houston

July 23, 2013

houston

June 30-July 6

In April, right before Janssen was born, my parents moved from Bartlesville to Houston. Since then, we have been wanting to take a trip down to Houston to visit and see their new house. Because Colby was already off work for a few days around the 4th of July, we thought that might be a good week. So, we loaded up the car and off we went! Well, it wasn’t quite that easy (packing for four including a newborn and toddler is a lot of work!), but I’ll spare you all the details of getting ready and get right to the fun stuff!

Saturday

We drove one mile down the road to grab some lunch at McDonald’s and as soon as we stopped the car Miller said, “Are we at grandma’s?”. No, buddy, not yet. We have a long way to go! Janssen screamed the entire way from our house to McDonald’s. My worst fears were already coming true just one mile into the trip!

Janssen absolutely hates his car seat, so we were really worried about how he would do for 8 hours in the car.We thought of lots of different options so that he would be happy in the car including driving at night, but decided against it. We did try one of our neighbor’s car seats to see if a different brand car seat would make a difference, but it didn’t.  Surprisingly (and thankfully!), with a little bit of swaddling, white noise (thank you iPhone!), pacifying, and a few baby-wearing and feeding stops, he slept almost that whole way! Miller also did really well on the trip to Houston. We set him up with movies to watch and games to play on the iPad and he stayed occupied and happy the entire way! We actually made the entire trip in 8 hours and 15 minutes with only 2 stops!

Miller started out with a little nap.

A baby-wearing stop.

Ice cream!

Miller gave Janssen Shamrock to help calm him down.

We made it!

Sunday

Maddie and Isaac were coming over for dinner, so we decided to hang out at my parent’s house and go swimming,

First, a little lunch at The Shack.

Game time with Grandpa.

Swimming!

Monday

The water went out before any of us had a chance to get ready for the day, so we took Miller to the splash pad and then headed into Houston to meet Maddie and Isaac for dinner at Rajun Cajun.

Maddie and the boys.

Tuesday

We took Miller to Brenham to the Bluebell factory. Miller had a blast! He was most fascinated with the people working at the factory. We couldn’t take any pictures during the actual tour, but here are some pictures before and after the tour:

At the end of the tour, we each got a free scoop of ice cream. Miller got mint chocolate chip. We also tried the new flavor, rockslide brownie. Yummy!

With the Bluebell statue.

Wednesday

Beach day! My dad took off work and we headed to Galveston to the beach. This was Miller’s first time to ever go to the beach!

Good morning!

On our way!

At the beach, ready for lunch.

Testing out the water.

Playing in the sand. 

Sand castles with Daddy.

Janssen sleeping in the shade with Grandma.

Sandcastles with Grandpa. Miller collected feathers to use as flags. Daddy helped him create a moat. He was so proud! He told people who walked by, “Look at my moat!”

It took a little convincing but we finally got him into the ocean.

Jumping the waves.

In the water.

Everyone was worn out after the beach.

What a fun day! Miller loved the beach! I can’t wait to take him back!

Thursday

The 4th of July and Daddy’s birthday!

Miller napping.

My dad’s Uncle Jim and Aunt Betty invited us over for dinner on the 4th of July. It was a lot of fun to see them, but it was definitely not a children’s party. Unfortunately, we missed fireworks this year. I think Miller would have had more fun running around outside and watching fireworks, but we will watch them next year. Here are some pictures of the boys and our family on the 4th of July.

Friday

My dad was still off work, so we took Miller to the Houston Children’s Museum. It was absolutely packed, but it was a lot of fun!

They were having a superhero theme for the summer.

Superhero show. Telephone man saves the brain from villain and keeps all the kids from getting bored during the summer. 

Grandpa helped him make a parachute.

Saturday

Time to head home.

Last morning at Grandma and Grandpa’s.

We stopped at Buc-ees on the way home.

The ride home did not go nearly as well as the ride to Houston. Janssen fussed despite using all the same methods that we used on the way there and Miller was restless and not interested in watching movies on the iPad. The ride home took about 10 hours and 30 minutes. But, we made it home and we had an awesome time in Houston. Hopefully we will get to visit again soon!

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