Old Pictures

Charlie with Aunt Elizabeth, this summer.

Exhausted kids after a day at the beach this summer.

Molly having so much fun at the park!

Aaron and me being all cuddly!

Aaron cracking his naked self up in the mirror!

Goofy baby in the tub!!!!

Our Day in Downtown Houston at the Houston Zoo

We did park-and-ride. Houston has some good public transportation. Too bad it's not so good for getting into Houston, like the public transportation in San Francisco's Bay Area. It's getting better, though. There's now a bus you can catch from Baytown, but only at certain times of the day. But this is a post about our day in Downtown Houston and at the Houston Zoo, not about public transportation! So, the above picture is Buffalo Wings and the big kids walking to the train.

Here are the big kids waiting for the train to arrive.

As we waited for the train, I took some pics of downtown Houston. Above is a statue of a lady's head. Don't know who she is or why there's a statue of her head, but I thought it was cool.

Above and below: downtown Houston cityscape. I LOVE driving around in a big city. Though I like San Francisco better, Houston is still really fun to drive and walk around in.

The dazed children ride on the Metro.

The Houston Zoo is inside Hermann Park. George Hermann (whose lovely statue you can see above) is known as one of Houston's greatest benefactors, and Hermann Park is a wonderful place with lakes, trails, a train, playgrounds, and fountains.

The big kids in front of one of Hermann Park's fountains.

At the zoo - are those Houston lawn ornaments? Nope, those are the real thing!

Baby Butterbean was all like, "Man, I love those flamingos. I mean, they are really something!"

What was it with me and water fowl today? Above, Chicken Nugget and some pelicans.

Above, Noodle at the petting zoo. Below, Banana at the petting zoo. Goats are very friendly.

Above and below, the big kids at the reflection pool.

A picture of Hermann park's palm trees. That's right - green and lovely, and have been that way since mid-February. I'm not bragging. I'm just saying. To the right of those palm trees is the spray park, and let me tell you, there were plenty of kids getting soaked and cooling off after a long day in the toasty Houston sunshine.

Heading back to the train after a long day at the zoo.

One of downtown Houston's Metro trains.

A cool church downtown.

Did I mention that I like cityscapes?

Well, I do. A lot.

And while Houston is no San Francisco or Chicago, it's pretty spectacular in its own rite.

Saint Patrick's Day Adventure

Today, took the big kids to the San Jacinto Battleground and Monument. The monument has a museum in it; you can also watch a movie about the Texas Revolution (we opted not to today) and ride an elevator 50 stories up to the observation deck, which is just below the star at the top of the mounument (we took the elevator ride - scary!).
It started out to be a foggy and drizzly Saint Patrick's Day. Even so, I wanted to take a picture of all the kids in fron of the azalea bushes before we got into the van. Baby Butterbean didn't care to accompany us on our tour of Texas history, so he stayed home with Dad. Besides, BB had had a long night of teething and Dad had stayed up with him, so they were both pretty tuckerd out. And believe you me, learning about the Battle of San Jacinto can really use up lots of energy.

Our journey began as we traveled for minutes and minutes to get to the monument (which is like two miles from our house). Most exciting on our journey was the ferry ride. The ferry pictured is not the one on which we rode, but it's just like the one we rode. I took this picture from the van (which was on the ferry at the time).

At last! Our perserverence paid off. We made it to the monument. We looked around inside for a little bit, exclaiming over swords and guns and the portrait of the evil Santa Anna, and rejoicing over at portraits and articles of Colonel Sidney Sherman and Sam Houston. OK, so it was more like me going, "There's Sidney Sherman! Say, 'Yay, Sidney Sherman!'" and the kids repeating, but I think it sunk in a little bit.

All around the monument is the battleground. There are also lots of nature trails as *the oil companies try to make up for all the damage they have done* the historical society has tried to recreate the natural coastal prarie as it was at the time of the battle. We went on a great nature trail.

We did't see any crabs, otters, fish, or snakes, as the nature trail sign had promised, but we did see lots of birds. It was really cool.

Too bad it was so dang foggy. It would have been a great shot of the monument in the background.

We stopped for a quick photo op in front of the reflection pool before going across the street to see the rest of the battleground and to look at the Battleship Texas, which is docked there. We didn't get out and go in, just looked at it from the van. We decided to save it for a day when Grandma and Pappa are here.

But our adventure was not quite over! Banana and Noodle were in severe need of haircuts. So we had some lunch at KFC and then went to great clips, but we had to get a "before" shot of the overgrown mops.

Oh, so nice! After - now we can see Banana's eyes again! And Noodle, well, she had done some damage to her hair previously which could only be corrected with layers. Now, it's all one length again. However, no matter the length or layer, those kids are adorable, if I do say so myself!

Home again and the fog had burned off, so the three big kids went back to where we started this morning, with the blooming brillant azaleas - and a brilliant St. Patrick's Day adventure - behind them.

Baby Butterbean and Baby Butterbean's Brother

Baby Butterbean is getting big. Too big, if you want my opinion. I don't like it. Not even a little.

Anyway, here's a list of Baby Butterbean's milestones:

*He turned 9 months old on the 12th of this month.

*He's babbling. "Da da da da da da da . . . " It's way cute.

*He has four teeth and is in the process of getting his fifth. Again, serious cutness. Well, they're cute after they come in, but getting them is a nightmare for him. Poor guy.

*He's getting some adorable, fuzzy, chicken-type fluff on his head. Nice to pet.

*He's trying to crawl. He's getting close. Way too close.

*The strawberry on his nose is fading. But even that makes me sad. It's like the last mark of his very tiny infanthood. I think his red nose is absolutely adorable.

*He can hold his bottle.

*He is eating all kinds of food.

*He thinks he's all big and almost not like a baby anymore. I like to remind him that he's wrong about that. I remind him a lot.

Also, Baby Butterbean has the best big brother in the whole, wide world. Banana wanted in on the picture-taking action this morning. I said I would take his picture if he gave me his very best and biggest smile. What do you think:

Labor Day Fun

Today at Chick-Fil-A, if you were wearing a team logo, you got free chicken strips. Though Baby Butterbean was sporting his Central Dutch bib and was thus eligible for the free grub, he didn't get too excited about it:
The girls, all Razorback-clad, found a friend from church in the play area:

Banana was digging the slide:

Below are the results of trying to get a regular smiley face from Banana.

The sister pose:

Don't know if you can see their little faces poking through, but isn't that play car the coolest????

Baby Butterbean is still unimpressed:

We heart free food! Oh, yeah, and each other!

"Those chicken strips were great!"

"Yeah, great!"

AND we got free balloons! How's that for an outstanding day? Hope your day was equally exciting, though really, how could it have been????

All that excitement left someone all worn out:

Some people go to the lake, or maybe camping. Or even possibly to the beach or a theme park. Well, I feel sorry for those people. They just don't know what FUN is!!!!!!