A visit from Auntie Mallo

We've had a very fun few days around here spending time with this gal.

Auntie Mallo came to visit for a few quick days during her spring break from Utah State. We had a blast, obviously. On Monday we hit up the Houston Rodeo. It was quite the event! We got a sitter for little man and spent most of the day down at the fair grounds. There was so much to do and it was a really fun glimpse at extreme Texas culture. We browsed some funny booths. And by browsed I mean, we tried on everything, laughed really hard, and took a million pictures.We visited a little petting zoo where we met some goats, sheep, little pigs, deer, llamas, and kangaroos. "Why hello! Are you a deer? Yes you are!"

We realized after looking back at our pictures how silly we probably looked being the only people in the petting zoo over 3 feet tall and thrilled to touch a deer. Oh well.

Then there was the food. We'd told Mal all about the crazy things these Texans fry at their fairs so we had to try a few! The three of us shared fried oreos, cheesecake, and cookie dough. The cookie dough was the winner. Yum. I'd like to say we worked out as much as we ate this week but that is simply not true. We did work out, but I don't know that any amount of working out is going to undo fried cookie dough. Worth it.

Then we went to the rodeo. It was spectacular. Such a good show. The bulls were a favorite. They were the biggest, meanest bulls I've ever seen and Mal and I screamed...a lot. After the rodeo they moved a stage into the middle of the arena, Tim McGraw gave a concert and we again, screamed...a lot. I feel like she and I become heightened versions of ourselves when we're together. It's so fun. The concert was awesome. Tim played a great balance of new and old songs and we did not leave disappointed!

Day 2 we took a little slower. We hit the gym, watched a movie then went shopping at an enormous mall down town.

Then yesterday we went to the zoo. It was a blast to show Auntie Mallo the zoo. It's one of our favorite places and Tate loved having her there. He kept running from place to place with a big smile on his face.We even stopped to feed the giraffes. That was awesome! Today Tate's talking about how he fed the giraffes some salad. Loved it. And we saw their new 5 day old baby giraffe. It was very cute.

Our last hurrah with Mallo was a quick trip to Kemah. We couldn't resist the sting ray aquarium. We bought these gross little dead fish to feed to the sting rays. We were, as I said, even more nervous and jumpy because we were together, and that made Tate nervous too. Poor boy. It was fun and a little scary being so close to so many sting rays. Some of those mammas were really big!They were very friendly and excited to be fed and petted. We liked the petting much more than the feeding. We got splashed quite a bit and left pretty wet and smelling like fish. Delish.

Then we went for a little walk along the boardwalk. It was so beautiful. Tate couldn't be happier with the ocean, boats (he called them pirate ships), and seagulls to look at AND things to climb on. What could be better? A train ride with Daddy of course.We ate dinner at a yummy little Greek place. It was a great few days.

It's so nice to share where we live and what we do with people who come to visit. I love having visitors. It's great how it seems to make me more proud of the place that I live and the life that I live when I get to share it and talk it up for a few days with a visitor.

I sure love my sister. She's one of those people who make you feel better about yourself just by being around you. She's always positive and happy and she's great fun to talk to. As my mom put it today, "you just never know what's going to come out of her mouth next!" Which is completely true. It's a blast.

Some favorite moments:

-Staying up really late and talking.

- Watching movie scenes that made us laugh over and over until we were in pain from laughing so hard.

- A half gallon of Chocolate Dipped Strawberry Ice cream. See what I mean? No amount of exercise could keep up with us.

- Women's fringed shawls.

- Watching her tickle Tate until he almost couldn't breath because he was laughing so hard.

- So much screaming during the sting ray feeding. So much.

We love you Mal. Thanks for coming to visit!!