Hacking it up

Wednesday, October 28, 2009

Pumpkin Patch

On our way home from Houston, we stopped at the Elgin Christmas Tree Farm.

????? you say?

They also have a fun Pumpkin Patch this time of year
complete with...

Hay rides...for riding...

..and hay stacks for jumping...

Cool old tractors...

and a maze...where CLEARLY lance is lost....and apparently blind since he's got his hands out feeling his way around....

And of course lots of pumpkins!!!

Chase and Conor find their perfect pumpkins right away....Conor likes to imitate his...

Madi finds hers...

Lauren finds hers....

Then they compare... mine's bigger than yours!

Wyatt was by FAR the pickiest pumpkin picker.
He dragged Lance all over the pumpkin Patch...

He had to check every square inch of each one...

Success!!
Everyone has one!

Day 2 :Terra Cotta Warriors

Day 2: Terra Cotta Soldier Exhibit at the Houston Museum of Science
Here we are striking our archer poses like the dude on the poster....except we're not made of Terra Cotta....

We were really excited to be able to go see these dudes. This is the first and last time they will ever leave China. They are only going to 4 cities in the U.S. ...and Houston was one of them!! They are now in their final city before they head back on a slow boat to China--Washington,D.C., so any of you folks live out there, you HAVE to go check these guys out!
They are cool.

Here we are by one of the warriors...right before my kids knocked it over and shattered it to pieces.... Just kidding...it's a replica....and they really didn't break it....at least I don't THINK it was my kids that did that...

This is "the General"
I'm not quite sure what Conor was planning to do to him....
Right before we entered the exhibit, a lady who apparently works at the museum asked if we came to see "The Boys"-- as she informed us that she likes to call them--when we said yes, she showed us a picture on her iphone of a full scale replica of one of "the boys" that she has sitting on her front porch guarding her front door.

????

That lady needs to get out more.....I think she's watched night at the museum too many times...I think she thinks they all come to life at night....

Apparently I've seen too many Indiana Jones movies though...because I always pictured this little Chinaman out digging in his field and voila! Would you lookey here! It is an army of Terra Cotta soldiers!!

Like this.

I should call Dr. Jones and tell him of my marvelous find!!

nope.

they looked like this when that little Chinaman farmer found them

and this...

Dang.
It's going to take all the kings horses and all the kings men for this one...

...but I don't think they'll be much help...

The detail on these guys is amazing!
Their heads were put on the bodies very last, then they individualized every one of them---and they figure there are about 6,000 of these dudes-- with different noses, facial features, hair, etc....wow!!!!

They have already put 1,000 of them back together.
This must have been one of their first ones...ya know, before they really got the hang of it...

Simon says, face front!!!
OK, Joe...yeah you---third one back....you're out buddy..

The famous kneeling archer, although, without his bow, he just looks like he's getting ready to karate chop someone to me...probably a short person since he's kneeling...probably the naughty kid who broke all of the statues.
Hi-Yaaaah!

Apparently they were all painted at one time and holding actual weapons too! The Emperor must have thought all of those guys come to life at night too, cuz, dang! Or he's just really vain and superstitious...
It was a really cool exhibit-one my kids are still talking about. I'm glad we got to see them while they were so close by!

Wednesday, October 21, 2009

Fun Family Weekend! Part 1

So we had a three day weekend and decided to take the kids on a mini-vacay to Houston

Our first stop was in Brenham at the Blue Bell Ice Cream Factory of course...we can't go to Houston without stopping there...I think it's illegal...

And then of course...the post-sugar crash...

After checking into our hotel, we headed for one of our favorite restaurants,
The Downtown Aquarium

We like it because it has a Ginormous aquarium inside full of all kinds of fish and stuff...obviously...

also, the food is pretty good

and they have fun deserts like this paint your own Rice Krispie shark

or paint your teeth...

These guys have GREAT manners...

and you can build your own sundae...which is great because we didn't get enough ice cream at the ICE CREAM FACTORY.....I sense another sugar crash coming on....