Houston: Day 1 (Houston Zoo & Rehearsal Dinner)

Last Friday morning, Todd, Lucy, and I, along with my parents, flew to Houston for my cousin's wedding.  We didn't buy Lucy her own seat on the plane since it was a direct flight and only a little over 2 hours long.  Since airfare was $450, we figured we could suffer through her sitting on our lap and save the money.  I was glad we didn't buy her a seat because she was really good on the flight and never fussed once.  She took turns sitting on our laps and since my parents sat behind us, she sat with them for a little bit too.  Heck, at one point we even lifted up the armrest and she was actually able to sit on the seat in between Todd & I.  She was very entertained with some new library books, stickers, and of course, playing games on the iPad. 

Right before takeoff

Looking at books...

and playing games on the iPad

We landed around 10:30 AM and since Houston is an hour behind us, we were already getting hungry for lunch so we grabbed our luggage and stopped for lunch at Chick-fil-A before spending the afternoon at the Houston Zoo.  We didn't have any plans until the rehearsal dinner later that evening so we figured the zoo would be a fun thing for Lucy to do.  I was pleasantly surprised at how nice the zoo was and how many animals there were especially when the Columbus Zoo, known to be one of the best in the country, is right in our backyard. 

The zoo was in a big park right next to downtown Houston

Ready to go see some animals

Watching the flamingos with Grandpa

Lucy sporting her new sunglasses

 

She was excited to touch a snake but she literally tried to grab it and became hesitant once we told her to only use one finger

Watching the otters swim by



Going down the slide from the otter exibit

Staring at the goat in the petting zoo

And staring at another one

And then she finally went over to pet one

Climbing on the playground

 

Going down another slide (her favorite thing)

 

Family photo at the giraffe exhibit

 

Hiding in the African hut

Playing the drums

 

Once we left the zoo, we drove south of Houston to Texas City which is where our hotel and the wedding were.  We checked in and got ready for the rehearsal dinner which was just down the street at the Gulf Greyhound Park.  It was greyhound racetrack with actual races happening during the evening and overall, it was just a really fun place for a rehearsal.  The wedding party and most family were invited to the dinner so we got to spend time with a lot of my aunts, uncles, cousins, and my grandma.  My brother & sister-in-law weren't arriving until later that evening so we didn't see them until Saturday morning.  My younger cousins (my mom's sister is 16 years younger than her so a few of my cousins are in elementary & middle school) kept Lucy entertained and she had a ball playing with the big kids.

Lucy with all the younger cousins

Lucy & Parker, my cousin's son

My Grandma with her a couple of her granddaughters and great grandchildren

Watching the dog races

 

We had such a busy day that Lucy fell asleep within 5 minutes of us putting her in the pack & play at the hotel.  We laid her down, went into the bathroom to get ready for bed ourselves, and when Todd & I walked back into the room, she was fast asleep. 

 

Tomorrow, I'll recap the rest of the weekend.  There were too many pictures to do for one post!