A visit to the Texas Military Forces Museum

One day last week, the kids and I visited the Texas Military Forces Museum at Camp Mabry. We drive past Camp Mabry all the time, and every time one of the kids will say, "I wish we could go there some day!" and I'll respond with, "Yeah, we should visit some time!" Well, we finally got to go last week! 

The main reason for our visit was Oliver's current interest in the military (and also it was free!), and I knew that Theodore would also enjoy looking at the tanks and military vehicles. Buttercup was adamant that she did NOT want to go, but I reminded her that sometimes we all have to do things we don't want to do. ;-)  She wasn't too happy about being there, as seen in the next two pictures . . .  

 . . . then once we got inside, she immediately noticed the section of the museum devoted to the Civil War cavalry, and after talking to this horse statue for a couple of minutes, she was in a much better mood. :-) 

I wasn't sure how long we would last in the museum based on Miss B's mood and Theodore not getting a nap that day, but we managed to stay for an hour and a half! And everyone had a good time!

Lots and lots of vehicles . . .  

Everyone enjoyed taking a turn sitting in this cockpit :-)

When we got to this car, Theodore ran right over and shouted, "OH, YEAH! This one my FAVORITE!!!" Ha ha ha!

A combat bike?  :-)

This is an anti-tank obstacle used at Omaha Beach. 


After we had our fill of wandering around inside the museum, we went outside and explored the tanks and other vehicles outside. It was a fun trip and I definitely think we'll go back another time! :-) 

Summer bucket list

In May, we made our summer bucket list -- things we wanted to do before the end of the summer. We didn't get everything done on our list, but we got most of them checked off!

Things on the list that we did: 
swim at the "other" YMCA (i.e. the one with a fun outdoor pool and waterslides)
go to sprinkler parks
ride the train downtown
make mud
Lake Pflugerville
jump at Jumpoline
Rock 'n River Waterpark
Creekside Pool (or the "Pool With a Diving Board" as the kids call it) :-)
Zilker Park
get snowcones
have a water balloon fight
Bull Creek
New Braunfels Children's Museum
Waco Zoo
Austin Children's Museum
Emma Long Beach
science experiments
art projects
bowling
Austin Nature & Science Center
play with the hose

Things that we didn't get around to:
swimming at Blue Hole
Children's Day Art Park
Pioneer Farms 
Zilker Botanical Gardens

So, we didn't get around to doing 4 things, but there's always next year! Here are some pictures :-)

One of our visits to Lake Pflugerville:

Rock 'n River Waterpark, where Theodore showed off his fearlessness by going down the 4 foot water slide by himself, and jumping in from the side:

You can just barely see Theodore in the splash of water in the pool below:  :-)

Jumpoline, such a fun place to play on a hot afternoon when everyone is tired of going swimming. Too bad it's so expensive!! We only went once. :-P

At the Nature & Science Center:

 Making mud:

More mud:

Popsicles!

At the Creekside Pool:

Bowling:

Gotta love bowling shoes. They're much cuter on a 4 year old!

One of our few attempts at science experiments:

I guess you could call this a baby science experiment . . . shaving cream and food coloring. :-) 

Two birds with one stone -- snowcones at Zilker Park!  :-)  

Here are a whole slew of pictures from Emma Long Beach!

Theodore with his best baby friend!

Theodore loved watching the speedboats (which also created waves for us!):

What a fun summer with my favorite little people! 

Playing at the "far away" museum

Oliver has the week off from school, and we've been having so much fun with him at home. :-) When I first told him that he had a break from school coming up, one of the first things he said that he wanted to do was go to the "far away" children's museum. We decided to go today, and it was our best visit yet! Everyone was so well behaved, the museum was not crowded at all, and we just had a great time.

And as always, I'm amazed at how well Theodore does in the car, skipping his usual nap and meal times, etc. It definitely makes things easier for me. :-)