Trip to the Zoo

About a month ago, we had a wedding to go to in San Antonio.  We decided to make a little vacation out of it, and of course, we HAD to go to the zoo for our little animal lover.  We talked about it for weeks, and E was super excited to finally go, he even picked out a zebra shirt for the occasion.

Arriving at the zoo

Just inside the entrance, there is a statue of lions, and Ethan was pretty impressed with it.  I don't think he was aware that there were actual animals in the zoo.

"Hewo wion" That's Ethan-speak for "hello lion," who needs L's anyway.

The first animals we saw were flamingos.  He enjoyed watching this group, however, later on there was another display of flamingos that scared him, so now he claims he's scared of flamingos and their noise.

Checking out the flamingos with Nana

The animal Ethan wanted to see the most was a macaw.  Every time you asked him which animal he was going to see at the zoo, that was his answer.  There were supposedly macaws in this area, but we failed to spot a single one.  Thankfully, he was happy feeding the fish, and the picture of the macaw sufficed.

feeding the fish

We then watched the hippos from a gloriously air conditioned area (it was late August so were trying not to die).  I think these were my favorite.

Observing the hippos

We finally got to the African area with all the big attractions we knew Ethan would love.  The elephants were a highlight.  If it wasn't so hot, we probably would have let him watch them a little longer.

Elephants!

He liked watching the elephants

Okay, maybe I take back my favorite and give it to the zebras instead.  They are pretty cool animals, and of course Ethan was thrilled to see them outside of a book.

E in his zebra shirt, with Daddy, in front of the zebras

 We also saw lions, tigers, bears (oh my!), and then there were a TON of birds.  Birds get old quick, especially when they start freaking Ethan out.  We also checked out the reptiles and lots of fish, but he wasn't as impressed.

Up close and personal with the bird (some sort of eagle maybe?)

 There was a small petting zoo that grabbed his attention for awhile, but all they really had was goats.

Checking out the goats in the petting zoo

 Toward the end of our day, we discovered a toddler area with scheduled animal meetings, but by then we were all hungry and hot, so we visited a gift shop and decided to call it a day.

On our way out following the snake

 We left the zoo already wanting to take Ethan back, hopefully when it's cooler so more of the animals are active.  He had a great time though, and next time we'll be pros.  

One last kiss for the lion

Summertime

Summertime around here is fun-filled, a little bit lazy, and very hot.  We started out this summer very excited and eager to visit the splash parks and pools Ethan enjoyed so much last year.  However, the heat eventually caught up with us, and the past few weeks, we haven't been out as much as Ethan would like.  I'm sure we still have several weeks of heat left, so I'll have to get us back out there again soon.

Since I've slacked about posting all the fun things we've been up to, I thought I'd share a few pictures to sum it all up.

First up, we have splash pads.  There are several around town, and I think we've visited about three so far this summer.  I found one that is my favorite so far because it's close, shady, and never crowded.  Ethan loves to run around filling up buckets of water.

Having fun at our first splash pad adventure of the season.

 We've also been visiting my mom's pool often.  Sometimes we'll head over on a weeknight just to get out of the house.  Ethan has a new love of fearlessly jumping in the pool.  Also, his swim jacket makes him very independent in the pool so we can be close to him, but not have him hang all over us constantly.  We also visit one of the city pools nearby every once in a while, and it's always a nice way to stay cool.

Lounging at Nana's

 Lastly, there's the backyard.  I decided at the beginning of the summer that we needed some sort of pool back there and that it had to be big enough to fit me too (why should he be the only one who gets to have fun?).  So we found a nice one with a cover and it has been a staple in our backyard fun all season.  It's the perfect depth for E to sit, splash, and play in, and it's been quite lovely for me as well.

Swimming in the backyard

Handsome man

Splashing fun

Also in the backyard, a water table, which Ethan makes use of in ways it's not quite intended for, but oh well.

All this has made me want to take him out to all these fun things again before summer's over.  I'm going to have to get on that.

well, hello there...

Dear blog, you have yet again been neglected.  I was on top of things, I promise.  I have made an effort to bring out the camera whenever we do something, and I have been pretty successful.  I was actually really proud of my efforts, and a few weeks ago I excitedly plugged in the camera to upload my pictures to my computer.  And then there was an error message:  Your computer is full.  I am not a hardware person, so the thought of getting out the old external hard drive was not appealing.  I procrastinated and put it off for a long time, but now there is room, and I once again be sharing with you.  Hopefully.

We begin with another rainy day a few weeks back.  I am nostalgic for rain, can you tell?  So, E woke up from his nap right as it started to pour outside.  I rushed up to grab him and told him it was raining and would he like to go outside and see.  He has obviously picked up on how exciting and rare rain is, because he smiled and did his excited hands and said, "Yeah!" (remind me to get a video of the excited hands, it's awesome)

Anyway, to sum up, we put on his rain boots and played happily in the rain for a good half an hour.  We listened to the thunder, got ourselves soaked, and enjoyed every second of the summer storm.

looking to see where it was all coming from

running in the rain

He stopped and told me he needed his hat at one point, maybe to keep the rain out of his eyes

and then he was off again

Ah, rain.  Is it fall yet?

Surprise! Nana turns 50

For this most important milestone, Cory and I decided we should throw my mom a party. It was a little tricky, seeing as we wanted to have it at her apartment clubhouse and pool, which is visible from her front room. We pulled it off though, and a good time was had by all.

We told her we were picking her up for a birthday brunch, so when she came out of her apartment we were all standing down at the pool.

Her "surprised" look.  Too bad I don't have a zoom so you could see it.

The decorations

The cake made by my fabulously talented aunt Paula.  I hear it tasted just as good as it looked.

Ethan helped out with the candles.  He probably thought it was all for him again.

Then, we all hit the pool.

And there were some wonderfully entertaining pool "games" that the boys made up.

And of course Ethan bear enjoyed some pool time too.

And yes, I know this is terribly belated, but what can you do.

Rainy Days

I love rainy days, especially summer rainy days. However, I barely remember what they are like since we NEVER get rain. All this 100 degree heat (in June, already) has made me look back fondly on a rainy day we had a while back. Ethan and I decided to put on his rain boots and go searching for puddles.


Nana bought him these adorable rain boots, and I wish we got to use them more. Ethan was confused at first, but I convinced him to go for a walk with me. Our neighborhood is a little hilly, so we had to search awhile before we found the perfect puddles.

I showed him how to stomp and splash, and he got the hang of it pretty quickly. He did get freaked out a few times when debris got his boots. He would stop and say. "Ew, Mommy, ew!" He got over it though, and went on his merry splashing way.

I eventually had to convince him to head back home, and all the way back he spotted little puddles and would say "More, Mommy!" even though most of them were smaller than his foot. We connected the puddles all the way back home, and now he's addicted to his boots. They're currently hidden because otherwise he'd insist on wearing them everywhere.

Wow, I'm behind...Easter

I never blogged about this, but I most definitely want it in the next blog book, so we're going to go with the "better late than never" excuse for this one.

On Good Friday, we went to the park for an egg hunt with some of my mom friends and their kiddos. I had pulled our eggs out of the closet a few days earlier so that I could fill them for the hunt, so Ethan was already excited about finding eggs.

waiting to start the hunt

all the goodies


and then he was off

He did a great job hunting and filling his bucket. We had to remind him to keep going though, because he wanted to sit down and open up all the eggs right then and there.

ooh, another one!

It was a lot of fun, and E found lots of stickers and snacks in his eggs.

On Easter Sunday, we hid his basket (something my mom used to do), and we helped him find it. He plopped right down and started opening everything. He was a very lucky boy, he got nummy-nums (M&Ms) in a few of his eggs this year.


We headed out to spend the rest of the day in Bastrop where we had a a nice lunch and E learned all about confetti eggs. He wouldn't smash them directly on our heads, he just crushed them a little and sprinkled the contents over our head.

His favorite target was Daddy.

So that was Easter. I'll have to check the camera and see what other pictures I need to post.

Beach Trip

After all the birthday hoopla, we were so glad to get in a little vacation. My family decided that we should head down to the beach in honor of Papa, who passed away last year on April 16th. We arrived there on Wednesday, and shortly after my grandma and Paula joined us. The rest of the clan filtered in on Thursday and Friday.

My mom, Cory, Ethan, and I all stayed in our new super awesome tent, but we had Gramma and Paula's Airstream close by so we could have all the modern conveniences. They also have wi-fi and a lovely bath house at the park, so it really isn't "camping" at all.

Our luxurious tent.

Super comfy bed as far as camping goes.

After getting all the setting up done, we headed down to the water, which is right over the dunes from the campsite. Ethan really liked the beach last year, so I knew he'd dig it this year especially since he couldn't even walk last year. I was most definitely right.

Checking out the water for the first time.

When we went down to the water the first day, he got out of the car and said, "Wow!" He really liked playing in the waves that first day, but after that, he wasn't really into it. I blame the temperature of the water, but who knows.

Walking in the water with Daddy.

Watching him play that first day.

His favorite beach activities were digging in the sand and chasing the birds. He pretty much just loved to run around in all that open space, and he had a really goofy chasing-birds-dance where he'd flap his arms around and run. I wish I would have gotten that on video.

Heading to do some digging.

Checking out a hole with Paula.

Building a castle with Mama.

The weekend we were there also happened to be Sand Fest, and if you're like we were and had no idea what that meant, it means ~100,000 extra people on the island and a huge sand castle building contest. It also means fair food, artsy vendors, and drunk people. We stayed quite a ways down the beach from everything, but we decided to check it out. The first time we walked down the beach, pushing my grandma in this super cool beach wheelchair borrowed from the park office. Oh, and it was waaaaayyyy longer than a mile away (as we were first told).

Ethan fell asleep about half-way there.

E, Me, Gramma, Mark, and Cory made it before everyone else.

I wish we had gotten a better pic of the wheelchair, my gramma was the hit of the festival in that thing. People were stopping to take pictures of her, it was hilarious.


Ethan and I stayed Wednesday to Wednesday, while Cory left on Sunday (with a bunch of other family members who couldn't get time off), and my mom, Gramma, and aunts Karen & Paula stayed too. We enjoyed meals out, lots of hammock time, evenings by the fire, and lots of lounging on the beach. It was perfection.

Checking out the rooftop view from the park office.

Feeding the birds, one of my favorite childhood past times. E seemed to like it too.

We also went back to the Sand Fest on the last day to check out some of the finished castles. It was quite impressive.

Here's a couple from the amatuer category:



And some of the pros.:

This one won overall.

Super talented, all done by one person.

So that's it, our trip. I'm already trying to plan another trip soon.

Bounce House Party

Thought it was about time I share a few pictures from Ethan's party with his friends. Unfortunately, it being at a bounce house and all, a lot of my pictures came out like this:

It was a fun party though, even if I don't have much proof. Ethan would have been hard to catch anyway, he was running around everywhere. He tried out all the bounce houses, including the ones for big kids that had mommy-heart-attack-high slides. It was a good day, and we enjoyed celebrating with E's friends and their families.

Setting up

The birthday boy

singing "Happy Birthday"

with Nana

Blurry pic of the three of us