Austin Children's Museum

It's been a cold and rainy winter, so we were looking for something fun to do indoors last Saturday.  We headed over to the Austin Children's Museum --- and I think everyone else in town had the same idea!  Luckily we got there right when it opened and had about an hour to explore before it got too crowded.  Jacob really liked the train and construction exhibits, and the indoor playscape.  We bought a membership so we'll definitely be going back next month when they change out the exhibits!

Austin Zoo

The week of Christmas was cold and rainy, and we finally had a little sun on New Years Eve.  We decided to take a trip over to the Austin Zoo and go see all the animals.  It's a smaller zoo, very "Austin" style with lots of trees and winding gravel paths, and almost all of the animals are rescues.  The first thing that we saw when we walked in were the birds --- and Jacob is not a fan!  He clung on to Adam for dear life when they squawked and would just bury his head in Adam's shoulder.  So, on to the next exhibit!

They have a petting zoo style layout for all of the goats, sheep, pigs, llama, deer, and geese.  At first Jacob was a little shy, but after he saw us feed the goat, he worked up the courage to try it himself.  And then he wanted to feed ALL the animals!  The animals were cute and Jacob was even cuter!!!

The other half of the zoo is the wild animals like wolves, tigers, jaguar, cheetah, monkeys, and other exotic species.  They were feeding the lions and so they were guarding their meat and growling REALLY loudly at anyone who stopped to look in their cage.  I have to admit, when you hear that roar, you can't help but get scared!  It was really cool to watch though, so we stayed a few minutes, and once we got used to them growling, Jacob even let out a "RRRRRoar!" back at them!

After the zoo we stopped at Mandola's Italian for lunch (we just love this restaurant!) and had a delicious meal.  Jacob sat in a booster seat instead of a high chair, and liked being able to pull right up to the table with Mama and Dada.  He's getting to be such a big boy!

After our fun-filled day, we were ready to have a cozy night in. . .dinner at the house. . .Jacob in bed. . .and Adam and I had to celebrate NYE on east coast time because we were so tired!  Good times!

Merry Christmas

Well we're a little behind on the blog posts!  We got a new computer for Christmas and the software for our Canon SLR hasn't been working so I can't upload any of the Christmas photos!  

I can tell you that Jacob had a very good time opening all of his presents this year!  We spent Christmas Eve with Meems, PaPaw, and Grandma Lucita.  Jacob got a new Radio Flyer wagon (which he played in ALL DAY!), tub toys (he LOVES bathtime), some clothes, books, and a TRUCK VIDEO (this is now his new obsession --- he asks to watch it about 10x a day!)  

Christmas morning when Jacob woke up, I asked him if he was ready to go see what Santa had brought him.  Hmmm. . .he looked confused.  Adam asked him if he wanted to go open his presents.  Hmmm. . .still not registering. . .Then I finally said, Aha!  Ok, Jacob, wanna go play with some toys?  YES!!!  "Toys, Toys, Toys!" he said and ran off to the playroom.  Santa Claus brought him a new tricycle (which he calls his "bike") and Mama and Dada got him a mini workbench with tools, some clothes, a truck/train/car building set, and lots of little fun stocking stuffer "vroom vroom" things.  

We spent the rest of Christmas day with the Olivers and Jacob had fun handing out presents to everyone.  We would pick up a gift from under the tree, tell him who it was for, and he would take it right over to that person with a big smile on his face!  Such a sweet little elf!  Nana and Grandpa Ben got him a basketball goal (he's good, he can already slam dunk!), a ball game, a monkey jack-in-the-box, and Tia Adi got him lots of books.

I also took a LOT of video over Christmas so I'm gonna have to get Adam to help me download a few minutes of that!

Thanksgiving

For Thanksgiving we spent the day with the Oliver family and friends.  In total I think there were about 60 people who showed up!  We had fun visiting with everyone, playing soccer, basketball, and football in the backyard, swinging, and of course --- eating!  There was so much delicious food -- all the standard turkey, ham, and fixins and also pao de quejo, casseroles, and DESSERT!  My eyes just about bugged out of my head when I saw all of the cakes, pies and treats on the dessert table, what a feast!  Some of Jacob's favorites were the turkey, ham, mashed potatoes, and bread.  I think if we let him he would eat bread for every meal though! 

It was really cool at lunch when we were all sitting down to eat outside under the trees and the cold front blew in.  All the leaves started raining down and we had to cover our plates to keep them out of our food.  I think the temperature dropped 20 degrees in about 5 minutes.  I was ready for a break from the heat and humidity though, and Jacob got to put on his cute sweater vest and look even more adorable!

A Walk In The Park

I have been trying to post this for over a month but there were problems with the photos uploading. . .better late than never I guess. . .

So I attended a great photography workshop a few weeks ago and I'm learning how to shoot in a new format and use new editing software.  These are a few pictures from our daily morning walk around the neighborhood parks.  Just for fun, I did some light editing and pumped up some colors and highlights.  Hopefully I'll be fine tuning the process and getting a lot clearer and more tonally rich images. . .whatcha think?