Dinosaurs at the Zoo

The Houston zoo has put up a dinosaur exhibit for the summer and last Thursday was one of their members free days so I packed up the kids and we headed off to the zoo. Because we are members and go so often I told Mason that we were just there for the dinosaurs and nothing else. We would come back again another time to look at all the other animals. Amazingly he was okay with this and did an awesome job staying close to me and listening. So back to the Dinos :) They were pretty neat looking if I do say so myself. They didnt walk or anything but they did move their heads and eyes and mouths and they roared every so often. Not knowing what to expect I was concerned that Mason might be a little afraid at first but NOPE he ran right up to the the rope and yelled "WOW, COOL!!! Look mom, look." He was super cute about it. At the end of the exhibit they stamped your hand just in case you wanted to walk back through so we got a stamp and had a snack and walked through a 2nd time just for fun. :)

Mason and the triceratops

The Stegasaurus

T-Rex

Dont remember this guys name but he spit water out of his mouth

Brachiasaurus

After we left the zoo Mason wanted to ride the train at Hermann Park so we went ahead and did that too.

Here are the kids ready to ride the train. Mason did not want to sit to take this picture haha

Have a great week everyone!!

THE BRONCO

Our garage has recently become the new home to THE BRONCO!! This Bronco is very very special to our family. This was Paw Paw Tuck's Bronco. He bought it in 1970 and it has not been altered in any way. And I do mean in any way :) No a/c, no radio, no power steering, no shoulder seat belts, the shifting gear is on the steering column, it has dual gas tanks that you turn a valve in order to switch between the two, etc... BUT, Paw paw kept it in top notch condition and it still runs like it is brand new. Mason LOVES Paw paw Tuck's Bronco!! He wants to be in it every single day. It is amazing to think that this car has been around for 4 generations and it makes my heart ache to know that Paw paw isn't here to see his great grandson (lit'l tuck) enjoy it as much as he did. Here's to you Paw paw, you are missed every single day.

The Bronco coming down the street

Oh these are also the original paint colors

3rd and 4th generation enjoying the ride

Hanging out on the tail gate :)

Nap time

Allegedly it was Samantha's nap time

But I think NOT!! haha

One important piece of paper

Two weeks ago the LeRouax clan packed up and headed to College Station for graduation weekend. You may be thinking to yourselves "WOW, it must be one important person graduating that they would be willing to take TWO SMALL kids to a 2.5 hour graduation ceremony?" We do seem like absolute crazy people to do this dont we? :) But this was no regular graduation. This particular graduation was 30 years in the making! This graduation came after a 20+ year marriage that ended in divorce, after raising two boys and seeing them graduate from the same University, after a year long battle and victory with a scary diagnosis, after losing a brother, and just a few months ago losing a father. This graduation was for one of the bravest, strongest, most determined women that I know and I am proud to have her as my kids Mamie!!! This graduation was for my mother in law, AMY FOCHT LEROUAX!!!!

What an amazing accomplishment!! Amy graduated Cum Laude (earning her the yellow stole) from the Mays Business School at Texas AM University with a Bachelor of Arts in Management Information Systems. She has moved back to Houston and will start a job with Exxon in July. We are so incredibly proud of her hard work and perseverance. It was not an easy journey but she came through it and accomplished her ultimate goal of getting that one very important piece of paper, her degree!

The graduate with her boys Derrek '04 and Wesley '08

Mamie with her future Aggies Mason C/O 2029 and Samantha C/O 2032

Amy and her Mom

Amy and her sister Emily

CONGRATULATIONS AMY!!! WE LOVE YOU VERY MUCH!!!

POC Staycation

Two weekends ago Dan and Emily Shine (Derrek's aunt and uncle) were kind enough to let us stay at their house in Port O Connor, Texas. Well lucky for us our friends the Smiths also know people with a house down there SOOOO plans were made and the 1st annual Smith-a-Rouax vacation took place :) We had a blast!!!! Mason absolutely LOVE LOVE LOVES the beach. Its all he could talk about and when the time came for us to leave he kept asking if we were going to the beach. Poor kid. We did promise him that another trip would be made later on in the summer. Samantha did great at the beach too. All I can say is god bless the inventor of the bumbo :) We were so glad to have gone with another family. I am sure the trip would have been a fun by ourselves but it was a GREAT trip with friends. The boys had each other, the mom's had each other and the daddy's had each other. Fun was definitely had by all. Thank you Smith family for hanging with us for 4 days straight :) We hope we didnt scare ya'll away from traveling with us again :)

Mason and Barrett running around in their swim trunks

We set up a sprinkler for them and they were chasing each other

Mason not wanting to get any closer to the sprinkler.

The boys chowing down on some watermelon

Hunter, our watermelon eating champion. This kid can take down watermelon like no other

How cute can one watermelon eating kid be?

The one and only watermelon catastrophe. Doesn't he look so sad and confused as to how this happened? Of course this didnt stop him. If I remember correctly he picked it up again and continued where he left off :)

The boys getting ready for a ride on the golf cart. Hunter needed some persuading to look our way heehee

My two babies ready for beach day #2

What a cool dude!

My little lady in red.

This is how Samantha spent the first hour of our beach time both days.

The boys playing in the sand together

Mason standing by his two sand castles and river that mommy made him

Samantha showing off her newest trick

Mason wanted to fish and unfortunately this was all he got to do :(

Daddy spending time with Samantha :)

Thank you Shine Family for our wonderful staycation :)

The backyard Project Ends

Back in February I posted about our back yard project (our new patio) beginning, well it is a bit overdue but now I can post about it ending. WAHOO!!!! Derrek and his friend Jonathan did an AMAZING job!! I am not the first to say that if I had not witnessed them actually doing the work it would be hard to believe that they did it themselves (yes, its that awesome). I am so incredibly impressed with these two men and their abilities. We have been slowly but surely (due to rain) getting to enjoy our new patio and we are definitely looking forward to all the time that WILL be spent out there. Thank you Thurston family for all your help!!!

And now for the great unveiling. DRUM ROLL PLEASE!!!

We had some new landscaping put in too. Here is a shot of the new flower bed around the ugly box in the back yard.

Here is a shot (sort of) of the new flower bed around the Master Bedroom windows.

Gorgeous isn't it??? You want one don't you :)