We really couldn’t have asked for nicer weather for our walk around the (free!) Botanic Garden over in Ft. Worth. There was no blazing, blinding Texan sun or sky full of clouds, only a pleasantly breezy autumnal afternoon. Truly a photographer’s dream!

When we arrived, not one but two latina gals were having Quinceañera pictures taken (see the first photo below). We told Poppy they were princesses. As they were walking towards us, Poppy was walking down the steps and subsequently tripped and feel on her side. Right in front of the princesses! Don’t worry, Piggy, even princesses fall down sometimes.

After reviewing the pictures, I realize that I didn’t really get any of Henry. It’s difficult when he’s usually attached to Mummy in one way or another. It’s a shame, too, because you don’t just want to wait until your baby grows up to take pictures, but at the same time, it can be tricky to snap photos of an infant. Remember my post about passport pictures?

On a sidenote: I’m not sure why a garden should need to specify itself as botanic. Aren’t all gardens botanical?!  These are the sorts of questions that keep a linguist up at night–that and a 2 month old!

Face to face

As you can see on Saturday Poppy literally came face to face with a giraffe at Dallas zoo.    While Drew was attending a Bible translation conference here at GIAL, we (my parents and I) packed a picnic and the babies in the car and headed to the zoo.  Drew had snagged us a bargain of a deal getting our tickets for $1 each, when originally $12.

This is the 3rd zoo I’ve been to this year so I feel like I’m becoming a zoo connoisseur and I think this was my favorite.  They had a whole section dedicated for children, where all the farmyard animals were and a nice play area with a water feature that Poppy could splash about in.  The weather is still extremely hot here so the water was perfect for cooling off, I had a little paddle myself.  Henry slept most of the time but at 6 weeks old that’s not surprising.

Here are just a few photos from the day.

Look at me Han Han!

Poppy in the cool mist

Lions

This is what happens when I ask her to "say cheese"

The impressive entrance to the zoo

Walking from our apartment toward the main road whereon our pot of donut gold is found, we pass the soccer field where I play every Wednesday and Saturday with internationals and other center residents. I gain a sense of satisfaction walking past the soccer pitch on the donut run because I know that whatever I consume will be negated shortly by that magical wonder exercise. Or, does it work the other way around: the donut negates the exercise? Oh dear, anyways…

The Texan sun isn’t kind even to donut travelers. Nonetheless Granny and Grandad soldier on for the joy set before them. We joke that we’ll arrive only to find the shop shut this particular morning.

Our first obstacle is crossing four lanes of traffic. I reckon by now you can probably guess the answer to the perennial riddle Why the Granny crossed the road.

A too-short-for-pedestrian-safety-flashing WALK sign later, we arrive. Grandad’s the first to enter. Granny and Henry aren’t far behind. In fact, I’m the one behind.

Now, the donuts. Would you know that I tried to get the Korean patrona to pose with her donuts but she refused?! I asked nicely. =/

At least donuts aren’t shy. I mean with looks like these why would they need to be?

With donuts in tow we head home: cream-filled for Grandad, chocolate with sprinkles for Poppy, apple fritter for Mummy, chocolate with coconut for Daddy, and Granny doesn’t even care. Now, you haven’t seen me and Poppy in the pictures. That’s not because we’re shy but because I’m snapping the pics and Poppy’s strapped to my back much like Henry is riding along on Granny.

In addition to getting to eat donuts, there are two great things about the Saturday morning donut run: (1) Grandad insists on buying and (2) if you didn’t find the donut you wanted, you can always pick a horse-apple on the return journey, although we’re not sure if anyone actually eats them.

Does your family have a Saturday morning ritual?

There was a stockyards in the town where I grew up. We’d occasionally go check out the cows, goats, and pigs and then have a big, fat juicy burger in the attached “restaurant.” At least you knew they’d never run out of burgers.

Today we checked out the stockyards in Ft. Worth for a free Saturday excursion. It was like being at a cowboy theme park. We saw cowboys, steer, covered wags, and even a boot repair shop. Then we observed something you never would have seen at my hometown stockyards: an armadillo race. Volunteers entered the pen where they jockeyed their armadillos across the finish line. Jockeying an armadillo is as simple as crawling behind him on your hands and knees while blowing on his tail. For any other animal, that’d be a risky place to be. The winner won a can of armadillo milk. Yum!

Last night Poppy busted out her infamous refrain, “What do now, Granny?!” Well, Granny was armed with a premeditated quick response because the very next day we were going to an arboretum–that very next day was today. I told Poppy that at the arboretum we should expect lots of fun and exciting things like butterflies, bumble bees, and mermaids. I mean we couldn’t just tell her we were going to look at a bunch of trees, could we?

Although we didn’t encounter any mermaids, we did stumble upon giant lily pads, Poppy-sized play houses, strange unnamed fruit, Scripture graffiti, reflecting pool, prohibition of any one with diarrhea, frog-spitting fountains, avenue of trees, semi-transparent water windows, and wonderful photo opportunities.

This trip was special for another reason: it was Poppy’s first time to England. She did well taking in to account the harsh time change that she needed to get used to and the hectic schedule she had to adapt to. We wanted to take her to London and take photos of her in front of all the popular tourist sites. It was rather cold and she got tired very quickly but we had a great time taking photos and running around the city.

We weren’t the only ones in my family to be travelling home for Christmas. My two sisters were returning home from being away for some time. My older sister Sally had been travelling around the world for six months and my younger sister Hannah had been doing an internship with a children’s ministry in New York City. My Dad had to make three visits to the airport to pick up his three girls in the space of a week.

Two weeks wasn’t nearly enough time so see everyone and catch up properly but we are hoping to go back for New Year’s Eve 2011 before moving to France in January 2012.

Grandad enjoyed doing outstanding tricks with the hula hoop.

The following day the air was perfect for a stroll around Wake Forest.

And what would a walk around Wake Forest be without a trip to the Tea Room!

See all the pictures from our trip to Marble’s and from our walk around the Forest.

Granny and Grandad arrived last week from New York City where they visited Aunty Han Han doing her thing telling kiddies about Jesus.

As always it took a bit for Pops to warm up to family she hasn’t seen in a while. It wasn’t long though until Poppy and Granny were straight kicking it like old times.

First thing we wanted to do was head to a nearby town where there’s a festive fall farm for kids to pick pumpkins and play on all sorts of things. But first, Granny had one thing to take care…our front yard.

Now with everything trimmed up we headed out to the farm.

There was a big slide which completed rattled your bum.

And a big corn bin to play in.

And a hay ride to the pumpkin patch.

And of course what day would be complete without ice cream!

Don’t miss the rest of our pictures from Granny and Grandad’s arrival and from our trip to the farm.