals. So I was very interested. Mom came along and she had a lot of fun too.

Hazel on the slide
at her kindergarten party

There was also an awards ceremony at the end of the school year. I got the Technology Award, since I'm always helping my teachers with their computer problems. Hazel got the Most Dependable award. Dad wasn't so sure about that one because she was sick and missed a lot of school this year.

To wrap up the year, our classes celebrated at end of the year parties. Mine had a camping theme. We went around to each first grade classroom and did a different activity. The whole thing culminated at a pizza picnic outside. Mom was able to stop by to hang out for a bit before moving on to Hazel's party, which Mom helped organize.

Hazel and her friend at Kiddie Acres

Hazel's party was outside. Each class had a station, where they had three or four activities. Hazel's class had watermelon eating, tattoos, duck duck goose, and a sponge relay game. Other stations had more games, cotton candy and popsicles, and a huge inflatable water slide.

Meanwhile, Turner hung out at his friend's house, where they did all kinds of fun things outside, like played in a water table full of bubbles, and ate lots of yummy food.

Turner wrapped up his year of preschool with some new interests. He is really into math and writing. He's pretty amazing at all of it, but he gets very frustrated when he can't write letters perfectly. We know he'll figure it out if he just practices some more. We're proud of him.

Turner loved the airplanes at Kiddie Acres

On the last day of school, we celebrated by going to Kiddie Acres with some friends. Turner, Mitch and I rode every ride, including the ponies. It was a great way to start the summer!

Last weekend, Dad spent some extra time with Hazel and me while Mom and Turner went to a birthday party. Since the weather was so nice, we spent the time outside as much as possible. Dad took us to Mansfield Dam, where we could see how much the lakes had filled up the past few weeks from all the rain. He also took us to a place called Ski Shores on lake Austin, where Hazel and I played with some not-so-friendly swans.


Mom and I are really looking forward to the summer. Hazel is a little bummed about school being over.

Mom and Dad are really proud of how well we all did this year.  Now on to summer!

Hazel's a growing 6 year old!

Hazel had her 6-year-old checkup recently. She was very excited because she didn't need to get any shots. She is continuing to grow very well. She checked in at 43.5 inches (20th percentile) and 45 lbs (50th percentile). Click here to see her latest growth chart.

Funny things kids say

The other day Mom heard this funny conversation:

Hazel: "One day when Turner and I are married and I'm President..."
Mom: "Hazel, you can't marry your brother"
Hazel: "Why not?"
Mom: "Its against the law"
Hazel: "Well, when I'm President, I'm going to change the law"

Happy birthday Hazel

Hazel turned six a couple weekends ago. We were very excited for her.

Bubbe came to visit to help us celebrate. We went to a great dinner at Threadgill's, a place we hadn't been to in a long time. There was lots of yummy food, and a big tractor for us to climb on afterwards.

Bubbe braved our school cafeteria

Friday, Mom, Bubbe and Turner prepared for Hazel's birthday while Hazel and I went to school. Also, Mom and Bubbe picked up Taco Cabana and came over to have lunch with us at school. After school, the city of Austin gave all of us a gift, when the workmen took down the fence around our playground, which they've been working on for the better part of a year. We are very excited to have our park back, bigger and better than before.

Friday night, the forecast was calling for storms, so we stayed in and had pizza delivered. Bubbe got us all presents to open, and Hazel got to open a few of her birthday gifts early.

The weather cleared up pretty nicely the next morning for Hazel's birthday party. We held it at a great park (not the same one's as Turner's). There were lots of fun games and yummy food, and TONS of kids came. At Hazel's birthday party, Turner was clearly feeling a little bit jealous. He kept running around telling everyone he was four, but he was very excited because a couple of his best friends were there.

Hazel, holding court at her party

After the party, we all came home exhausted and napped, then Hazel opened ALL of her gifts. It seemed like she had a million presents, and she really liked everything she received. It was nice that so many people helped make her birthday special.

Saturday night we got to play with Bubbe while Mom and Dad went out to dinner, and then ran some errands. Mom and Dad were amazed at how much they could accomplish with no kids in tow.

We were also excited at what we could accomplish while Mom and Dad were gone. We made a birthday "surprise" for Mom, since her birthday is the day after Hazel's. Saturday night, we made brownies with Bubbe, then when Mom woke up Sunday morning, we gave them to her at breakfast. She was surprised by our timing but not by the brownies, since Hazel had kind of told her about them already. After breakfast, Mom opened all her fun birthday gifts. It was a fun day for Mom.

Sunday we took Bubbe to the airport and Dad and I went to a Tiger Cub event at a golf range. I got to hit some golf balls and put some on a putting green. After about 20 minutes, I told Dad I thought golf was pretty boring. Dad agreed.

Speaking of sports, I've been playing a lot more basketball lately. Dad and I play on a real goal at the school near our house. And I've been taking a class at Mom's gym where we learn to shoot, pass, and dribble. Mom and Dad are pretty impressed with how much I've been into it.