Trip to The Zoo

On Wednesday, we went to the San Antonio Zoo with a couple of friends. We had a great time, but we weren't able to stay for too long. We left around 9:00am and by the time that we got there, got all of the transportation devices out (strollers, wagons, etc.), got sunscreen on our fair-skinned babies, and bought our tickets it was already around 10:45. We had planned to meet up with another friend at the park for lunch around noon, so we only had about an hour an 15 minutes at the zoo itself. We had a great time, though. We got to see the underwater safari exhibit, which had an underwater view of two giant hippos and a bunch of exotic fish. We also got to see giraffes, zebras, an elephant, a jaguar, and a lot of neat birds. Afterward, we went to Brackenridge Park which is right by the zoo. We brought bread to feed the ducks and Tanner had a great time throwing it in the water. However, she wanted to chase the ducks so bad that I had to grab her over and over again to keep her from falling 4 feet down into the water. I was worn out! We ate lunch and headed home. We rode with Tawny and her kids, Jaxson and Channing, and all of the kiddos napped in the car. It was nice to relax and enjoy some conversation. Tanner is so busy all of the time now that I feel like I am going a mile a minute every day! It is so much fun, but it can be tiring as well. She is at such a fun age. She loves to tell us what all of the animals say, and she can say "baa" for the sheep now. It's really funny, too, because she makes the "b" sound then laughs to make the rest of the sound. She can point to almost any animal in a book now, too. It's amazing to see her learn. She has now learned to say "nack" when she wants a snack and she goes to the cabinet where we keep her snacks and points. Another new thing that she likes to do is hear secrets. Clinton will say "come here, I want to tell you a secret". She will walk over to him with her ear ready and put it up to his mouth. He will say things like, "go get Momma's toes", or "go get Momma's belly button", and she will do exactly what he tells her to do. It's funny! The other day, Clinton hit his thumb with a hammer and it started bleeding so we cleaned it up and put a bandaid on it and he went back outside. A few minutes later, Tanner walked over to the cabinet where the bandaids are and started pointing at it. She wanted one too! I put one on her and she was so excited. She wanted to be just like her daddy! She knows what "potty" means now too. Anytime that I say that I need to go potty, she heads toward the bathroom first. She also likes to pull the toilet paper off of the roll and put it in the toilet. It won't be long before she is doing it too!

I thought this picture of them looking at the elephant was cute



Channing checking out the fish
Jaxson was a good sport. He'll be keeping up with the girls soon!
Tanner and Courtney lookig at the hippos.
Maddie looking at the hippos
Tanner and Courtney had a great time riding in the wagon together.
Cassie, Tawny, and the kids
It was oddly cold when we first got there. By the time we left, it was in the upper 80s.
I love this picture!!

Two weekends ago we went to Lake Jackson to celebrate Sofia's adoption finalization. She is officially one of us!!! We are so excited, and we were so happy to be able to be there to celebrate with Haley and Jason. While we were there, we took Tanner to Varner Hogg Plantation so that she could take pictures in her flower girl dress with Rachel for her bridal portraits. I would have put more of them up, but I wouldn't want to reveal Rachel's dress before the wedding!

Goofy Grandpa Mac



We put some puffs in her basket to keep her happy =)

Sofi was very enthralled by this toy. I actually hate this toy because it was in the bottom of the diaper bag on the plane ride home from Boston when Tanner screamed the whole 4 hour flight! Everytime we would frantically try to get something out of the bag, this toy would say "red", or "blue", or "verde". I wanted to rip it apart!
Funny face!


This was funny to me because I was taking pictures of Clinton and Tanner (see next pic) and I said "smile Daddy". I was talking to Clinton but I looked over and my dad was smiling and posing.

Half Marathon

For the past four months, I have been training with my friend Tawny for our first half marathon. Well, it was this past Sunday in Austin and we did it!!! We finished in about 2 hours and 35 minutes, which is a little over an 11.5 minute per mile pace. What we weren't prepared for was the hills!!! We had been warned that this was a hilly course, but you just don't really get it until you are running 13.1 miles up and down hills. On top of that, Tawny had what equated to a stress fracture in her foot and had been in a boot the week before. She really wanted to run because she had trained so hard, but she had to run on her tippy toes the whole way to keep the pressure off of it. We made it, though! We were so happy to have accomplished this after all of the practicing we had done. Here are some pictures from the race weekend:


The night before we left for Austin we grilled out to kick off the weekend. This is Channing and Tanner. Channing had been pushing Tanner around in the play stroller. They play so well together, and Tanner gets so excited when the get to see each other.


Tawny with the kids
Tawny and Paxton at the expo. Channing's always posing. What a cutie!
Us at the expo the day before the race.
Bath time at the hotel. This was Tanner's first hotel stay. That night around midnight we heard a thud and a loud cry. Tanner had fallen off the bed!!! She and Clinton were asleep in one bed because I was trying to get as much sleep as possible. I moved to their bed after that, though. Scary!!
Our pre-race carb-loaded meal!
Pizza and pasta!
This was me at 4:45am the day of the race. I was ready to go!
Tanner was bright-eyed and bushy tailed too!
My game face. I'm so fierce, I know....
This was near the starting line around 6:30am. We were nervous! I was a lot more nervous than Tawny, though. I think she was just nervous about how her foot would hold up.
There were approximately 14,000 runners between the marathon and half marathon.
This was mile 6. I was still feeling great at this point and felt like I could run forever. I would have told you differently, though, around mile 9! Tawny's foot was hurting her pretty badly at this point. She was such a trooper!
Tanner and G-Paw waiting at the hotel near the finish line for us to finish.
Jaxson was tired of waiting!
I love this picture. That is the capital in the background.
Tawny about to cross the finish line.
Me about to cross the finish line.

After we crossed the finish line


Sofi came to see me! I was so excited!

I wasn't the only one who was exhausted!


Post-race meal. We were so hungry!
Tanner was giving her G-Paw "nose kisses" on the playground outside of the restaurant

Paxton and Jaxson
Haley, Jason, and Sofia