The Zoo

Justin had to go to the doctor in the morning and his doctor is near the zoo so we were able to make a day of it and have some fun too.  I dropped off Mary and Travis first and then went to the endocrinologist with Justin (He's doing well: TSH level is down, T3 good, T4 still low.  Back in another four months, labs to check levels before the appointment.)  Then we went back to meet up with them.  It was a little cool so the animal were moving!  Usually they lounge around in the heat, so this was the first time we saw them active.  The lionesses did a little playful fighting for us even.

 

 

 

We were able to go to the new African area of the zoo.  Justin wanted to see the giraffes so we made sure to check them out.  We even got to see them eat.  Justin has gotten so good with talking that he said "zoo", "g-raff", (the sign for elephant), and "ape".  That just about sums up what we saw!

 

Travis decided that his new favorite animal is the cheetah.  He just learned that it's really fast so that was cool to him.  So we had to take a trip to see the cheetahs.

 

And take a few pictures too.  Alaina just slept.  So did Benjamin (Mary's foster baby).  He got his picture taken with the Houston zoo sign to show that he had been there!

 

 

While I was at the doctor with Justin, Travis and Mary wandered through the zoo.  When they came to an animal, Mary would read the sign about the animal.  (This was Travis' school for the day so we wanted him to learn something.)  After the 8th sign or so, Travis said "blah blah blah" when she started reading!  So she stopped reading and waited for me to come and take over.  How do they get attitudes so quickly?

 

Travis' assignment when we go to the zoo is to pick and animal and write three sentences about it.  So Travis picked the cheetah on this trip and he wrote: "Cheetahs run 70 miles per hour.  They live in Africa.  They eat small animals."  And Justin had to write something too.  Because Travis did.  You know how that works, right?  One interesting thing I learned is that at top speed they can travel up to 30 feet per stride.  That's amazing to me!  God made such amazing animals with such unique and interesting skill sets.  It's so fun to watch them in action.

 

Then on to the monkeys and gorillas.  Of course, thanks to Silly Songs with Larry we know which is a monkey and which is an ape.  We sang the song several times.

We finished the trip at the elephants.  We got in at the end of the zoo keepers talk and we learned about elephants training.  And the fun part was seeing the elephants do the things the keeper said that they do.  Like how they interact and have real personalities.  Another totally interesting God-is-so-cool moment.

 

It was a fun excursion with our friend.   She enjoyed our warm weather zoo compared to her cold weather zoo in Minnesota.  She has penguins and polar bears, we have elephants and giraffes!  They both are fun so now it's our turn to visit her zoo!

Buddy Walk!!

I know, it took me longer than I hoped, but here it is.  Justin's Jaywalkers made their fifth appearance at the Buddy Walk.  It was such an encouraging, uplifting experience.  This is the first year that Justin really understood what was happening and that it was about him.  I have made it a tradition to wear my Buddy Walk shirts from previous years during the week leading up to the Walk so all week Justin asked about the "Walk".  He can say it so well!

 

Check out Alaina's outfit!!  Our friend Melissa made her this great onesie... 

 

...complete with bling!

 

This year the Walk was after the Buddy Bash so we arrived early to do some playing around before walking.  Justin really got into the games and he had so much fun!  He couldn't quite make it up the steps and I had Alaina with me so I couldn't help so one of the "Buddy-teers" helped him up.  The volunteers were mostly high school kids and they were really great with all the children.  They were so patient and helpful; I was very impressed.

 

Justin wanted to go "one more" time!

 

When I made him get out and back in line he pouted....

...until he heard the music and he started dancing!

 

Then both he and Travis discovered this ride (you can see Travis inside).  Travis, Clara, and Justin rode it about five times each!  Justin managed to get the men running the ride wrapped around his little finger and when he got off and did his "one more" routine, they just let him stay on and ride again!  He rode all by himself once even.

I rode once to get some pictures.  I had Alaina strapped to my front and she did just fine.  I did fine until I stopped taking pictures. I was ready to get off!!!!

You can see how Justin had a good time!

 

Our team, in kids!

Justin's Jaywalkers 2012

 

On a side note, this is a new team this year.  It's hard to read their shirts, but they say "Luke's Girls and Guywalkers".  The backs are all different.  Of course, Luke's dad's shirt says "Luke, I am your Father".  Other ones said "Luke, I am your Wingman" and "Luke, I am your Nana".  So cute! 

 

Luke's shirt said "My force is with me".

 

Then we were off on the Walk.  We tried to do some balloons but it was too windy so that didn't work.

I planned to carry Alaina in the front pack and put Justin in the stroller, but they had ideas of their own: 

Justin is definitely Pop's boy so at the end of the Walk when I wanted a picture of all the kids and their medals, Justin did not want to leave him.  So I got a bit of a sad smile!

It was another fabulous day!  The weather was beautiful and there were tons of walkers: 8,500 was the final count.  So much fun and we will be back next year.  Mark the date:  November 9, 2013!

Houston Gem and Mineral Show

So this isn't quite the post you were expecting, but this came first so we'll start here.  Our friend Mary, came to town for the Buddy Walk so we picked her up at the airport and then we went on a field trip to check out the Rock Show, as we have been calling it.  Travis has been looking forward to this forever!  He is really into rocks to the point of my needing to put a limit to how many can come into the house.  It's fun to feed his passion by going to events like this.

We arrived early, before a lot of school groups arrived so we got first dibs on some of the kids stuff.  This was one of the museums in town.  They brought shark teeth for all the kids and lots of other things to touch and pick up.  The people were all so very friendly and knowledgeable.  They wanted the kids to ask questions and touch everything.  And our boys did!

This was our first year to go to this show and the website didn't give us a whole lot of information about what to expect.  But fortunately we have a very talkative son and he started up a conversation with someone at therapy and she gave us the low down on what not to miss.  The one thing we knew was that we had to go to the tent outside and pound concrete.  The boys got to be paleontologists and search for fossils (plastic dinosaurs).  After being properly fitted with goggles they were given hammers and screwdrivers to chip away at the concrete.  Daddy helped Justin, but Travis went to town all by himself.  We were the first people there so all the volunteers surrounded the boys to watch them and one even offered to take pictures since I had Alaina strapped to my front.  We ended up with approximately 35 pictures of the boys beating concrete.  It was hysterical!

Justin couldn't manage to keep on his goggles.  They kept coming off and then he put them back on whatever way he could!

 They had so much fun and finally the director had to say, "Okay, that's great. I think you're done." Pause while the boys keep pounding. "Great job. Now let's leave some for someone else. You can come back later." Pause. "I think we have a group coming in now...." Randy and I finally managed to drag the boys away and promise we would come back later.

Then we went on to the sluice.  For $5 you could buy a bucket of dirt (properly loaded with mineral and petrified wood for the kids to "discover") and then you went down to the running water to dump it in the boxes with wire screens to clean the dirt away.  The boys each got some dirt and they had fun seeing what they could find. 

Justin wasn't so good at shaking the pan so Mary shook him instead!

 

 

Then the man had a chart to show us what we found.  He even said that there was a topaz in Travis' haul that wasn't supposed to be there.  But we haven't been able to figure out which one it is quite yet!

 

Then we wandered through the area of items for sale.  There were some amazing gems and jewelry!  Plus geodes and other interesting Texas fossils.  And lots of items from all over the world.  We came across a woman who taught us about coprolite.  She started off by saying that when they are out in the field and they come across something new and unfamiliar they do the lick test to see if it is something that can be polished.  Then she brought out the coprolite for the boys to lick.  I had to get a picture of that!  We will never forget that lesson!

 

We found a demonstration of a man cutting and polishing a stone.  And his accomplice playing the soprano saxophone.  They were great teachers with great passion for their work.  Travis and Justin had a great time watching them. 

 

Then we met a man who had built his own machines to polish stones into spheres.  He is a member of the Gem and Mineral Society and you could see his interest and passion for what he did.  He had three different machines, each rigged for different phases of the process, from the initial rough buffing down to the fine polishing.  He used the simplest motors and pieced together funnels, the ends of baseball bats, salt shakers, and old tin buckets to make the perfect rock polishing system.  It was so interesting!

 

We had such a good time learning about minerals and fossils.  I really had very little knowledge about these minerals and rocks in general I really enjoyed it more than I really thought I would.  My favorites were the geodes.  They look so unassuming until you crack them open.  Then they sparkle brilliantly!  I like that.  I really tried to get Travis to see how awesome that is and he just couldn't get into it.  God made something rather dull and boring until someone said, "Hey, I wonder what this looks like on the inside?"  That must have made God laugh!

 

I really didn't know what to expect at the Show but it turned out fabulously for our first experience.  We will do it again next year for sure!

Buddy Walk Preview

 

The Buddy Walk is this weekend and we just got our shirts.  Aren't they awesome?  At least we won't lose Justin!  One thing that's missing from this picture is the incredible onesie that a friend made for Alaina.  She has her own special "Justin's Jaywalkers" outfit, complete with personalized bling.  You'll have to wait until after Saturday to see it.

 

 

(I promise not to take too long to upload and post the pictures!)

 

Please pray for a safe and fun event for everyone this weekend!

Five Months

Our little girl has made it to another milestone!  Five whole months old!

 

And she has a cheerleader outfit to wear for the occasion. 

 

Pretty in pink, don't you think?

 

Thanks, Mommy Sharon, for the great look!

 

In honor of the special occasion, she and Justin read a book together.

We went walking with some friends today and their four-year-old daughter asked what Alaina could do.  She wasn't very impressed with the list:

Smile
Giggle
Roll over
Grab things really tightly

Then we let Alaina grab her finger and that made her smile.  I guess babies can be fun after all!

Happy Halloween!

So I am not kidding when I said that I didn't take any pictures of Halloween.  The plan was to hit a few houses early and then come back and put Alaina to sleep and hand out candy at our house.  The plan failed miserably.  We set out walking, and I carried Alaina.  At the first house our neighbor insisted on keeping Alaina and the boys cheered, thinking they could go to more houses then.  So we went up and down a few more streets but Justin got tired and I had to carry him.  And his burgeoning sack of candy.  It didn't take too long for me to start limping, but by this time we were pretty far away from home.  I was hot and tired and the boys were hot and tired.  So we went and rescued Alaina, who was slightly fussy by this time since I hadn't brought a pacifier or a burp cloth.  Fortunately our neighbor is a good sport.

 

We went home and quickly got ready for bed.  The boys were somehow high on sugar without having actually eaten any of it.  It must have absorbed through their skin as they sorted and examined each piece.  So they were bouncing around the front door waiting to open it at the first bit of a knock. When we finally got them into bed we could still hear them (especially Justin) talking and giggling.  It was a very long (and short) night!

 

 

So you will have to be satisfied with a picture of Alaina in her Halloween splendor.

 

Kinda cute, huh?

 

 

Pumpkin Patch

I know, I know, seriously bad blogger lately.  I think Randy may have discovered the answer.  A new study that connects breastfeeding with co-sleeping and stress hormone levels says that my body is doing just what God made it to do.  My stress hormone level is high in the morning to prepare for the events of the day and low in the evening to prepare for sleep.  I think my body is ready for sleep before my work is done!  (Do any of the rest of you wonder why Randy was reading articles like this at work?)

 

Anyway, Pumpkin Patch was well, a while ago now, but here's some pictures.  And Nana, these are all the pictures we got in costume so you can tell me which of these less-than-stellar pictures you want for your collection.  Slim pickins, I know...

 

The decorations and the games were awesome.  Justin was more entranced with them than he was willing to pose for a picture.  I guess who can blame the boy when you walk underneath a cat bigger than your car.

 

And Justin continued his dominance playing games for candy.  Somehow Justin always manages to win games by sheer chance.  It infuriates Travis to no end since he tries so hard!  Travis would get the one little consolation piece of candy per game, and Justin would get three or sometimes four pieces of candy.  The irony is, Justin doesn't really even like candy!

 

Alaina just kind of hung out.  Daddy was the designated baby carrier.  He enjoyed it since he usually goes to Pumpkin Patch all by himself (since I am at work).  I got to be the candy carrier, boy chaser, and game consultant.

 

We spent most of the time at the bounce houses.  It's so funny because Travis had to take off most of his costume to be able to bounce.  At some point you wonder if you should have just bought a bag of candy and taken the kids to Pump it Up.  Justin just sits on the edge and lets himself be tossed up and down by the other bouncers.  Travis really catches some air though.

My tired knight and pirate at the end of the evening.  I love how Justin's pirate handkerchief turned and became an Aunt Jemima scar!