Fun Things to Do Around Texas....

Now that the weather has started to cool down we've started to explore Texas and some of the fun things to do around here. The city is definately kid friendly and there are lots of fun places to go and explore. Hint hint to all of our friends with kids out there or those of you that are kids at heart! Here are a few (click on each of the pictures to see more pictures from our trip to these places):

Breakfast with the Elephants: The Houston Zoo recently had a fundraiser event where you could go and have breakfast with the elephants. Since Riley adores elephants we thought this would be a great chance to see them up close and personal. The thought of eating breakfast around a whole bunch of elephants was not too appealing but in the end we had a great time. We got to watch the trainers have the elephants do some exercise, play around in their sleeping quarters and see all of their toys and things they eat, give one of the elephants a bath, and make new friends with the zoo volunteers.

Natural History Museum: Riley has hit that age where he is fascinated with dinosaurs. We took him to the natural history museum on a Sunday morning and we literally had the whole place to ourselves. We let him run wild and crazy in the dinosaur room and he had a blast stomping and roaring!

Old MacDonald's Farm: I don't remember exactly how I found this place but I'm sure glad we did. You pay a flat rate to go into the farm and that rate includes unlimited pony rides and train rides which is a good thing because Riley ended up going on the pony ride at least 10 times. They had tons of animals that you could get up close and personal with. The only thing we didn't get to see that day were cows (they are usually there but were missing from their pen) which Riley would have loved since he loves cows!

Hermann Park: I've posted pictures of our trips to Hermann Park before but we visited a new area this time. Ben's mom was here for a visit and the weather was beautiful so we decided to head over to our old stomping grounds for a nice walk after breakfast. We took our time and walked by the fountain, played with some geese/ducks, and then headed over to the Japanese Gardens. There were lots of bridges everywhere and Riley loved standing on them and watching the Koi swim around.

Pumpkin Patch at Dewberry Farms: This place was fantastic. It kind of reminded me of the Roloff's farm from the show "Little People Big World". This farm had so much stuff to do and Riley had a blast going from one thing to another. By the time we left all three of us were exhausted!!

Halloween: This was Riley's first year of trick-or-treating and he had a great time! We went with our neighbors and it was a blast watching Riley and Nolan run up to each house. They both kept trying to go into people's houses but they were both very polite and great with their "thank yous"!! They only made it up and back one block but they still made out like bandits! It's hard to tell from these pictures but Riley was supposed to be a dinosaur. Not sure why the dinosaur has frog eyes!!

A Trip Back to Cali

After 9 long months away Riley and I made our first trip back to California since moving to Houston. We were so excited to have such a great excuse to go back - Rhys' first birthday party! It's always hard to get the whole gang together but we came close this time - we really missed Ben, Yolanda and Allan and their whole gang. I was a little worried at first making the trip by myself with Riley but he was a real trooper and did fantastic on the plane. We had a little incident when he decided that he wanted to run and play when we were in the security check line but other than that it was smooth sailing. Note to self: it is much easier for a little 2 year old to run around under all of the roping than for a grown person with a giant backpack! We took the last flight out of Houston so I thought he would be exhausted by the time we landed (it was almost 11:30 pm our time) but as soon as he saw his two aunties he was all smiles and full of energy. The rest of the trip was non-stop - we went to visit my grandparents in Stockton, went to dinner with my cousins to celebrate my dad's birthday, went to Rhys' first birthday party, hung out with everyone and had a great time at the playground, went to dinner with my sisters, went to the Oakland Zoo (where one of Riley's shoes now resides with the buffalo since he decided that it would be great fun to kick it off when we were on the sky ride -- warning that ride is a little too long and a little scary with a 2 year old), went to dinner again to celebrate my dad's birthday, and then came home. I swear Riley gained at least 5 pounds on this trip. Riley and my parents have a routine - every morning Riley gets up, goes to play in their bedroom and drinks his milk, then after getting dressed and ready they go to my parents' favorite restaurant for breakfast (a Hong Kong style cafe) and he pigs out. As if that wasn't enough he would then come home, play in the backyard or in the house and have some of the apple pears that my parents grow in the backyard. The boy ate and ate and ate. It was amazing!!

Riley was quite sad when we got back and kept looking for everyone. The morning after we got back he woke up and asked where his paw paw and gong gong were (he was ready for his morning ritual!). And that same day after I picked him up from daycare he kept asking for his Auntie Cindy and Auntie Mimi (this is what he calls Jamie!). To this day when we drive home each day he likes to tell me that Auntie Mimi is at work and Auntie Cindy is at school. He is too funny! We definitely miss California. We can't wait until our trip back during the holidays!! Click on the picture below for some pictures from our trip.

Baking with Mom

I found a recipe for S'more Cupcakes awhile ago that I have been dying to try - graham cracker crust, chocolate, chocolate cake, and a toasted marshmallow cream frosting - but haven't had a chance to make them. We recently went to a BBQ at one of our neighbor's house and I thought this would be a great opportunity to make them. They were a great success!! Riley decided that he didn't want to be left out when I was baking so he jumped up onto a chair to help! Everytime he sees a cupcake he thinks its a "Happy Day"!!

Way Behind....

I am really behind on my postings for the blog. I promise I am working on them but in the meantime here are some pictures from the past couple of months that I kept meaning to post...

Swim Lessons this Summer

A Trip to the Museum of Natural History (he loved all of the dinos)

Teaching his T-Rex how to dance

Yum!

Under the Big Top

We took Riley to his first circus and he had such a great time. Between the animals, clowns, snacks, and all the people he didn't know what to do with himself! The pictures say it all....

Daddy and Riley at the Circus

Snowcone.....very bad idea...Ben and I ended up getting soaked!!

The animals

Enjoying the circus and watching the acrobats

You can't go to the circus and not have popcorn and cotton candy!

A Busy Month

July is always a busy month for us. We've already done so much this month that it seems like July should be over and done with already but we still have two more weeks!

My sisters arrived to visit us at the end of June and we ended the month of June with a trip to San Antonio. We've been saying that we wanted to start exploring Texas and we thought that going with my sisters would be fun. What we should have taken into account is that Texas is HOT HOT HOT. We went to Sea World in San Antonio and we all knew it was going to be really bad when we were all sweating when we got to the front gate (and this was not due to a long walk since we parked in the VIP section and we were in the second row!). We stayed at the park for 3.5 hours and then went back to the hotel so Riley could take a nap (we all ended up falling asleep!). We went back, saw a couple of attractions, baked and sat in what felt like a large sauna to watch the Shamu show and then called it a day. We went back to the hotel and Riley and daddy went swimming to cool off. Never again will we attempt to do something like this!! No more amusement parks (unless they are water related) in the summer. Everyone keeps saying that this summer has been horrible and that the excruciating heat started really early....just our luck, heh?

Next it was my birthday. Nothing too exciting there - we went to a nice dinner and had cake. Then of course, Fourth of July. You can't set off fireworks within Houston Proper so if you want to see fireworks you have to go to the big celebration downtown. And like everything else in Houston this is a BIG celebration.....Clay Walker gave a free concert right before the fireworks and they had blocks of entertainment starting at 4 pm. Learning our lesson from San Antonio we stayed away from the crowds. We just couldn't imagine sitting around with all of those people in 100+ heat. So instead Riley had a great time playing with his water mat, we barbecued, and then watched the fireworks on TV!! Next, it was our anniversary. Since my sisters were here we were able to go out and have a nice dinner and finally break our 2 year hiatus from the movie theaters. We thought it was only fitting to see Transformers 2 since the last movie we saw two years ago was the first Transformers. I had forgotten how nice it is to sit in a movie theater with a soda and popcorn!

Click on the picture below for some pictures....

My cousins came in the following week and then it was Riley's second birthday. I still can't believe my little bean is 2 years old. It's amazing how much of a little boy he has become. He definitely knows what he wants and isn't afraid to go and get it. He is extremely social and doesn't know the meaning of "stranger". I love the fact that he is speaking more everyday. The Thursday before the fourth of July his daycare had a parade where they marched around with little flags. When I picked him up from school he marched all the way from his room to the door waving his flag and yelling "flag"....the only problem was that his pronunciation of flag comes out more like "f*!*k". Incredibly funny!! He loves animals and thankfully it seems we have moved on from Barney and are now progressing to Sesame Street. He had a great birthday and was once again spoiled to death. Thank you everyone that sent gifts/cards! He loved everything.

This past weekend we went to Schlitterbahn water park in Galveston. It was so hot but we had a great time there. We, of course, all got burnt (except for Riley) and looked like lobsters the next day but we had a really relaxing day playing in the water and floating around on the endless river. Unfortunately we are now all itchy and peeling like crazy! Nothing more attractive than a peeling nose.

Well that's it for now. Next on the agenda is the circus, the start of swim lessons, and Ben's annual trip to see the Angels. More to come! Click the below picture for pictures of Riley's birthday and our trip to Galvaston.

Random Pictures

It's been awhile since I've loaded new pictures and as I was going through all of our pictures I realized that there were a lot of things that I forgot to post about. So here is a link to a whole bunch of random pictures from the shortest trip to Galveston ever to Easter to Memorial Day to Father's Day.

Speaking of Father's Day....we didn't get to go out and do much that day since Riley was not feeling 100% and it was extremely hot outside. We had a nice breakfast, had a leisurely morning, puttered around the house all day, and then grilled up some bratwurst for dinner and had chocolate covered strawberries for dessert. It was a very nice relaxing day. Riley and I are both very lucky to have Ben....he is the most wonderful father. Even though he is starting his lab and is working non-stop he always makes time to spend with Riley even though it is probably killing him. So I can go to work early in the morning, Ben gets Riley ready for daycare every morning and drops him off. He always makes sure that he is home for dinner, then we have family time until Riley goes to bed at 8:00 pm. Ben then heads back to lab and doesn't get home until midnight or even later some nights. Even though this schedule is rough on him he does it so that he can spend as much time with Riley and I as possible and we both really appreciate it. We love him lots and lots and I couldn't imagine raising Riley with anyone except him. He is everything that I think a good father should be - loving, funny, patient, silly, strong (someone needs to be able to tote Riley around!). We love you Ben!

Click on the picture to see all of the pictures!