Dinos in our own Backyard!

Well not literally in the backyard of our house, but close enough! Jack discovered the Texas Natural Science Center on UT's campus and thought it'd be fun to take Jackson to. 

 It's a very small museum, but it was free, air conditioned, clean, and had loads of dinosaurs. Also, we were one of two families there so we pretty much had the place to ourselves.

 See, here's the other boy that was there (we don't know him but he shared Jackson's love of dinosaurs).

 Per usual, James was enthralled...

 Jackson got to open a million drawers full of fossils, shells and stones. He also got to look at fossils under a microscope. He was pretty much in heaven.

 

James said this Sailback was his favorite...

And afterwards we enjoyed some quiet time on the vertebrate of a sauropod. Do you like how I know all of these dinosaur names all of a sudden? I'm pretty impressed myself. When your 2 year old becomes fascinated with these creatures worlds of knowledge (unnecessary and useless) opens up and this is what happens. The more I know, the more you know. Your welcome ;). 

Overall a successful outing, I highly recommend. Mainly to avoid the crowds and to see the Texas Pterosaur--which happens to be the largest flying creature ever discovered. See, the more you know! 

Chicago Revisited

This past weekend the boys and I took a trip to Chicago. Again. I know, I know we were just there but Jack had a bachelor party to go to and I didn't want to be left alone so I asked if I could go to my parents' house for the weekend. Turns out though, they were going to Chicago to visit friends and most likely didn't even want me there, but I invited myself (and the boys) to tag along anyways. 

I was somewhat apprehensive about traveling by myself with both boys but mostly because of the amount of stuff that is required to travel with a toddler and an infant. I definitely had to organize myself to the nines but I'd say overall, the round trip was a success...

 And this was with a 2 hour delay and all! Again and fingers WAY CROSSED, these boys are good travelers. Plus, I live for compliments and got a whole lot of them for hauling 2 boys through airports solo. Fairly certain the compliments and the compliments alone were what got me through the journey. It made me keep my composure when all I wanted to do was crawl under a rock and sleep for the next 20  years.

 But back to the Windy City...

Per our usual MO, we hit up the Field Museum and checked on Sue's whereabouts. She was still there, much to Jackson's surprise and he was EXCITED to see her! This time however he was also interested in the other animals on exhibit. 

Turns out Jackson wanted to see the bears this time and James wanted to see the dinosaurs! Funny huh? Last time it was the complete opposite. James was a huge fan of the dinosaurs (see below) and Jackson enjoyed telling Gigi stories about all the other animals. 

 

One in particular? He told Gigi he wanted to be a little bird when he grows up so he could fly so high high high in the sky sky sky. It was sweet :).

After visiting the museum we went across the path to the Aquarium. 

I'd like to tell you that Jackson was oh-so-interested in all the different fish species and the beautiful jellyfish, or the sting rays that he was going to get to touch, but no. He wanted to hang out at the penguin exhibit. The ENTIRE time. 

 

My mom and I really wanted to see all of the above exhibits but my dad quickly reminded us we were all on 'Jackson time' so to the penguin exhibit we went. There we sat for what seemed like an eternity while the boy ran around, played and even dressed up like a penguin until he was finally ready to call it quits. It was exhausting, but he had a grand time. 

On our way out Gigi and Abuelo took Jackson to the Beluga/Dolphin show while I tended to James and Jackson apparently fell in love with Belugas all over again... 

On that note we took off because we were all so drained and my parents and I had dinner plans anyways...

...some WELL deserved smoking martinis from Mastro's (thanks for rec Kate ;)).

The boys hung back and dreamt of T-Rex's, Belugas and birds that can fly so high high high in the sky sky sky...

They slept, well, like babies and were ready to conquer the day as soon as they woke up and had their lechita. 

AND bundled up. Fall definitely hit Chicago while were there. Or at least fall for us warm-blooded, heat-breathing Texans. It.Was.Cold. 

 

We had a whole lot of fun exploring Michigan Avenue--which funny enough, have never really done with the boys and they seemed to really enjoy strolling through the streets and going in and out of stores. 

 

We also made sure to stock up on warm clothes as we'll hopefully be hitting the slopes later this winter and it's somewhat difficult to find kids' winter clothes in Austin. This picture is hysterical. My dad took it and my mom says it looks like someone is holding Jackson for ransom...

 After a fun day of shopping and napping we ended our visit in the Windy City by visiting our favorite Tia's. They were so gracious for hosting my parents, the boys and myself to some lovely appetizers, adult beverages, and teddy grahams for Mr. Jackson. Can you tell he was happy to see them? This kid ADORES them.

 Thanks for the love Tia's! 

Chicago, once again you have won our hearts. Until next time, which won't be in another 3 weeks. Promise...maybe ;) Gracias Mami y Papi por un viaje divino y por toda su ayuda con los gordos. Love you guys!

Inner Space Caverns

Sunday we surprisingly had nothing going on so we decided to take a trip to the Inner Space Caverns in Georgetown off I-35. 

When Jack and I went to Southwestern we were told never to go to the Inner Space Caverns or the candle factory across the interstate because we'd never graduate from the University. Like the good Pirates we are, we heeded the warning and steered clear for a good 10 years for Jack and 8 years for yours truly. That's right, we graduated from college A LONG TIME AGO folks. Getting old is awesome. 

Jackson was excited to go the these caverns because he thought dinosaurs lived here. I  have no idea what gave him that idea, but we went with it. Do you see the dinosaurs in these pictures? No? Well we sure did pretend! 

 

There were LOTS of bats though! I was convinced we were going to die of rabies from bat bites. NOT a fan of the flying rats....

 James was awesome--I did have to feed him while taking a walking tour (new trick for me!) but we managed and he stayed quiet for the remainder of the tour.

 If y'all don't see the dinosaurs its because they were sleeping in the back part of the caves where the light wasn't shining. I know, I know, Jackson missed them as well!

 Overall we had a fun Sunday morning and Jackson at least pretended to have a good time. Honestly we learned a lot about the geographical area and where all these caves lead to/come out of so I'd say it was worth it just for that alone.

 And the best part of our visit? This super cheesy picture we got (and paid for) of our family of four. I SWEAR to you we didn't plan to all be wearing coordinating colors and didn't even notice it until our photographer pointed it out. Yea, we felt kinda winning after that....