Am I a Grown-up Now?: October 2009

Monday, October 19, 2009

Zoo Boo!

Saturday was absolutely the most gorgeous day ever. Anyone who has lived in Houston for much time at all knows that days like these don't come very often and what makes it worse is that they don't last very long. It truly was a remarkably beautiful day. Highs in the low to mid 70's, relatively low humidity and a nice cool breeze.

But what made this day even better was that we had already planned a trip to the Houston Zoo. And if you have ever spent a day at the zoo, you definitely will be wanting a good weather day for it. Well everything was aligned just perfectly and we had a fabulous day.

This was the first weekend of the Houston Zoo's halloween celebration called "Zoo Boo". There were lots of little kids wearing their costumes, but our kiddos just wore their halloween t-shirts. They were handing out candy to the kids and had little pumpkins that they could pick out and decorate. So much fun!

This was also Jude's FIRST visit to the zoo amazingly enough. See, my mom has been a volunteer at the zoo for almost 25 years. I spent a good chunk of my childhood there...went to "zoo school" and everything. Cecilia went to the zoo for the first time when she was just a few months old. So for Jude to have been alive for 16 months and never have visited the zoo is very odd. But it couldn't have worked out any better!

So here are LOTS of pictures from our day (fair warning). I so can't wait to take Jude again when he's a little older and can enjoy it even more.

We started our day with a ride on the train that circles Hermann Park.

Jude was already looking tired! (guess he shouldn't have woken up at 6:45 am!)

But Cecilia was looking bright and ready to go as usual!

My dad took this photo of us with my mom

My parents with Cecilia

Took this shot of the Sam Houston statue during the train ride

Crossing the pond. You can see the entrance (flat silver thing) to the zoo in the distance.

After the train ride, Jude took a pic by the engine.
He loved the train whistle. He was choo choo-ing the whole time

Once inside the zoo we checked out the aquarium.

This was Jude's favorite part. Some of the fish made him laugh.

He really liked these jellyfish too

This was a neat tunnel that the kids could crawl through.

The surrounding tank is full of piranhas!

Another scary zoo creature....a vampire bat!!

Here is Jude showing us his giraffe impersonation

(you can kind of see the baby giraffes laying down in the background)

I thought it was so amazing how tall this giraffe was.

You can see my mom's reflection in the glass and compare their heights.

This baby elephant was swaying back and forth.

Here are the kids picking out their pumpkins.

Jude was very particular about which one he wanted.

Great pic of the kids with some pumpkins

Cecilia decorating her pumpkin

Jude was not wanting to let go of his pumpkin at all!

I finally got it long enough to draw a face on it

The kids then got to ride on the huge carousel.

This was also Jude's first time on one.

We saw a beautiful bald eagle...

...and then pretended to be birds while sitting in a mock eagle's nest. =)

This is the only time that Cecilia will ever be turtle-like...that girl is always on the go.

Even though Jude wasn't nearly as impressed by the goats as I thought he would be, he did take a moment to brush this one with Sissy.

So afterwards, everyone was completely worn out, but it was so worth it! Such a happy and satisfying day!

I found it quite funny that even though I had come down with a fever Friday, for the most part I felt fine all day Saturday (with the help of some acetaminophen).

Of course, I paid for it on Sunday as I was completely drained and back to fighting the fever.

I am feeling a bit better today though and hope to be back to normal soon enough!

Have a wonderful week!

Friday, October 2, 2009

5 years ago today...

...I married my best friend.

Yeah it sounds cliche', but it is absolutely true in this case. You see, before Terry and I even became what we are today, we were in every sense of the word, best friends. I truly believe that the most successful marriages stem from those relationships that begin as friendships. Even if it does begin as dating and not platonic...if you soon realize that even if you weren't romantically interested in this person that you would be great friends with them anyway, then it's a definite plus in the long run. Knowing that you will always have someone that you are just as content sitting around talking to as you are anything else is one of the best things in the world.

So I was fortunate enough to find that someone. We met 15 years ago. His sister, Leslie, was a dorm-mate of mine during my brief attendance at Texas A&M. After I left there and returned home, she was the only A&M friend that I kept in contact with. When she was home I would spend time at her house and eventually Terry started hanging out with us as well. Terry and I soon began dating, but dating didn't last long for us as he wasn't quite ready after just ending a 5 year relationship just months before. So we became friends. Over the next 3+ years we spent lots of time together and by the time I became pregnant with my daughter Cecilia, Terry and I were best buddies. It was after her birth that he finally revealed to me that he wanted to finally pursue a romantic relationship with me and the rest is history.

That was December of 1998.

In December of 2003, 5 years later, he proposed.

We took these photos in Marble Falls, Texas for our engagement photos. Marble Falls is a favorite place of ours.

10 months later, on October 2nd, 2004, we were married.

5 years later, with an almost 11 year old daughter and 16 month old son, we are still best of friends and one of our favorite things to do is lay in bed before we go to sleep and talk. Just talk. I can see us doing this until old age. And that, in my opinion, is pure happiness.

15 years of friendship. 5 years of marriage. Thank you, my love.

Thank You by Led Zeppelin

(the song we danced to at our wedding)

If the sun refused to shine, I would still be loving you.
When mountains crumble to the sea, there will still be you and me.
Kind woman, I give you my all, Kind woman, nothing more.
Little drops of rain whisper of the pain, tears of loves lost in the days gone by.
My love is strong, with you there is no wrong,
Together we shall go until we die. My, my, my.
An inspiration is what you are to me, inspiration, look... see.
And so today, my world it smiles,
your hand in mine, we walk the miles,
Thanks to you it will be done, for you to me are the only one.
Happiness, no more be sad, happiness....I'm glad.
If the sun refused to shine, I would still be loving you.
When mountains crumble to the sea, there will still be you and me.