Houston Zoo

If you haven't figured out already, I am in love with deals and bargains. Ok, who doesn't love saving money. I wish I was a little more savvy with finding stuff, but I felt pretty good about the free entrance to the Houston zoo because of Fernando's active duty status. As aforementioned, the weather didn't really permit many outdoor activities and for some strange reason, the zoo (as well as everything else) didn't open until 10 am. Even still, it was amazing. Have I used that word too much yet? The zoo was huge and like a twofer. The zoo was a mix of animal exhibits and beautiful landscaping. Make that a threefer. . .I forgot the children's area had playgrounds, climbing areas for the kids to practice being like various animals, your standard goat petting, and a splash playground.




We even got to see some of those animatronic dinosaurs (the kids liked them and I thought it was funny how one spit on you its "poison").

Reciprocity

I have been loving the opportunities we have been afforded with Fernando's Medical school program. Besides getting the chance to move several fun places (check my positive attitude in a few years), we have been able to visit for extended periods of time in other great places ie Destin Florida, Dayton Ohio, and now Houston Texas. We loved it so much that we extended our three day stay to over a week of adventures. Weather aside which I might add was abysmal, Houston was beautiful with plenty of activities for my kids to participate in. One of our favorites was the Children's Museum of Houston. Thanks to our travels years earlier to Dayton, we found out about the beauty of RECIPROCITY. Turns out that many memberships to zoos and museums will be honored in other cities. With a little research, I discovered that buying a discounted military family membership to that Boonshoft Museum in Dayton allowed me to enjoy free entry to not only the Houston Children's Museum (amazing!) as well as some around San Antonio and several in Utah which means easy, cheap ideas for when we are up there again.

It was kind of a bitter sweet experience though. The museum was one of the most incredible hands on museums I have ever seen, unfortunately that makes returning to our less than exciting museums all the more difficult. Day after day, for hours on end, we were educated, exercised, and enamored! Hear are just a few photos from our adventures:













The kids' favorites were a three story climbing structure that looked like giant pringle chips bound together by cords that created a vertical maze. Pictures didn't really capture the coolness.

They also loved Kidtropolis where they could do jobs and earn money to put in the bank and on their atm card. Tiago just took money at first because he loves LOVES money. Mia on the other hand tried her hand at being a vet, store clerk, police officer, and waitress to earn over $300. Not bad for an hour of work. Tiago eventually got excited about really earning the money as well and ended up with about the same amount. Talia just bopped around with her curls finding all sorts of fun things to do. Mostly she loved the "baby" she found that was some mangy looking dog.




We loved the obstacle courses, face painting, rocket/paper airplane making and launching, water works, etc The rest of the exhibits were really fun but I won't bore you with the details. All I can say is we are already planning on heading back. Too bad school got in the way of fun.