The Oley Family: Thanksgiving in Houston

We made the treck to Houston for Thanksgiving and survived! We actually picked Brock up and brought him with us to see all of his doggie cousins. He was SO excited! The ride there was fine until about 45 minutes from Mimi's and Dziadek's house. Marek was full blown screaming for that last 45 minutes. It was difficult to say the least. We left around 12:30 and the poor kid hadn't napped all day and didn't in the car. He was exhausted.

We're off! Here's a shot of the kids watching movies just outside of Fort Worth. Still happy!

When we arrived in Houston, Dziadek has taken Mimi to the hospital because she cut her hand (the piece of skin between the thumb and pointer finger - OUCH!) and needed stitches. All in a days work! She didn't skip a beat.

After settling in, the kids roamed free and played with anything and everything.

Marek LOVES music. He loves any singing (even mine!), he loves the radio, he loves to dance, he loves to play music - anything and everything musical - he loves! He's my little Mozart!

It was raining on Saturday so we decided to take the kids bowling. It was so much fun and such a great idea!

Mimi bowled a spare and a strike and then took Marek back home for a nap! She's so great.

He didn't quite understand the concept of just letting the ball go - he wanted to go retrieve it!

Madelyn was such a pro! She had so much fun and got excited after EVERY shot. . .

However, she was disappointed that we had to return the bowling shoes when we left . . .

We celebrated Thanksgiving on Saturday. Everyone was there: Brian and Jessica (newly engaged!), Gena and Dan, Mimi and Dziadek, and us! While we were cooking and setting everything up, the kids found a fun little hiding place in a cabinet! For the rest of our stay, I always knew where to find them . . .

Madelyn disappeared that night and daddy found her behind the door in our room with an entire block of chocolate. Yes, that's chocolate in her hand and on her face. She is DEFINITELY my girl . . .

On Sunday, we took the kids to the Children's Museum in Houston. It was enormous - so much to do! We were there for over 2 hours and still didn't get to see everything!

Here Madelyn is putting on a puppet show for Mimi . . .

and milking a cow . . .

Marek staring at the baby chicks. I think he wasn't sure if they were real at first. . .

Fishing with his daddy . . .

There were so many cool things to do there. Madelyn played with a program that captured a picture of your face and you could fill it in with different colors . . .

So sweet . . .

There was a room where kids could pretend to be on the news. It was complete with 3 cameras to operate, teleprompters, a camera "production" area, costumes, etc. To be a kid again . . .

Here Madelyn is pretending to read (she was copying the girl before her) dressed as a police officer . . .

On Monday, we saw Gena off (back to Fort Worth) and then we found a fun park for the kids to play. We're always in search of new parks! Afterwards, daddy took Marek home to nap while Mimi, Madelyn and I went off shopping. We are always spoiled rotten when we go to Houston or when they come here! We hit DSW and The Galleria. Santa was at The Galleria and Madelyn got to sit on his lap. My batteries were dead so I took pictures with Maddie's digital camera but she deleted them all . . . oops!

We left Tuesday after Tom's meeting. It was such a great trip - everyone had fun. We were completely spoiled rotten again. Dziadek cooked incredible meals the entire trip - I was full for 4 straight days . . .

The ride home was so peaceful! Marek slept for about 30 - 45 minutes and then watched movies with his sister. I adjusted his seat so that he was more reclined and he seemed to like that much better. No screaming for the 5 hour drive!