My Zoo Day With Daddy.......

Today mommy and daddy took me for a short trip to the zoo. Daddy hasn't been to the zoo with me since we lived in San Antonio so I was very excited....

First stop was to see the komodo dragon lounging lazily in the sun...

Next we stopped by to visit the giraffes (mommy's favorites).....

The elephants are right next door and this morning they happened to have a trainer outside working to teach the baby elephant tricks......

It was really awesome!

Since it was starting to get hot I played in the water park to cool off a bit....

I had a great time running around with the older children....

and trying to figure out how to keep the water from shooting up high....

I thought for sure covering the hole with my foot was the answer but as soon as I lifted it up the water came spraying out!

One last stop to see the noisy seals before heading out to grab some lunch....

The squirel heard us talking about lunch and came looking for food!

Shamu Here I Come......

My big day at Sea World had finally arrived!

Daddy tried to get me to ride "the up and down thing" as I liked to call it but I wanted to sit on his lap and not in my own seat, and therefore had to watch from the gate.....

It was great to see the dolphins up close. Daddy bought us some fish to feed them but I was too interested in feeding myself.....

Hey, where did they go?

I really enjoyed watching the huge sting rays and sharks swim around the aquarium......

I clapped a lot for the silly sea lions, little otter and enormous walrus. They were really funny!

Finally the big moment had arrived! I waited patiently for Shamu to make his entrance.....

Shamu did lots of tricks and was really big!

He caught me off guard when he splashed me with the cold salt water. I didn't particularly like it. We were all soaked and I cried really hard until mommy explained that Shamu was just playing with us. Splashing was just his way of playing. Then next time he splashed I was fine. I just hid my face close to mommy so it didn't get wet........

We were able to sit pretty close to Shamu. I couldn't keep my eyes off of him!

I didn't even want to leave when the show was over......

so, we stayed a little longer and watched Shamu practice for his next show.......

We left the park to eat lunch and take a long nap. I was exhausted and slept until 4pm!

We returned to the park around 5pm and daddy and I headed straight for the water park. Even though it was later in the day, it was still very hot. The high for the day had been 105 so the water felt great!

Soaked again!

I was having so much fun, but mommy had to keep reminding me not to run!

Mommy and I posing by the pirate ship after briefly watching the show.....

Family photo with Shamu....

Of course I wanted to return to the 7pm show for one last chance to see Shamu. We sat higher up this time since we were dry and did not want to get soaked again. This time Shamu stood right next to me. I even got to shake his hand.....

They were playing lots of loud music at this show and were even having a dance competition. I tried to show Shamu how we shake it in Houston!

Bring out the whales!

Shamu's trainer holding onto his nose.....

Feeding the dolphins....

Daddy and I watching the sharks. One of them was swimming around with his mouth open and kept biting the other sharks!

Waiting for Shamu.....

We wanted to see Shamu one last time before leaving for the day. We didnt' realize I would get to dance with him. Shamu can sure shake a fin!

Road Trip......

We made a last minute decision this morning to head to San Antonio so daddy could visit his old colleagues, we could visit mommy's family, and I could go to Sea World for the first time to meet Shamu. I slept for almost the entire trip and was happy to finally stretch my legs when we arrived at the motel.....

I managed to tear the bed apart pretty quickly by jumping and having a pillow fight with daddy....

After we settled into our room and rested for a little while we decided to go by our old apartments and stop to eat at mommy's favorite burger place Longhorn Cafe. I was too little to play on the slide when we lived here so I really took advantage of it this time and couldn't believe how fast it was....

Mommy was right, the burgers are the best!

not to mention the tater tots which I couldn't stop eating.....

Our last stop of the day was to Aunt Dian's house where we visited with mommy's cousins and I played with Keira and all her toys. We did take a break to watch some Little Einsteins but mostly we played. It was so good to see everyone again!

Let It Rain........

Our apartment complex hosted a snow day today complete with a snow cone stand by the pool. I had a hard time making a decision because there were so many yummy flavors.....

I finally settled on bubble gum.....

After all, I was still able to sample daddy's banana and mommy's wedding cake.....

For dinner we went to Willie G's and I was able to play outside in the sand box until mommy spotted lightning! We still sat outside under the covered patio to watch the storm roll in. We have desperately needed the rain!

The thunder was very loud and the rain was coming down very hard......

We eventually had to move inside when the wind started blowing so hard we were getting wet!

When we got home the rain had brought a welcome surprise! Little frogs hoping all over the sidewalk......

I tried to catch them, but they were very fast! Daddy helped me pick one up....

Chuck-E-Cheese Please.....

Mommy took me to Chuck-E-Cheese today to beat the heat and play! My cousins met us there. Hunter and I decided to team up on a game. He played while I was in charge of pulling the tickets out.....

There was a fun maze of tubes you could climb up in and wind your way through with lots of fun things inside. Makenzie helped me climb up until I could get the hang of it on my own....

Spicing Things Up.......

I like helping mommy in the kitchen. She has a step ladder that she places at the kitchen counter and I will help her prepare dinner or dessert. Lately I have been very interested in the spices. Mommy thought it was only because the spice rack will spin around, but I am actually interested in what is inside each bottle. I like to pull a few off the rack, pick them up individually and ask "what's this" then I will carefully study it's contents.....

I already have 2 favorites......Coriander and Mustard Seed! Can you guess why? They are both made up of tiny balls.....

I try to organize them on my own.....

I even offer up suggestions as to which one should be used in the meal we are preparing. What can I say, I like to spice things up a bit~