Little Adventures

Tate and I have had several little adventures lately. We've been trying to get to know people and figuring out this enormous place we live in by exploring a lot. We've had a lot of fun.

Our ward has a play group that meets once a week some place to let the kids play. It's fun to explore new places and get in a little adult conversation as well! We went to a really cool fountain/splash area downtown and Tate had a blast running through all the water spouts with the kiddos. He's slowly getting braver about getting water in his face.He liked to find them when they were really little and just stand in front of them so they splashed on his chest.

Another day we went with a couple of ladies to the Houston Aquarium. It was awesome! Tate was in heaven. Fish are REALLY exciting right now. Sometimes when it's unbearably hot and we are bored we go to the pet store and he just runs back and forth in front of the fish tanks saying, "More fishy! More fishy!" So the aquarium was like a magical land to Tate. I wish I had got some good video of his reactions to all the animals.

It was a really cool aquarium with each room all decked out in a different theme. This first room was the Bayou and had huge tanks with gators, turtles, and wierd fish.

The next room was a pirate treasure theme. Tate was in running back and forth, pointing out all the fish to me and copying what all the other kids were saying and doing.

At the end of all the little exhibits there was this room with tanks full of starfish, stingrays, horseshoe crabs and other animals you could reach in and touch. More fun in theory to Tate than in actual practice. These sting rays were very tame and loved to be touched. I held Tate's hand and tipped him over so he could touch one and then it started swinging its tail and jumping up the side of the little containment area and almost came up to Tate's face. It was just very excited to have a little love and wanted more. Unforunately, it scared the jeepers out of Tate and he was done reaching his hand in the water for the day.

Glenn came with us on a few little adventures as well. On Labor Day we ventured out to a local farmers market. It was huge and so cool.
Rows and rows of vendors selling the most delicious looking produce. I wanted everything!There were many fruits and vegetables that I hadn't seen before. It was really cool and Tate had fun pointing out things he recognized. It was also intimidating listening to all of the spoken Spanish. It's been way too long and I'm so terribly out of practice that I was nervous to speak to anyone. But I guess I was nervous even when I was in practice.

We came home with bags of goodies. Tons of broccoli, strawberries, corn, peppers, onions, tomatos, zucchini, mangos, passion fruit, cilantro, and all this for about $12. It was awesome. We'll definitely be shopping for produce there more often.
On Friday, for Glenn's half day of work, we decided to go on a little zoo trip. Tate and I have spent some rainy afternoons this week looking at pictures and videos on the computer of animals they have at the zoo here. He was fascinated by them and started to ask to see the pictures every time he saw the computer on. We bought a yearly pass to the zoo which was super cheap so we can go all the time. Tate loves animals right now so we might make this a frequent activity. We saw some big Cheetas
a family of elephants, two big ones and a little baby,

sea lions, grizzly bears, lions, tons of monkeys , and a whole slew of other fun creatures. I think his favorite part was the little aquarium they had at the zoo. He did a little happy dance when he walked into the room and saw all the tanks.