Ladd Photos

The 1st grade classes got to go on a field trip to the San Diego Zoo. I helped out as a chaperone, and managed to not lose any of the kids I was in charge of.

The 4th graders have been studying the gold rush this year, and had a fun end-of-year celebration. They got to pan for “gold” and go on wagon rides. Gavin got thrown in jail for gold theft, but it was a case of mistaken identity.

Nick and Jessie were in town, and the boys had a blast showing them our awesome zoo.

We spent the day enjoying the beautiful coastline with Uncle Nick and Aunt Jessie.

It’s hard to believe another school year is almost over. The 4th graders celebrated with crazy game, snacks, and a water balloon toss.

Snacks and crazy party games to celebrate the end of 1st grade.

The first day of our epic 16-day road-trip to Texas had us driving driving from San Diego to Deming, NM.

Along the way, we stopped in Tucson, AZ to visit the Saguaro National Park. We learned a lot about the giant Saguaro cactus, which can live over 150 years, and don’t even get their first arms until they are 50-70 years old.

We spent the day at Gila Cliff Dwellings National Monument in the beautiful mountains near Silver City, NM. It was easy to imagine daily life for the Mogollon groups of Native Americans as we walked around inside of the dwellings, way up in the cliff.

We spent over 9 hours in the car, as we drove across the rest of New Mexico and most of Texas, during the 3rd day of our trip. There isn’t much to see in south west Texas, just lots of open scrub land.

We stopped in Fort Stockton to see the “World’s Largest Roadrunner” statue, which was the only thing worth stopping for to stretch out legs.

San Antonio has a beautiful river walk in their downtown area, which we explored while walking to the Alamo.

We spent several hours learning all about the battle at the Alamo and the founding of Texas. The boys learned a ton and really enjoyed all the exhibits and historical artifacts.

After leaving the Alamo, we explored the rest of the river walk before eating at a Mexican restaurant right on the water. Then it was time to load back in the car and finish the last 3 hours of driving to Houston.

Our family got to mark another MLB team off our list today, seeing the Astros play the Blue Jays at Minute Maid Park.

The Astros were down 6 to 5 in the bottom of the 9th, but Alex Bregman walked it off with a 2 run blast to win the game!

This NASA museum was amazing! We got to tour the NASA campus and see the original mission control center for the Apollo missions. The speaker in the picture below is the original one the Neil Armstrong broadcast over when he took his first steps on the moon.

We also got to explore a giant Saturn V rocket, see where Astronauts train before going up to the International Space Station, touch rocks from the Moon and Mars, and walk around inside a space shuttle and its hauler. By the end of the day, I think the boys’ heads were ready to explode with space facts, but they had a blast.

The water was as warm as a bathtub! We played in the water along the Galveston coast before exploring the city.

We explored the Texas State Capitol, learning some Texas State history along the way. Afterwards, we visited a nature center before having some delicious Austin BBQ.

We started off our day in Arlington with a picnic in a large park along the Trinity River. Then we headed to Globe Life Park, home of the Texas Rangers.

This was the 10th MLB stadium we’ve seen as a family. The stadium was nice but man was it hot! After a few innings in the sun, we retreated to seats further from the action, but in the shade.

The Rangers ended up losing against the White Sox, 10 to 5. Afterwards, the boys and I got to run the bases.