Bicycles and Giraffes

Saturday brought with it cooler weather, cooler for us here in Houston anyway. Bright blue skies, breezy in the mid-50’s – in a word – glorious. On Saturday morning we went out to Toys R Them and bought training wheels and a helmet for Jacob. That afternoon he rode his “new” bike - it’s new to us, it was $5 at a garage sale. I wanted to take pictures but the camera battery was down and I wanted to be out there cheering him on not looking for the spare one. He had a wobbly but good first go, I was impressed that he kept getting back on and trying again even after a couple of falls. He can peddle and he can steer, although not necessarily both at the same time. If you think about it there are a lot of adults that sort of live their lives that way. Here’s a tiny transcript: Will: “Jacob, Jacob, watch out for the curb!” Jacob: “What’s a curb Dad?” Saturday night, Will built our first fire in the fireplace of the new house. In our old house we had gas logs, and probably will get them again if the budget allows, but this night we had a real wood fire and it was so cozy and awesome. Sitting by a fire with your little ones asleep and your dog curled at your feet is one of life’s best experiences. On Sunday, we played hooky from church in order to get an early start on a special day. Back in August, Will’s parents gave us a family zoo membership for the kid’s birthdays. I felt bad that we let so much time get by us, and since we finally had a free weekend and nice cool weather, so we were excited to go. First we took the kids to Prince’s. The possessive was lost on Jacob, so he thought we were saying Princess, and that Ariel and Snow White would be there. I think he was a bit non-plussed when it turned out to be just Elvis. Bella had fries and bits of my burger. Jacob had fritos and three microscopic bites of his chicken nuggets. Then we were off to the zoo. You might remember the last time I tried to take both kids to the zoo by myself, it was a bit too much for me to handle. This time was much better, Jacob was truly well behaved and fun to be with and Bella was in heaven. Having the membership shifts the experience in a major way; there’s no rush, there’s no sense of having to do anything in particular. If we don’t get to something then we’ll just get to it next time. It was very relaxing. A really fantastic day. Here's the pictures, I took more, but you know how it is at the zoo, you end up with a ton of pictures of the back of your kid's heads. William & Jacob Check out the bear Next it is on to the elephants. Bella seeing an elephant for the first time. Leopards are cool. So are giraffes. Bella takes a break from riding in the stroller to have a drink and check out the zebras. Last stop - the reflecting pool, full of HUGE fish.