surfside on friday night

last week was frustrating and stressful, making a quick trip to the beach a much needed mini-break:

we went to surfside (our first time not race-related):

it was windy and cold, but still lots of fun:

cold rarely fazes the girls:

as the tide started coming in, it brought many of these clam-things:

we scooped up handfuls and watched as they quickly burrowed back into the sand:

eventually, lucy was turning purple:

so we packed up and headed home:

zodiacs & zoobilee

late-afternoon on thursday found us waiting outside the zoo. we examined the chinese zodiac bronze sculptures:

grant the goat/ram/sheep:

me and hazel, the dogs:

and lucy the rat:

it's surprising how each of us match the personalities of our zodiac to some degree. grant: intellectual, artistic, sympathetic, worrier. lucy: tenacious, intense, charming, self-destructive. hazel: sociable, affectionate,  sensitive, stubborn. me: cynical, lazy, cold, attractive.  

we sat by the lake for a little while before heading into the zoo for zoobilee:

we hurried our way through, collecting stamps as fast as we could. i had a book group that night and since we had read one of my absolute favorites, i refused to miss. but don't worry, i didn't feel bad about rushing the wee ones since we go to the zoo fairly often, if you hadn't already noticed.

thursday was special because the girls were given little books to collect stamps from various animals (the animals didn't give the stamps out, people stationed by the animals did). it was also special because it's the first time we've seen the tiger move in at least a year:

and who says cats don't like water:

proof that stereotypes can be broken.

once we reached the main exhibit, our quick progress was halted and we waited with half of houston in an epically long line: 

to see the dinosaurs (and flying reptiles):

hazel loved them:

lucy, not so much (surprise, surprise):

she told me yesterday that she didn't want the scary dinosaurs to come back because they might eat her.

more love:

more not-so-much:

after we collected all of the stamps and hazel and lucy received their prize poster:

we booked it outta there and i was only about 20 minutes late to one of the best book group discussions ever.

@ the airport

saturday afternoon, my parents and a couple siblings made a connecting flight in houston, and we drove up to see them. while we waited for them to get through customs, we played on the escalator:

until the security guards shooed us away. (not really.) then we sat and waited:

soon enough, there they were!

hazel and lucy were giddy with joy to see their aunt mary alice. dad and grant talked about boring stuff:

mom, esther and i spoke of much more important things, like robert downey jr. and vampire diaries:

esther proved herself a true niece-spoiler by giving the girls some tasty chocolates (which they immediately consumed):

and then we were treated to a dinner of smoothies, chocolate muffins and pastries:

it was wonderful to see family and even more wonderful to stock up on delectable english candies:

thanks to my frequent explanations that no one would be coming home with us, the girls handled the good-byes really well . . . until we reached the car. hazel started sobbing and saying how much she loved them. lucy sighed sadly and said, "i just wish mary alice was real." hopefully we'll have a nice long visit soon. [hinthint]

the spider web park

despite last week's failed attempt, we tried to have our picnic at the park again. and it worked:

we ate quickly (and messily) and then let the fun begin:

this above is why the girls christened it the spider web park. lucy was "a weary mean spider" and judging by hazel's worried face, she was the fly. hazel and lucy spent time on the other parts of the playground too:

and i took pictures of the gorgeous sky:

more playing:

and more sky:

picture:

and playing:

sunset:

more playing:

 

more sunset:

and then we left:

good-bye, pretty sunset: