Houston Zoo

After the wedding we drove into Houston to spend some time with one of my very best friends and his wife.  While we were there we decided to take Anniston to the Houston Zoo.  This was her second zoo trip, but the first one that she could walk around and experience the zoo on her own, in her own way.

Anniston was in amazement at the fish...I can't wait to take her to the Georgia Aquarium, I think that will have to happen this winter.  

 Th zoo had a carousel, and Anniston had never ridden on a carousel, and at first she was not sure what to make  of it.  She posed for the required picture but still was a little leery of the giant Mountain Lion that she was riding on.

 By the third time around she decided that she loved the carousel.  She was laughing and giggling and waving at the people standing around watching the carousel go around.  I could hear her laughing over the music of the carousel.  She was upset when it came to a stop.

 Thankfully mommy was smart and bought two tickets for Anniston, and she got to ride again with mommy.

 From the sideline it was great to see the excitement on her face as she went flying by on the back of a giant gorilla.  When the second ride came to an end, the guy operating the carousel gave Anniston tokens for another ride, he said that her excitement, smile and enthusiasm for the ride made his day and she deserved another ride.

 In one of the new sections of the Houston Zoo, they had a tunnel that went through one of the big fish tanks.  Anniston just had to crawl through the tunnel.  We did not know if she would want to or not, but she did.  We actually had a little trouble getting her to come out.  I can only imagine the things that went through her mind in there, looking at all of the fish all around her.

It was a fun visit to the zoo.  It was nice that she could walk around on her own and explore.  It also let us know that we can go do more things like that with her now, and know that she will have fun.

Wedding Bells!

No, not Anniston's...she is too young for that...my cousin Emily in Texas got married about two weeks ago.  So Anniston got to hop on a plane again and fly to Texas.  She has now been on three round trip plane flights before she is 18 months old.  I never flew on a plane until I was in High School!

So Anniston got to go to her first wedding.  It is a nervy proposition to know that you will be sitting in a quiet church, during the biggest day of a family members life...with a squirmy 17 month old.  But she did really good, Cheerios saved the day and we made it through the whole ceremony and didn't have to run out the back door!

She got to wear her new dress....that daddy picked out by the way...

At the rehearsal dinner and the reception there were a few other kids close to Anniston's age.  She gravitated toward them and all the little kids chased each other around all night.

 This is Anniston sitting with Emily's niece Zoey, she is 9 months old.  The interesting thing about this picture, is that the dress Zoey is wearing is the one Andrea wanted for Anniston, but they did not have the right size...and the dress that Anniston is wearing is the same that Zoey's mom wanted but could not find it in the right size...Anniston played really good with Zoey, she crawled around rather than walk and sat and played with her.  It was really fun to watch her interact with other little kids.

 Anniston spent a lot of the night out on the dance floor, she danced with Grandpa...

 She danced by herself in the middle of a big crowd...

 She even danced with Uncle Trent!

Anniston really wore herself out, she danced so much that she burned off all of her dinner.  We ended up driving around Lake Jackson, Texas at 2:30 AM looking for food to feed Anniston.  It was a long night.

At the end of the weekend, It was really good to see family that we don't get to see often enough.  I was really glad that we got to be there to share that special day with Emily and Michael.

 Emily has always been a lot of fun to be around, and it was great to see her so happy.

 I just wish that our Grandfather had been able to be there, but we know that he was there in spirit with us.  

Trunk or Treat!

For Halloween this year we went up to Nama Moore's church for Trunk or Treat, a festival in the parking lot where people decorate their cars and have games and treats for the kids in the trunks of the cars.  Since Anniston is not really old enough to go walking through our neighborhood, this was a good option for her.

On the way up we stopped at Nama's house for a little while.  We took a few pictures in the backyard, she was full of attitude and energy.  

We got her all dressed up and took a few more pictures, and then she just ran around the yard for a while.

After we arrived at the church, we got her nose painted, as much as she would allow.  Then we found the bouncy play house just for her size.  She had never been in one of these before, and she had a blast.  She loved just bouncing around, flopping around, falling down and running around in circles.  It wasn't long before a few people were standing around watching her have the time of her life, and then a little boy that was a little older joined in the fun.  She was on cloud 9.  We had to pull her out of the bouncy house.  She would have stayed in that thing all night.

The funniest part, was she would occasionally come over to the flap entrance and poke her head out and say "HI!"...this made us all laugh.

We let her go through the line of games and she had more fun.  She played a few of the games twice and made people laugh with her reactions to all of these new experiences.

By the end of the night, she was worn out, cold and ready to go home.  She slept all the way home.

Lets pick out a pumpkin!

Last year we started a family tradition of going to a pumpkin patch to pick out our Halloween Pumpkins.  This year we went to The Kinsey Family Farm to find our pumpkins.  Anniston was too young last year to remember going to the pumpkin patch, so this year it was like seeing all of those pumpkins for the first time.  She had that same look of wonder and amazement that we have gotten used to seeing when she sees things for the first time.  She wanted to touch all of the pumpkins.

We did not get the usual cooperation for picture time.  She was too focused on running around and looking at all of the pumpkins. 

 She was even fascinated by the tree farm outside of the pumpkin barn.  She had a lot of fun discovering all the new things around her.

We decided that we would go on the hay ride around the farm...that is when we realized that someone woke up on the wrong side of the crib.  She was grouchy, grumpy and did not want her picture taken.  

 She was in a great mood when we stopped to feed the fish in the pond.  She enjoyed dumping handfuls of fish food into the lake...she didn't even care about watching the fish eat the food, she just wanted to dump it all in the lake.

 There was also a barn with some animals for Anniston to get up close to.  While all of the other little kids didn't want to get too close to the cow, Anniston wanted to climb in the pen with the cows.  She had fun petting the slimy nose, much to mommy's and some of the other parent's surprise.

Anniston was upset that she could only get one arm in to pet the goats.  She just stuck her hands in there and grabbed a handful of goat hair!

Despite her grumpy attitude, she still had fun, and picked out some great pumpkins.

Gettin' a little culture!

In early October, Anniston got a little culture.  She got to go with me to a Gallery Opening where I had two of my photographs on display.  She and I spent the whole day together, we went to lunch and the Gallery Opening.  She was the hit of the show and made a lot of new friends.  I tried to get her to sit still long enough to take her picture in front of my pictures...I got one quick snap off...before she was off and running around the room again.  I think she had fun at her first, but not last Gallery Opening.

Splish Splash...takin' a bath!

Yeah, I am way behind...but one thing it lets me do, is remember when it was warm outside, since right now it is not warm outside, its cold.

So, remembering the warm weather, this next set is from Anniston playing at the water table that Gramps and Grandma Diane gave her for her birthday.  She has so much fun splashing in the water, pouring it out all over the place, and she does not mind that she is soaking wet from head to toe.

Just the look on her face says that she is having too much fun.

And when she smiles at you like this, you can't help but smile and laugh along with her.

This is one of my favorite pictures from the time that has passed since her birthday.  the look on her face is one of curiosity and discovery.  

At one with Technology

Children in the modern world are exposed to technology that confuses even me.  Anniston is no stranger to technology.  Mommy's iPhone is a favorite playtoy...thankfully she has yet to damage it.  One of Anniston's other favorites, is Grandma Rhoads' iPad...if Anniston even sees it, she wants it, and she will play with it until the batteries are dead.  She knows what to do to make it work, she knows how to rotate it to make the screen rotate, and she knows that she needs to use her thumbs and fingers to touch the screen to get to the apps she wants to play with.

Before too long, we will need to get her a tablet of her own, with learning games on it...or Grandma will never get to use her iPad when she comes over.

Uncle Trent

Anniston has really warmed up to just about everyone that she sees on a regular basis.  Sometimes it takes her a little while when people come to the house, or when we go to someone else's house.  With my brother Trent, Anniston gives him a hard time.  We can't really figure out what it is, she has not gotten used to Uncle Trent.  So when we get a really special moment like this one...we have to take a picture.  She is starting to get used to Uncle Trent, on their last visit, they took a nap on the couch!

They both enjoyed their nap.  We keep telling Uncle Trent that he needs to feed her and change a few diapers for her to get used to him...he has fed her, but hasn't changed any diapers yet.

Lets Swing!

During the warmer months, one of Anniston's favorite things to do was go to the park.  It gave her a chance to run around and release some of the seemingly endless energy she has.  Of all the things to play on at the park, the swings are without a doubt her favorite.  She squeals and giggles the whole time.  She plays on the other equipment, but never with the joy she has on the swing.  

I can tell that for next summer, I need to get a part of the backyard flattened out and prepared for a swing set.

Project 52 Week 6

The photo for week 6 was taken at the beginning of Anniston's first international flight.  We had just started to walk through the new International Terminal here in Atlanta, and Anniston wanted to walk on her own, she did not want to be carried, and did not want to ride in the stroller.  She was having so much fun being a big girl walking through airport on her way to catch a plane to Germany.

She is growing up so fast.  She is becoming more independent, and very strong willed.  She changes a little bit everyday.