Terry's friend, Ben, was in town visiting on Friday. He stayed the night and then we went out to breakfast. On Saturday night we stayed downtown Houston. Terry had reserved two rooms for Ben's visit. They ended up not needing the rooms, but it was too late to cancel them. Hunter's friend Matthew went with us. We got adjoining rooms, so the boys had their own room and we had ours. We went to the Galleria on Saturday night. The above is a video of Hunter on the trampoline there.

Hunter started Mandarin lessons. His Chinese name is Hong Tai. He loves his class.
We are working on our piano recital and our church program solo. It is a one line solo for one of the songs. Four more math lessons until we are finished with third grade math!!!

Hunter at the rodeo. He had a blast!

Last night we went the the Vastine's house to watch the bats come out at night. Hunter takes piano lessons from Mrs. Vastine. Pastor James is the Youth Pastor on the church we go to on Wednesday. they have four kids! You can see a video of the event below; along with some pictures. We had a great time. There is some background noise of my camera and the kids on the video, but you could hear the bats wings flapping as they came out from under the bridge.

When we go grocery shopping at Whole Foods, Hunter takes some money for a snack at the deli and my ipad to hang out in the deli with the other tech geeks while I shop. This week he ordered rice and beans.

He worked very hard for the hat on his head. He just received it this week from his tennis coach for doing such a great job in tennis. The hat says Street Dog Tennis. He is very proud of his hat!

We went rollerblading yesterday with one of Hunter's friends. Hunter is getting so grown up. The boys did their thing - got their own snacks - I was just the ride. It was a little sad for me. Below is some video of Hunter rollerblading.

Today Hunter is hanging out with his friends who are on Spring Break this week. We spent some time looking at video of the earthquake and tsunami in Japan. We will knock out some school this afternoon.

First, our very exciting news, Hunter's Uncle Matt is home from his deployment to Iraq!!!  We are so happy to know he is home with his family. Thank you to everyone who prayed for him while he was deployed.

We spent the day on Friday at the Children's Museum in Houston. Hunter had a fabulous time in Kidtropolis. It is a town designed for kids. You have to work at a job to get a paycheck. Then you can go to a bank or ATM in Kidtropolis to get money to spend in stores or restaurants. Hunter worked in the news studio. Hunter joined me for food in the Kidtropolis cafe. While we were visiting he said, "I need to get back to the office and work." Off he went to the studio to work on his next newscast.

Hunter in the studio

Photo of the studio where Hunter worked

Hunter got two very exciting pieces of news this week. First, he found out that he got a part singing a solo in the church play. He tried out for the part last week and found out on Wednesday that he got a part. We don't know yet what song he is doing, but will keep you updated. The play is in The middle of April.

Second, we signed Hunter up for kids camp this summer. The camp is done thru church - it is five hours away. Hunter will be rooming with two of his friends - Kolten and Matthew. Terry and I have already booked our RV so we can camp out on the street outside Hunter's dorm.

We had a lot of the fun at the Houston Rodeo yesterday. So much to do and see. Hunter especially enjoyed the Euro Bubbles - you can see a video of him on it below.

Hunter in the middle of the action.

Happy Birthday Colonel!

UK Baseball game in Houston with Dad.

Our neighbor's dog had puppies recently and Hunter was able

to hold them for the first time. The puppies are very cute, but they will have to be cute in another family's home. Still we will enjoy going to the neighbors to visit them while they are around. There are a total of four dogs and they are putting all of them up for adoption.
We have two friends from California who are moving this summer. The Vlahos family is heading to North Carolina. Hunter went to school with Andreas and Sophia (twins) and we carpooled with them when we lived there. We are so excited to have a chance to visit them in NC. Then the Robert's family is moving to the DC area. We are hoping they can drive thru Texas on their way to the East Coast.
We would really like to get some friends in Little Rock, AR so we have a half-way point between here and IN to stop and see friends. Not much in Little Rock though.

Hunter is moving along nicely with school. He has started adding fractions and doing division with remainders. He also has been very into reading comprehension activities. He begs me to copy new reading comprehension activities for him. He does very well with these. For history we are finishing a book on Eli Whitney. We will definitely be working on history into June. His curriculum is literature based, so a lot of reading. In science we are covering animals - not as exciting for Hunter. Next week we are going to the Houston Rodeo which will give us a chance to get close and personal with some mammals. Spelling and grammar are moving forward. Hunter still does not like cursive, but he has such nice handwriting when he applies himself. We haven't done a ton in writing. This is probably a class we will do into summer as well.
The weather here has been gorgeous, so we have been spending A LOT of time outdoors. I mean A LOT!!! It is great for Hunter - he has really been taking advantage of our sunny, mild days.