Drive-Through Safari

On Friday of our San Antonio adventure, we went to the Texas style safari that was only a few minutes away from Ross and Stephanie's house.  I am sure glad they had the minivan (I've gotta get me one of those) that could accommodate all of us so we could share this experience.  Sadly, I am not up on my african animals so I'm not sure what all of these animals are, but we had a really great time... better than I expected.  I always wanted my first safari to be, you know, in Africa but sometimes we make sacrifices for the kids.  Max really loved it, up until the zebras.  There was a sign that warned us that they can bite, and they were waaaaay more aggressive than the other animals in the park.  You will hear a little of that fear in one of the videos below.

  

 These were the first animals that would come near the car.  It was hot-ish so most of them were in the shade.  We also went mid-day so they may have been full from all the cars that came through before us.

 Wildebeest

 Ibex, which I have seen before.  They actually captured and released a few in White Sands National Park for recreational hunting.  

 Food pellets!

 Not sure what this guy is, but he is sure pretty.

 Ah, my favorite!  I loved the ostriches!  I have always wanted to ride one since I saw Swiss Family Robinson as a kid.  Look at Max's face in the side mirror as Curtis feeds him.

 Baby Hudson Max was awake... for some of it.

Uh oh, it's one of those notorious zebras.  Please keep your hands and fingers away from the snappy mouthes daddy.  Especially the right hand!  I doubt disability insurance would cover loss of fingers to a zebra!

This zebra has the right idea!

Oh how I wished this ostrich would have reached into their car and scared them! 

Happy 4th of July, part II

As we were driving to Kiddie Park, we happened to drive past the Witte Museum and with giant dinosaurs out front, the science nerds in us knew we had to stop on the way back and check it out.  It was A-MAZE-ING!  Obviously the main attraction is the dinosaurs, but there were a lot of other activities that we enjoyed during out 2 hours of fun.  Max was not so sure about the dinosaurs since many of them were animatronic and moved a little from time to time, but once we explained that they were just "robot dinosaurs" he quickly became a fan.  It was all so high tech with iPads at each of the stations that gave additional info and activities.  I could have spent hours in there, but Max's attentions span (along with our not-so-sciency friends) kept us moving along.

Can you see Max in this picture?  That is one GIANT animal!

There were skeletons mixed in with the animatronic figures.  You could scan the skeletons with the iPads to see the dinosaur in the whole.

A simulated dinosaur dig.  Max looks at this picture and talks about how he was a paleontologist.

After the dinosaurs we moved into the 4 story science treehouse.  In this picture Max, Ross and Daddy were learning about how the angles of propellers cause a machine to move.  Baby Hudson Max supervised through his eyelids.

Well we thoroughly wore Max out by skipping a nap and doing so many fun activities.  He was really great all day.  We woke him up so we could eat dinner (once again, amazing food!) and he wasn't quite so chipper then.  We decided against trying to find fireworks since he really needed to go to bed early!

Here is our science nerd kiddo playing with a Bernoulli demonstration.

Future member of Stomp?

Happy 4th of July!

So our good friends Ross and Stephanie moved back to Texas (yay!) after a 2 year stint in Louisiana.  We had been wanting to go down for a visit and see their new baby, Hudson (according to Max his name is Baby Hudson Max and we can only call him by his full name!), but it has been difficult coordinating schedules.  Finally we were able to make the trip over the long 4th of July weekend.  They moved just outside of San Antonio and there are so many fun family activities there!  This trip we decided to avoid the main attractions (i.e. the Riverwalk, Sea World, the zoo, etc.) and tried for a few other attractions that were off the beaten path.  So, following a delicious lunch and a quick trip through Trader Joe's (hey, it's my vacation too!) we headed for Kiddie Park.  It is a small amusement park that is really for Toddlers only and after some warm up Max had a fun time on the rides.  There were only around 8 rides, but that was just enough to spend a fun hour or so.  Plus it wasn't crowded and fortunately not too hot so it was the perfect activity for us.  All the rides were basically the same... sit on something and go around in a circle, but he loved it.

Front entrance to the park.

Max's first ride was on the boats.

Max really liked the airplanes, but insisted he had one with a machine gun.

Happy 4th of July!

 Carousel rides are always a favorite, and this one is a classic.

 Fun day... so far, but we had one more awesome stop just up the road.  Stay tuned!

Miscellaneous Summer Fun

The following pictures have really no rhyme or reason, just some cute shots of Max doing his funny things.

 He made a giant spider at MDO!

 He still loves all of his puppies.

 Owl banding with Fred and Nancy.  Eli and Mr. Ben went with us too.

 Max and Daddy playing at Carson's birthday party.

Sadie and Max at the zoo.  He says she's the mommy and he's the baby.

Swimming this Summer

Well it has been a busy, busy summer in Texas so far and I am now regretting not being more diligent about my blogs.  I have a lot to post and feel months behind not only on this, but on Max's memory books as well.

One of the big things we kicked the summer off with was swimming lessons.  A woman here in Waco gives lessons in her backyard pool and is assisted by several college students so each student gets one on one attention.  Eli was also in Max's classes so you will see pics and videos with him included.  I was nervous about how max would like the lessons since I was not allowed to stay and watch until the last day, but he did really great!  He was hesitant to put his face and head in the water, but now a month later he has no problem.  We bought a small, inflatable pool for our back patio (since we no longer have the convenience of the Sugar Creek pool) and he will swim from one end to the other now.  His confidence has grown even if Mama's is still lagging a bit!  Haha!  He does still wear floaties in big pools where he can't quite reach the bottom.  Next summer he will practically be a fish!

 His certificate of completion!

 Doing his kickers.

 Learning to dive... we may need some more work on this!

Okay, this picture is from the splash park, but it is water related, right?