Valentine's Day

We decided to spend this Valentine's Day with Stephanie and Sophia at the Houston Zoo.  It has been such dreary weather lately and we had to take advantage of the nice weather.  Avery is absolutely in love with all animals so I knew she would love to see them again!  The fact that Ave and Sophie had matching tshirts may have played into our decision to meet up too :).

I borrowed a backpack "leash" from Lindsay and it turned out saving the day.  It is so hard to tote around a stroller and a 1 1/2 year old at the same time.  When she was out of the stroller she wanted to go all over the place so the backpack was the only way to go!  I have to admit that I judged people before that had their kids on a leash like a dog but I have learned never to judge again.  You just do what you got to do!

When we first got there, we headed to an enclosed spot with monkeys, fish, and other small creatures.  

So amazed by everything!

Avery's voice is extremely high but when she sees fish she yells out "blub, blub, blub" in a very deep voice.  It's a little bizarre but it makes me laugh every time.

Sophia was equally amazed by all the fish!

Checking out the elephants

Ave could have played the drums all day long

Chimpanzees!

A bald eagle- Avery thought he was so cool

Steph and Sophia

We had two meltdowns throughout the day.  One by the giraffes- she wanted to run free but couldn't because of the leash.  She ended up running in a circle and then laid on the ground face down out of frustration. She was completely silent, no crying at all.  I might be a bad mom because of this but I proceeded to laugh the entire time she was laying on the ground.  About a minute later she got up and was ready to go.

The next was at lunch which was not quite so funny.  We stopped by a little pond to eat and Avery wanted to be playing with all of the kids that were running around free by us instead of eating.  When I blocked her in, she went to the ground again but this time got up quickly because she had duck poo on her shirt and in her mouth.  She looked at me with absolute disgust and I had to keep myself from freaking out that she had just probably swallowed some poop.  Maybe she learned her lesson :).

The scene of the crime

Since it was the girls' naptimes we decided head home.  All in all, it was a lot of fun to do something that we don't do everyday.  Since Steph lives down by the medical center, we don't get to see each other all the time so I'm was glad that we got to spend some time with her and Sophia.  I so badly wish that I had gotten a cute picture of the cousins together but it just didn't work out that way!

Later that evening, Bill brought home a card that made Avery's day.  It had a lion that moved on the front and played music inside.  She spent a good 30 minutes dancing to the music that night.  After Ave went to bed, we had chocolate fondue for dessert.  It's the one night a year that we get out our fondue pot and it has become a fun tradition.  I wouldn't have chosen any other way to spend my Valentine's Day!