Sunday Excursions

When I was younger my family would load up on a Sunday for a ride in the country or sometimes a daytrip to some site that my parents had read about. I particularly remember doing this after we first moved to Texas. My dad had this thick yellow Texas travel book that he kept on the shelf of his nightstand. He would pull it out every so often and find places for us to go. This was one of my favorite books, and I remember going to get it out of my parent's bedroom every so often so that I could look through it.

This past weekend, I had this yearning to recapture the spirit of those days. I pulled out my travel book, which isn't thick or yellow, but serves the same purpose. It describes possible family adventures in every area of Texas. We decided to go to Glen Rose, the dinosaur capital of Texas, to visit Dinosaur World. We woke up early Sunday morning, packed our picnic lunch, filled our thermos with coffee and headed out for our adventure.

We arrived minutes after Dinosaur World opened and were the first visitors of the day to greet the dinosaurs. There was a paved trail that lead us through the park. Every few feet there was a different set of dinosaurs. Hogan ran through the whole trail, while Troy and I kept a leisurely pace, reading the informational signs. When Hogan wanted us to see a particular dinosaur he would stop and wait for us to catch up. He even directed me to take his picture (see the first one) with his favorite dinosaurs.

After finishing the trail, Hogan got to dig in the fossil pit. It's designed for kids to find lots of fossils and at the end of the 15-minute dig, Hogan got to pick out three fossils to keep. He chose the sharpest, biggest shark teeth. We played on the playground for a little while and then headed to the State Park just down the road to see actual dinosaur footprints.

And then we headed back home- my childhood spirit completely sated.

Baseball

Here's a little footage of Hogan playing with his birthday present from Nana and Papa G. I think we may have a baseball star in the making! :)

Happy Birthday!

Hogan celebrated his 3rd birthday last Thursday with his friends at Going Bonkers. The name of this place is very fitting as it is exactly what happens to the kids while they're there. It is a kid heaven- a climbing, sliding, swinging, jumping, arcade-game playing paradise. I don't think I saw Hogan except for the cake eating and present opening. He was on the go from the time we got there until the very end.

It's hard to believe that he's three. In some ways these past three years have felt decades long, and I'm pretty sure that three years of being a parent is not doing me any good in the aging department. But in other ways it feels like just yesterday that Troy and I got the call from our caseworker giving us the good news of Hogan's birth. We had waited months for that call and years for a child. And when Hogan finally was able to come home with us I remember studying his face wondering who he would be and what kind of little boy he would become. And now that Hogan's three and that little boy is right before me I try to remember what was in that baby face that is still here today. He has the same bright eyes that are always curious and thinking. He has the same strong body that is always ready to try something new. He has the same sweet cheeks that open into a smile (but not too often- we always had to work to get that smile, he was too much of a thinker).

And what does he have now that I could never have guessed no matter how hard I studied that face? A sense of drama, a touch of a Texas accent (where did that come from?), an expressive face that gives away all of his thoughts, musicality, bossiness (or shall we say administrative flair?), and an energetic, but gentle spirit.

So, here's to many more years. I'm sure there is more to discover about Hogan- already there is much to remember.

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year everyone! We hope that this year is full of wonderful adventures and blessings!

Christmas

We had such a lovely Christmas at home. This was the first year that Hogan really got the idea of Christmas morning and opening presents. I love that he is so happy with simple things. He absolutely loved his Thomas umbrella and roller skates. We spent a good part of Christmas day out on his skates trying to figure them out. And when he got to Oma and Opa's house a couple of days later he wanted to skate to the park (which is a good ten minute walk away- he made it to the corner before he had to give up the dream and hop in the wagon).

However, even though Hogan loves simple things, he is still a kid who can always find a toy that he needs. Last night at Target we went down the toy aisle. Hogan picked up a toy and showed it to Troy and said, "Santa forgot to leave this one at my house." So, needless to say, Hogan is sad to see the end of the Santa for this year.

cookies for santa

Making Christmas cookies is one of my favorite memories from when I was a child. There was nothing better than sugar cookies and powdered sugar frosting. So- I got out my Betty Crocker cookbook and we made some sugar cookies from scratch AND the frosting too. It was a fun way to spend our Christmas Eve day. That night Hogan helped me write a letter to Santa. He was very concerned about Santa's reindeer and wanted Santa to know that two of the cookies were for the reindeer. And then he carefully picked out the cookies choosing the very prettiest ones. It was really very sweet.

My scientist

Let me introduce you to Gak- a gluey, stretchy, very fun to touch substance made of glue, borax, and water. Miss Judy at Hogan's school introduced us to the stuff and this was one of the things that Hogan wanted to make at home over the Christmas break. We had such fun exploring the properties of Gak. Hogan set up his own little experiment once he discovered that Gak will drip all the way to the floor. he set up different amounts of Gak to drip off the counter and watched it slowly gloop its way down.