trip to texas picturepalooza! (part 3)

sophie's not at all clear on why she's got to endure 100 degree weather to see this...

san antonio! after gus left for camp, i decided to take a vacation-within-a-vacation and absconded with the bunny for several days to san antonio. i love san antonio--i lived there from 1986 to 1990--and it is still one of my favorite places to visit. i found the PERFECT spot for rich to move his practice to...but he's not interested, damnit. i'd love to raise the kids there, but for now i think i want to raise them with rich more. anyway, on that happy note, here is the first set of pictures from san antonio (at least one more to come...maybe two).

day one in SA=sea world! sophie's not clear on why she's here, either...

...but it all becomes crystal clear as soon as the splashing begins

shamu is so exciting!

while posing with an oversized shamu, sophie got bitten by the acquisition bug...

...and mommy acquiesced

she carried her shamu, which she actually calls "shampoo," all over sea world...

...including to a return visit to see the real shamu!

sophie even shared her popcorn with shampoo

seriously, the shamus rocked that show

yay whales!

it was a really, really good day at sea world

and the next day, more animals--we went to the san antonio zoo, which is beyond lovely

our first stop was the butterfly pavillion--sophie stood still like a statue (and wore her most butterflied shirt)...

...and kneeled still like a statue...

...but finally decided she'd go to the butterflies rather than waiting for them to find her

MOLD-A-RAMA! i love these machines--i am always happy to indulge the kiddos with a little piece o' wax from wherever we're visiting (i think we have like 20 of these around the house)

sophie loves her seal--and i love this image because it reminds me a bit of this:

(diane arbus, "untitled," 1962)

sadly, the black leopard wasn't interested in being friends with her purple seal...

...but what do we have here?...

an orange giraffe! the perfect accompanist for a purple seal

rainbow popsicle break

after the zoo we headed back into brackenridge park for a train ride through the trees and a picnic lunch, then up the hill to...

trinity! which, i must say, looks much nicer than when i went there. and sophie liked it because she found an s for sophie in the letters.

trip to texas picturepalooza! (part 2)

happy jake, happy gus, happy katie and happy sophie!

welcome to part 2 of the texas picturepalooza! in this episode: we made it through arkansas, into texas, and are at my parent's place in washington hangin' out with their oversized pets (the horses). after that we headed into town (houston), played at lindsay and jake's, ate beignets, experienced the beer can house then put gus on a greyhound to camp. enjoy!

gus petting a flea-bitten grey named magic

sophie and sonny--this horse has made a remarkable transformation from angry, scary, skittish creature that i wouldn't let the kids get near to a confident one that is not only approachable but rideable now...

...and it is all because of this lovely young lady who is helping sophie into her stirrups, kelsey

sophie riding little man

gus doing dressage with scout (and sophie--she ran herself silly chasing the running horse)

a very hot and sweaty pair of iowans in the texas sun

gus and sophie on scout

in houston now...at aunt lindsay's! aunt katie dropped by for a visit and a-bubble blowin'...

...while gus and sophie got to experience what they both consider the greatest invention ever, lindsay's backyard pool...which of course makes her 1000 times better/cooler than mommy...

blissed out happy gus

blissed out floaty sophie

blissed out kiddos with uncle jake and zilla

blissed out lindsay

and the blissfulness carried over into the morning hours when we went for...beignets!

even lindsay, miss "don't-eat-pasta-because-it's-all-just-empty-carbs" ate some beignets :)

and gus made it a two-chocolate-milk affair

before the sugar shock could wear off we thought it best to head to the beer can house for maximum giddiness

sophie slowing down long enough to find some marbles in the driveway

"what comes after 26?" "27." "what comes after 27?" "28." "what comes after 28?" "29. okay sophie, let's stop now." "what comes after 29?" "30. sophie, stop." "what comes after 30?" "31. mom, please ask sophie to stop." "what comes after 31?" "32. MOM!" "what comes after 32? what comes after 32? what comes after 32? GUUUUUSSSS! what comes after 32?!" "33."

sophie having marble sensory overload at the beer can house

i should do this to my driveway.

finally, the big day came for gus to board one of eight greyhounds destined for camp longhorn...and he wasn't at all sure this was a good idea

but he's grimacing convincingly here

uncle jake and lindsay showed up to see him off; sophie has just figured out what is going on and is about to throw a massive tantrum...

but she was temporarily appeased when she thought she could sneak on the bus with gus (gus was temporarily appeased as well). gus sucked it up and stoically headed off to camp; i, however, cried like a baby after the bus pulled out.