Yogurt, Beach, and German Fest!

Ian continues to love "helping" in the kitchen. Last Wednesday, Ian enjoyed helping make some of Uncle Mike's homemade yogurt. We make a huge batch of yogurt at least once a month. It's yummy ... especially with berries!
Ian also enjoyed wearing his Bob the Tomato apron from Uncle Andy & Aunt Beth! :)
On Saturday, we headed down to Galveston. Despite how it looks, Ian (and all of us) loved the ride over to Bolivar Peninsula. Sadly, the porpoises weren't as abundant as they were last month.

Then, we went to Stewart Beach.
Lots of other people had the same idea! :)
Aunt Chelsea played in the water with Ian.
Ian liked running through the water


and jumping when the waves came up. (see video)


We all played in the water,
enjoyed finding sea creatures (anyone know what these are??),
built sand castles,


digging in the sand,
and admiring other people's masterpieces!
What a fun day at the beach!
Notice the girl laying down by the sea creatures. Ian spent time watching her and then decided that he should do the same.
On Sunday, we went to the German Festival in downtown Tomball. (Great idea, Aunt Chelsea!)




Ian loved walking on the train tracks and seeing a train go by, and we all enjoyed the yummy food!
Kim's favorite was apple strudel,


Matt liked the brat with sauerkraut,
Ian enjoyed the Doritos,
and Chelsea said that the root beer was the best she's ever had!
Ian was absolutely enthralled with the Alphorn (see below). Admittedly, it WAS really cool

What a fun afternoon! :)

Playing!

Ian had a blast playing with shaving cream yesterday ...squishing it, clapping with it,






drawing pictures in it, spreading it all over his body, even cleaning it up with a hose afterwards!
Today's trip to the park was fun, too. Ian is old enough to be able to do a lot of things by himself!
He especially loves the tunnels and slides,
the play house (he always says "knock, knock" while going through the door),
and "feeding the ducks," which really means eating the bread himself. :)

Grammy and Papa!

We were so happy to have Kim's parents come visit us for spring break! Grammy jumped right in and started pushing Ian around in a box! Ian was happy to show Papa and Grammy all of his toys, including his fake broccoli and spatula.



Our family friend, Ellen, came over for lunch! It had been WAY too long since we'd seen her!


Aunt Chelsea spent part of her spring break from student teaching working on wedding invitations! Kim and Chelsea worked together a couple of nights while watching a girlie movie. The movie wasn't the best (chick flicks are supposed to be happy, right?? Eat, Pray, Love is NOT!), but we enjoyed the time together!
On Wednesday, Grammy, Papa, Matt, Kim, and Ian headed to San Antonio for a few days. Ian was quite the entertainer in the car ... decorating his face with bracelets,
and putting his foot in his mouth.
We stopped at McDonald's for lunch in San Antonio, and we were thrilled that they sold Shamrock Shakes (a family tradition for Kim while she was growing up). None of the McDonald's in the Houston area have ever seemed to hear of Shamrock Shakes! :(
Ian was an instant believer in the yummy, minty drink!
When we got to the hotel, Ian helped Papa with the luggage,
and then we headed down to the Riverwalk, which had been dyed green for St. Patty's Day!

We took a boat cruise along the Riverwalk and learned a lot about the cool sites in downtown San Antonio from our tour guide, Alejandro.
Ian enjoyed the boat ride, too!

a cool building downtown
Look at that green water! :)


We ate dinner at Rio! Rio! right along the Riverwalk. Ian was excited about the colored chips they served as appetizers.
We enjoyed watching all of the activity along the Riverwalk while dining outside. (There were LOTS of tourists in town for spring break!)
We also enjoyed some mariachi music during dinner.
Then we headed back across the Riverwalk to our hotel
so Ian could hear some bedtime stories!
The next morning, St. Patrick's Day, we headed to Natural Bridge Wildlife Ranch -- a definite must-see for anyone with toddlers or small children. Actually, the ranch turned out to be the highlight for all of us adults, too.
We started by seeing some deer that had just shed their antlers for the spring.
They had suggested not feeding the wildlife by hand, but who could resist?? (And hey, we weren't the only rule-benders!)


The zebras were some of our favorite animals to see so close-up!


Don't worry. Neither Matt nor Grammy lost any fingers. Unfortunately, Papa wasn't so lucky.

Kim totally chickened out on a hand-feeding opportunity the first time this ostrich came through the window looking for food.

But, in the end, all the adults in the car successfully fed an ostrich by hand. We stopped this video right before the ostrich grabbed hold of Papa's baseball cap. :)
We brushed and fed some goats at the petting zoo,

and were surprised to learn that goats climb trees!

a longhorn huddle

Ian pretending to be a zebra, going after the Fruit Loops in Grammy's hand.
Ian enjoyed the plants around our hotel.
On Thursday afternoon, we headed to the Alamo!
We brushed up on a little Texas history
before heading back to the hotel

for a wine and cheese reception and swimming in the pool.
The next morning, Ian showed us where the hotel's putting green was
and enjoyed playing with the flags most of all.
We headed to Market Square

where we did some shopping,

exercising,


and guitar playing.
Thanks for the cool guitar, Grammy and Papa!
We ended our trip with another visit to McDonald's. Ian made the surprising discovery that a McDonald's straw could fit over top of his sippy cup straw AND STILL WORK! Boy, was he excited!
Of course, we had to get Shamrock Shakes one more time before we headed back to Houston.


Ian kept us entertained with Psalm 23,



and wanted a wagon ride immediately upon returning home. Thanks for the really fun visit, Grammy and Papa! You spoiled us! :)