Alice chillin' in the back seat while we drive to Houston. The fact that I don't have anything remarkable to say about those 18 hours is a testament to how easy-going this babe really can be.
We arrived late on Saturday night, spent all day Sunday together at home, then headed out to the Houston Zoo on Monday. Here's everyone in the back seats. Lara and I got to have numerous deep and meaningful conversations in the front seat while Bobby entertained the crew. Nice guy.
Riding the carousel at the zoo. Alice picked a lion and Sam rode right next to her on a couple baby chimps. Every time they looped by me, Sam would screech something hilarious to Alice and she'd bust a gut laughing.
Alice loved the gopher hole hideout!
Snuggling in Daddy's coat. The weather was peachy compared to your typical Illinois December, but it was still a bit chilly to be playing outside. Alice discovered the joy of a well-timed snuggle to prolong her outdoor play time.
Family self-portrait. If only Alice were looking at the camera instead of the zookeeper show *sigh*
She liked the idea of this hippo eating her. She played here for almost 10 minutes.
Brushing the goats in the petting zoo. Kids like the zoo, but LITTLE kids like the playgrounds and farm animals at the zoo.
Alice piloting a ferry boat with the assistance of her cousin Mary.
Alice and her buddy Mary. Alice warmed up to ALL of her cousins pretty quickly. She took turns sleeping in each of their rooms, actually, which was a surprise relief to Bobby and me. We haven't slept in the same room as Alice for a long time and we had forgotten how noisy of a sleeper she is (i.e. snoring, grunting, sleep-talking, tossing and turning, high-pitched whine-breathing, and the occasional midnight potty trip). I'm glad her sleeping habits didn't bother her cousins in the slightest.
At the beginning of the day, she was terrified of the animal statues. By the end of the day, she was mauling them like a pro.
Tuesday, we took a trip to "Jumpin' Joey's" which is an indoor inflatable park. Alice was instantly comfortable there and eager to try EVERYTHING. I was amazed at the stunts she would try on her own. It's a fuzzy picture, but you can tell what she's feeling.
Sam showing Alice how to climb in the pirate ship. Alice really grew up on this trip. She had her cousins showing her all sorts of things and she grew more confident of herself every day.
Alice rolling around in a pretend pool. This was in the toddler section. It bored her cousins to tears, but Alice kept returning to this funny little pool/tub and would pretend she was swimming. As she got more physically tired, her play became more story-based and more imaginary.
Case in point: After an hour of running and sliding and climbing, she suddenly darts to this pretend car and drives it for 15 minutes. It was a fire truck, an ice cream truck, and finally a money truck before her cousins could finally persuade her to play somewhere else. She deflected their offers with polite confidence, though, which amazed me in two ways (i.e. social grace AND self-assurance? Can she really be MY daughter?!)
Fun, fun, fun, fun cousins!
"Fishing" at the river with a pine cone on a string.
Snuggling in Daddy's coat. The weather was peachy compared to your typical Illinois December, but it was still a bit chilly to be playing outside. Alice discovered the joy of a well-timed snuggle to prolong her outdoor play time.
Family self-portrait. If only Alice were looking at the camera instead of the zookeeper show *sigh*
She liked the idea of this hippo eating her. She played here for almost 10 minutes.
Brushing the goats in the petting zoo. Kids like the zoo, but LITTLE kids like the playgrounds and farm animals at the zoo.
Alice piloting a ferry boat with the assistance of her cousin Mary.
Alice and her buddy Mary. Alice warmed up to ALL of her cousins pretty quickly. She took turns sleeping in each of their rooms, actually, which was a surprise relief to Bobby and me. We haven't slept in the same room as Alice for a long time and we had forgotten how noisy of a sleeper she is (i.e. snoring, grunting, sleep-talking, tossing and turning, high-pitched whine-breathing, and the occasional midnight potty trip). I'm glad her sleeping habits didn't bother her cousins in the slightest.
At the beginning of the day, she was terrified of the animal statues. By the end of the day, she was mauling them like a pro.
Tuesday, we took a trip to "Jumpin' Joey's" which is an indoor inflatable park. Alice was instantly comfortable there and eager to try EVERYTHING. I was amazed at the stunts she would try on her own. It's a fuzzy picture, but you can tell what she's feeling.
Sam showing Alice how to climb in the pirate ship. Alice really grew up on this trip. She had her cousins showing her all sorts of things and she grew more confident of herself every day.
Alice rolling around in a pretend pool. This was in the toddler section. It bored her cousins to tears, but Alice kept returning to this funny little pool/tub and would pretend she was swimming. As she got more physically tired, her play became more story-based and more imaginary.
Case in point: After an hour of running and sliding and climbing, she suddenly darts to this pretend car and drives it for 15 minutes. It was a fire truck, an ice cream truck, and finally a money truck before her cousins could finally persuade her to play somewhere else. She deflected their offers with polite confidence, though, which amazed me in two ways (i.e. social grace AND self-assurance? Can she really be MY daughter?!)
Fun, fun, fun, fun cousins!
"Fishing" at the river with a pine cone on a string.
Can you see what she's wearing? My sister Erin gave Alice this amazingly dainty and frilly purple fairy dress for Christmas. It's essentially a leotard with a soft tutu attached. She wore it all Christmas Day. We brought it to Houston in case the girls wanted to dress up at some point. Well, Alice was playing in her dress that morning before we went to the river. Instead of
Love and Logic-ing our way through a full change of clothes, Bobby and I just asked her to throw on some pants and a sweatshirt over it. I think it's actually a pretty cute outfit.
It looks like Alice is pestering Mary with her fishing rod, but I think she's trying to share it.
Swinging at the river, at home, in the park, and wherever she could.
New Year's Eve, all the kids stayed up until midnight. Here, Sarah is showing Alice the Curious George website with lots of video content and games. They were glued to the educational screen for at least an hour while the adults worked on a puzzle and read news online.
New Year's Day, we worked in the yard. Jon constructed a new compost bin while the rest of us trimmed hedges, raked leaves, and played on the swing set. Alice liked having a little rake of her own and she loved sharing it with everyone, "You tan use my wake if you wan' to. Dat's otay."
And of course, there were many, many things that we DIDN'T take pictures of. I don't even know where to begin summing up all the rest. I doubt I could do it justice anyway :)
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Looks like you all had a fun holiday. Good for you! Grateful to be back in the frigidity? Hahahha
ReplyDeleteGreat pictures! I'm glad you had fun.
ReplyDeleteDo you have any more pictures of Alice in her fairy costume? I'd love to see some!