"T" the bionic beta

Almost two years ago (when I was expecting Samantha) Mason and I went to the pet store to get him a fish. I wanted him to have his "baby" when mommy had her baby. The fish would be his responsibility just like the baby would be mommy's responsibility. Genius right? Yeah...not so much! When we first got the fish I asked Mason what he wanted to name it. Mason, not being the most verbal child at the young age of 2 years old said "T". So "T" it was :) Well needless to say since the day we brought "T" home he has basically been MY responsibility. haha!

Anyways, this beta of ours has lived almost 2 years here in our home. Poor guy has been left for long weekends and occasionally just forgotten about and yet he still lives and thrives on. I dont even have a proper fish net for him when I change his water. Poor dude gets scooped up in a ladle. Every time someone comes over they say "WOW, I cant believe that fish is still alive?" WTH is that about I ask? hahaha!!! I have to admit that I will be sad when the day comes that I have to flush the little guy into fish heaven but, on the plus side, I wont have to explain his death to the kids b/c they pretty much have no clue that he is even there (sad I know).

But, for the rest of the world out there meet "T" our bionic beta!

May he live a long and prosperous life here with us!

Sea World!!

About a week and a half ago Derrek and I took the kids to Sea World San Antonio! We went with our friends the Smiths and my friend Courtney and her kids met us there too. This marked our 2nd annual SmitheRouax family vacation (last year we went to Port O Connor). With two consecutive years of vacationing under our belt it has now officially become a tradition :)

Walking in from the parking lot.

Anywho, back to our trip. We went the Thursday before Spring break and it was WONDERFUL. The park was not crowded at all. Parking was awesome and there were absolutely NO lines for any of the rides. This was the absolute best way for all the kids to experience Sea World for the first time and they all had a BLAST!!

The entrance

The LeRouax clan

As we came into the park we headed over to see the dolphins. The kids were so excited to find out that they could feed the dolphins. So we bought some fish and let them do it.

Here are the boys leaning over the side checking them all out and getting ready to feed them.

Mason and his dolphin

We then headed over to see the sharks and the coral reef exhibit. We saw stingrays, sharks and all sorts of fish in the tanks. This was a huge hit (which was not a big surprise) b/c Mason LOVES looking at aquariums and this did not disappoint.

After the sharks we headed over to our first show of the day. The Sea Lion Show. Mason LOVED this show and was hootin and hollerin the whole time.

Mason and the Smith Family caught up in watching all the action :)

This silly sea lion spit water out at the crowd. We made it a point to not sit in any of the wet zones :)

The culprit was discovered at the end of the show. Mr. Walrus!

After the show we headed over to the kid friendly section with all the small rides for the kids. The big boys wanted to ride everything! Robyn and I were the good sports that got on everything with them.

The Ferris wheel with egg shaped pods. haha

Us waving at the Smiths from our egg :)

This one lifted and dropped multiple times and surprisingly enough I thought my tummy was feeling a bit woozy after it :)

The third ride Derrek wasn't so sure the boys would be up for but they proved him wrong and it was among the top 2 that they liked. It went back and forth and spun in large circles.

Ms. Robyn getting brave :)

We also rode the carousel and the Shamu roller coaster. Roller coaster definitely was #1 on the boys list of rides. We ended up riding it like 4 times :)

Mason, Robyn and Barrett

Dr Rog and Hunter

Courtney and Claire

Me and Mason on the roller coaster

A shot of me and Robyn. The kids had to sit on the inside so we never got a good picture of them on it.

After we did all the kid rides Robyn and I decided (after lunch of all times) that it was our turn to have some grown up fun.

Here we are right before getting on the steel eel

A shot of the highest point on that ride

And here we are two tough mama's after the ride

Both big coasters were super fun and the boys did ask if they could go on them haha. Luckily (from a mommy perspective at least) they are not quite tall enough for that big time fun yet :) After all of our roller coaster fun we headed over to the big daddy show of them all SHAMU!!!

Here we all are waiting for the show to start

This really was an amazing show, and the whales are just beautiful. For the 30 or so minutes that you are watching you completely forget that they can be dangerous animals. The kids were completely enthralled by this show and watched the entire performance.

Overall we had an amazing time. The park was only open until 5pm that day but that was perfectly long enough for us. By the end of the day the kids and us parents were pooped. We were so glad that we went though and sharing it with friends made it all the better.

We hope that everyone had an enjoyable spring break.

Opening Day!

March 5th 2011, the day we had been waiting for since signing Mason up for t-ball in December. OPENING DAY!! We were so excited for this day to get here and we were so proud of Mason. He did such an awesome job! We got to the park at 8 am for the parade of teams at 9am. The forecast for the day was not pleasant, cloudy with a 40% chance of rain. :( We were pretty bummed about this but we headed out to the park anyways. The day started out cloudy and sprinkling and a cold front blew in as well. All of the poor kids on the team were pretty miserable by about 8:30am but they hung in there.

Here is my little ball player all suited up

2011 ITB Cardinals

After the parade and the announcements Derrek took Mason back to the car to warm up and I set out to set up the booth that our team was responsible for which was the bean bag toss. Luckily Samantha was left at home with Mamie. This turned out to be a great thing b/c it was cold and sort of gross out and it would have been very difficult to man the booth and keep up with her as well. Thanks Mamie!! Anywho, opening day consisted of lots of fun food, games, raffles, silent auction baskets (which were so awesome) and of course the ball games. It really was a fun time!

After my shift at the booth Derrek and I got Mason some tickets and let him play the games. Since our game was at 1pm we also got lunch and went to the car to eat it and warm up a bit. At 12:30 we headed to our field for our game. I was a little worried that he may not want to go out on the field and play (keep in mind that Mason is the YOUNGEST player on his team by 5 months). There are kids on his team that are about to turn 6 and even though he is close to turning 4 he is still only 3 yrs old. Well my worries were silly b/c he didnt even hesitate to get out there.

Here they are warming up before the game

The first time they took the field Mason was at short stop

How cute is he I ask you? Full on in his little baseball player stance and everything.

Out on the field he did great. He stayed at his position and ran to the ball when it came to him. He got to bat 3 times and hit the ball on the first try every time he got up there and he remembered to drop his bat before running to 1st base.

Here he is on 3rd base with his old man as the 3rd base coach

Here he is running in for the score

He also got to play at the pitchers position

Derrek was worried about him feeling to much pressure at this position but he did amazing! He picked up two grounders and threw both to 1st base like a pro. Had we been keeping score our team definitely would have won BUT the important thing is that all the kids had fun!! We were definitely some super proud parents. He looked like such a big boy out there and he really enjoyed himself and that is what matters.

Here's to an exciting baseball season. GO CARDS!!!

The Houston Rodeo

Let me start by saying that I am a born and raised Texan. With that being said I have a confession to make that may make some of you gasp so here it is, I HAVE NEVER BEEN TO THE HOUSTON RODEO!!! dun dun dun!! I know I know its shameful BUT I am proud to announce that NOW I HAVE!!! Wahoo!! Some friends and I took our kids for a day trip to the Rodeo last thursday and we LOVED IT!!! Oh what a blast we had. We went to the petting zoo, saw some pig races (loved this!! did you know that pigs eat oreos?? I had no clue and this is what the pigs raced for haha), we saw some muttin bustin (so adorable and when I asked Mason if he wanted to do this next year he quickly answered "NO") and we went and looked at the live stock animals. This is something we will definitely start doing yearly. Maybe next time daddy can go with us.

Here is Mason Petting the pot belly pig

Samantha was not having anything to do with the petting zoo

Not the best shot but here we are waiting for the pig races

The oreo cookie that the pigs race for

Mason got chosen as the team 4 cheerleader for one of the pig race rounds

This nice man let mason touch one of the baby cows in the livestock show

All the kids together. Hunt, Madeline, Brock, Samantha and Mason.

Thank you to my friends for convincing me to go with them. I wasn't 100% sure I could do it alone with the two kids but I am so glad that we did.