Destination Imagination #2

Channing has really loved school this year and after a rough start has really gotten into it and grown so much. She has developed so much confidence in her creativity and ability to try new things. She was asked to participate in Destination Imagination again and she was really excited to work together with her group.

Her teacher Mrs. Petzold lead her group and they were called the "Balloon Bunch" 

Channing was the "Fun Fact" person with her friend Mallory.  

Their challenge was to make a pop up book and play. They based it off the man Tony Sarg who created part of the Macy's day parade and puppets.  

They spent several months after school making props and preparing and they did a great job pulling off their performance. They performed on February 27th at SummerCreek High School. My parents, Natalie, and our family all came to support her and she was really excited about her competition. I am proud of her and her willingness to work so hard! Great job Channing. 

New Orleans!

Since Daphne moved to Baton Rouge a few years ago, I have always told Ragnar that I would like to go to New Orleans and visit for Mardi Gras. I have never been to New Orleans and it is really pretty close to Houston, so we took advantage of the President's Day weekend and headed over to visit Daphne and see New Orleans.
We got there Friday night as Ella had a presentation at school for her Catastrophic Event project she created so we couldn't leave til after she was out of school. We got there and the kids were excited to see Daphne and her dog Cortex.

Channing was so scared of him the first two times we visited, but she has come a long way and now she won't leave the poor dog alone!! 

Ragnar is giving him a high five! 

Daphne's already got it down :)

Saturday morning we got to experience our first King Cake that Daphne was nice enough to buy us. 

Channing was really excited about it. 

She was even more thrilled when she found the baby which you hide in it. The person who finds it has to buy the cake next year I guess?? 

Channing and Deacon also got to help Aunt Daphne make cookies.  

Later that morning we headed to New Orleans for the day. We stopped to get Beignets first. They are a must in Louisiana! 

We were told Cafe Du Monde was the place to go.  

We waited about 20 minutes and then got our order to go and enjoyed our Beignets at the park! 

We watched a few street performers and listened to some music. There were a lot of very unique people there. 

A successful first trip to New Orleans. My overall take...It was interesting with unique culture to Louisiana. Many of the people are slightly unrefined in the city and several work on the streets to make money. It was a good experience, but I do not need to go back.

We drove over afterward to Slidell, LA to go to the Mardi Gras parade. We felt like the one in Slidell would much more appropriate and family friendly. 

We grabbed dinner and found a spot and waited.  

We bought a couple card games from the dollar store and hung out playing in the back of the car til the parade started. 

When it began, I wasn't quite sure what to think or if it was worth our drive or time spent waiting. After about 10 minutes though, it really got more and more fun and we were really getting into it!

Daphne is always fun and knows how to enjoy herself so that was infectious and we let loose and had fun to! 

We started getting A LOT of beads! 

The boys were so excited with how many things that got thrown to them. 

Channing and Deacon got quite a bit of stuff since they are younger and cute! 

Having fun partying! 

The bigger floats would come and throw things down from the top and you had to make sure you caught it or were watching. It didn't feel too great to get beads thrown at your head without being prepared ;) haha 

Cavin got quite the haul and ended up with 182 beads! He insisted on wearing them until toward the end when I'm sure his neck started to hurt! It was a fun night of dancing and cheering and enjoying the celebration of Mardi Gras.

The next morning we headed to church with Daphne which was nice.

When we got home, the kids were excited to see what all they caught last night. Cavin's favorite thing was catching a basketball, Ella's was her light up toys, Channings was a key she got, and Deacon liked his footballs and snowman he caught.  

Total with Daphne's beads, we caught 468 beads!!!! 

We finished the day out playing games and going for a walk and hanging out together. It was a nice relaxing Sunday.

We had a great weekend and were so glad Daphne hosted us and showed us around the city. One more place checked off our list!

New Year's Eve and last week of Winter Break.

Ragnar surprised us a couple days after Christmas and told us that he needed a break and was taking off the first week of January. We were very excited! The kids don't go back until January 8, 2019 so it was nice to have him around since he was gone so much of December and had to work on Christmas day and New year's eve. 

New Year's Eve, we went to my brother Chris' house to celebrate his son Crew's birthday. He was turning 4 and Deacon and the kids were excited to come celebrate with him. 

He looks so much like my brother, I can't help but smile every time I look at him. 

After his party, we went with my parents and Natalie to the Rockets game. They have played every New Year's eve since I can remember Ragnar working there and we finally decided we would join him. We were in a suite and had a nice time together. After the game we went to my parents house to stay the night and put the younger two to bed and stayed to watch the ball drop in New York City and then went to bed just shy of midnight. What can I say, we are not party animals. We went for a walk with my parents on New Years day and then to Red Robin for dinner. We played games and watched football and had a nice relaxing day. 

We played a lot of Uno Attack, Go fish, and Cover your Assets card games since the kids got those for Christmas and they loved them. We probably played well over 20 rounds of Go fish! Deacon loved to play while watching sports.
We went to the movies and saw Ralph Breaks the Internet and it was cute enough, probably not my favorite though. It was a nice outing though and we had almost the entire theater to ourselves. 

We made it to the Downtown Aquarium to use some of the passes that the kids got from the Kids club at the Rockets. We enjoy exploring there. 

The Ferris wheel was fun, but it was a little chilly at the top when they would stop to let us overlook Houston. 

Ella loved to feed the Sting Rays and Channing was excited to be brave and touch them as well. 

The train to the aquarium tunnel was cool as we got to see sharks and a swordfish. 

The family was brave and we all went together on this ride. It wasn't as scary this time as I remember it. 

Deacon was tall enough to go this time and he wasn't scared at all, he was pretty excited. Ragnar was also thrilled that he could fit on the ride this time and could go with us! 

We saw the white tiger which was cool as well. 

Finally we rode the carousel many times and that was fun for the kids.

After lunch at the Aquarium, Ragnar and I were able to catch a temple session. 

We tend to go separately a lot, so it was nice to go together. 

Finally the last couple days of the break we had Chris' family over for pizza, games, and an outdoor movie. We watched Ferdinand. It was a nice winter break and the kids were ready to go back to school and I was ready for the routine again.