The Zoo!

Today was the first day of summer and Henry's first trip to the zoo. I thought the extreme heat might keep people away, but everything was as busy as ever. St. Louis has an excellent zoo, and the best part is that it's free!!

Henry really enjoyed the animals a lot -- about as much as he enjoyed the friends that we went with. I'd say that Henry's favorite place was the Penguin exhibit. The building is very cold inside and a bunch of penguins swim around and play. One of the penguins was swimming around really fast and flipping out of the water and splashing us. We were all laughing -- especially Henry. We also went to pet stingrays and feed them. Henry and Trixie wanted none of that.

Our zoo is so big that there's no way to see everything in one day. We'll definitely be going back and I think Henry will be quite happy about that. Henry went crazy waving at the train every time it went by, but we didn't have time to ride it today. Next time ...

Happy Daddy

Brent had a relaxing day and at the end of it he got to choose what restaurant we ate at (Bamboo Valley Chinese Buffet) and then we went to the park for little. Since it was still 94degrees at 6:30 p.m. we didn't stay at the park all that long.

Happy Father's Day, Brent!!!!

The rest of Vacation

We got home from vacation a couple days ago, but I wanted to share a few more pictures. Remember how Henry likes the big fluffy characters but not the people characters? Well, as you can see the princesses really scared Henry, but he did make up to Sleeping Beauty only. He even let her give him a big kiss on the forehead -- I'm sure you saw the evidence. It was funny because after the kiss Sleeping Beauty whispered to Lydia, Trixie and Henry, "Sshh! Don't tell Prince Philip!" Then Henry just grinned up at Sleeping Beauty.

We went to the beach for a couple days after Disney World. I loved it there -- I could get used to life at the beach real easy. Henry liked our time at the beach as long as he wasn't at the beach. I do have one picture of Henry playing in the sand, but it was a brief moment of not crying. He did not like the heat, the feel of the sand, and the water coming up over his feet really freaked him out. He loved playing in our room, though, and going out on the balcony to look at the ocean.

We had a nice, long vacation but it is nice to be home. When we arrived at the airport Trixie Lu said, "Mama, it's good for us to be back where we belong." We all agreed with her.

Henry loves Disney characters

I have to admit I'm a bit surprised, but Henry just loves the Disney characters. We've taken him to a couple character meals and he tries to jump out of the high chair and into their arms. From the very first character he met (Eeyore) Henry acted as though he has always known and loved the characters. The funny thing is that Henry is totally scared of the people characters. We got to meet Cinderella, Prince Charming, the Stepmother & Stepsisters and Henry screamed and jumped into my arms. He had a death grip around my neck. Before we came to Disney I was sure Henry would like the people characters, but I wasn't sure if he'd like the big fuzzy ones. Boy was I wrong about things!

Disney!

Henry's really enjoying his first trip to Disney World. He's extremely interested in all the sights and people around him. He enjoys the rides quite a bit. He liked "Small World" a lot, but he did not care for Peter Pan's ride at all. He's been showing a few signs of being scared of the dark, and Peter Pan's ride is very dark. Henry has also enjoyed playing with Trixie in the little swimming pool and looking for animals off of our balcony. We're staying at Animal Kingdom Lodge and can see many African animals from our balcony. Even though schedules are a bit off, Henry's being a real trooper and having the time of his life!

The Park with little J

The other day we went to the park to meet little J from Korea and his older brother. Henry and J were born within 10 days of each other and both were adopted through the same agency. Since they live close by I'm hoping that we get to see a lot of sweet little J. As you can see in this picture, it sure is tough to get 5 squirmy kids to stay put and look at the camera!

Busy Boy

Henry is a very busy boy, which makes me a very busy Mama (which is why I haven't posted on here for a while). Henry is busy playing, climbing, and -- his personal favorite -- pulling things out of cabinets and drawers. I have learned not to try and pick up after Henry while he's awake because he just comes back and takes everything out again. I wait until after he's asleep at the end of the day to pick up the tornado he's created. Thankfully Henry's sometimes busy sleeping. He's gotten much better about taking naps. There's certainly never a dull moment when Henry's around. :)