Aloha and Holo Holo: Who doesn't love a great festival?!

A few weeks ago, we heard about a Physics and Engineering Festival that would be taking place at A&M. And since 1. We have children interested in science and engineering as hobbies and possible careers, 2. We figured we'd need to be out of the house for potential showings, and 3. We look for any excuse to head to our beloved Aggieland, we made plans to attend. We got up early yesterday morning, and realized right away that we would need sustenance for the day ahead. Some wanted tacos, others wanted donuts, and I became the hero of the morning by discovering The Donut Taco Palace.

After quite a hearty breakfast and our allotment of carbs, sugar and calories for the day (or possibly the week), we continued on our way, and made it to A&M around 11:00. The festival, which was a much bigger deal than we were expecting, was in full swing. We had a blast, visiting many (but not near all) of the incredible exhibits, attending a fantastic bubble show, and scoring free tickets to the finale of the festival: a symphony to be held in the evening.

Eventually, everyone claimed to be hungry again, and we decided to try the new-to-us Grub Burger Bar, since we have already exposed the kids to most of the remaining haunts from back in our college days. This is a restaurant with an identity crisis about just exactly what kind of restaurant it is, which caused confusion in ordering and seating, but the food was absolutely delicious, so we forgave them their their lack of definition in other areas.

After our late lunch, we decided some down time was in order before the symphony. Clay and Max had naps in the car, while I ran an errand. Then we found a park, where the kids played until it was time to go back to campus. We had already planned to spend the night in Austin, because we were going to be meeting Jeff's parents there today for an early birthday party for Ruth at Main Event, so we had our RTW bags with us, and were therefore able to get out of our dirty park clothes and into something more appropriate for the evening's proposed entertainment. It's so good to be prepared for anything that comes up!

Jeff and I were super excited about taking the kids to the symphony, but we weren't really sure how they would like it, since most of them have never been to an event quite like that before. This particular symphony incorporated not only the orchestra (which the boys are studying about at CC right now), but also an Aggie singing group (The Century Singers), who sang a lovely piece in Latin (which is another subject the kids are currently learning). The first song was the Star Wars theme song, which immediately got their attention and got them excited. Weston turned to me and whispered, "It sounds just exactly like in the movie!" The second half of the performance was the physics part, in which the author and physicist, Brian Greene, narrated a movie based on a children's book he wrote, while the orchestra played the accompanying score. It was amazing! The kids really seemed to love the whole experience and did not get fidgety or fussy at all (though they did find the very long Latin piece a teeny bit tedious). Jeff and I were proud of them and were so glad to get to expose them to this new experience!

It was a truly wonderful day, and we are so glad we decided to go! Perhaps when we return from our travels, we will have an opportunity to go again. We also hear A&M has a pretty neat Chemistry Festival, so perhaps we'll add that one to our bucket list, too.