Henry for Mayor!

I couldn't resist snagging a couple of these posters while in Ft Wayne. They will look great in the play room!

Celebrating with Daddy

Since Mark's birthday and Henry's birthday are in the same week, we celebrated together after we got home from Fort Wayne. And this year, Opa got to be with us for the celebrations.

Playing school

It didn't take long for Henry to catch on to the school routine, so much so that he arranged his animals below a couple of weeks later. He made sure that the teacher, Boo, said "Good morning, class!"

Bayou Wildlife Park

In September, we went to a birthday party at the Bayou Wildlife Park in Alvin, TX. This place is a hidden treasure! They have a lot of non-native Texas wildlife that you see on a tram ride and very domesticated deer that roam the general grounds (and get into your snacks). Not seen in these pictures is a small petting zoo. Henry loved the deer, but was a little freaked at a antelope like creature that got too close to the tram and licked his face. He recovered enough to feed the camels, but it was a close call!

Hitting the green

Often after dinner, if it is a nice night, Mark and Henry like to get out on the fairway behind our house. We are usually dragging Henry off at the end kicking and screaming. On this night, he definitely had on the right shorts for the occasion.

Purdue comes to town

I just realized how far behind I am in the blogging since I haven't captured anything in September or October yet...yikes!

Last month, our good friends from Chicago, the Nee-Walstra clan came to visit Houston to see Purdue play Rice. The boys also saw the Texans play the Colts and that was the second disappointment of the weekend. But both games were both background to enjoying time with good friends. Henry especially liked that big boys Isaac and Elliott got to stay and his house and were good at wrestling.

Fort Wayne Fun

Earlier this month, we took a trip to Fort Wayne to attend Mark's 20th HS reunion. It was a great weekend! Not only did they have Indian summer weather, but we got to celebrate Henry's 3rd birthday with family and friends. We also made our annual pilgrimage to the zoo. Enjoy the pictures below of our visit:

First Day of School

On Tuesday, Henry started his first day of pre-school at Sugar Land Baptist Church. He didn't have one moment of hesitation and walked right in and starting playing. I have a feeling we are going to love it!

Skip, Skip, Skip to the Lou

In August, we took a much overdue trip to St. Louis to visit the Bayes clan. Mark was with us for the first weekend (which included my high school reunion - Go Lancers!) and then Henry and I stayed for another week.

The highlights of our week included a trip to Grant's Farm (free beer), tour of the AB brewery (free beer), Gus's pretzels, and World's Fair donuts...and that was just on Saturday! Seriously. In addition, we got to see a lot of Ellie and Tyler much to Henry's delight and made very good use of Oma and Opa's new basement. We can't wait to get back!

What can you do with Noah's Ark?

Who knew that the Fisher Price Noah's Ark was so versatile? Henry has found many ways and unique places as you can see from the pictures below. The second one is the animals having a tea party complete with Noah praying before it started!

Howdy Partner

Libawry (in Henry speak)

Henry loves to go to the library and I love that he loves it. It is one of our favorite outings and we try to get there once a week. Again this summer, he got a reading trophy for listening to 20 books, which we counted as 20 new books.

I also included the picture from last year with the trophy. And no it isn't the exact same shirt!

Oh won't you take me to the Vineyard in the summer...

I'm quoting the lyric to a favorite song, but also reflecting on our Franke family vacation in June. We headed to Saratoga Springs, NY to see Mark's cousin Sara graduate high school and then the immediate family of six headed to Martha's Vineyard for some fun in the sun.

I have attached my photos here, but see more at Mark's sisters blog: http://frankebell.tumblr.com/ Look for posts dated July 24/25.







And one of the small joys of our vacation was this sight right here. Nothing beats the smell of air dried clothes!

SeaWorld

Earlier this month, Team Franke ventured to San Antonio to take in SeaWorld. We arrived on a Thursday and stayed at a Hilton resort with a lazy river which was very kid friendly and Henry loved it! On Friday, we got to SeaWorld early in order to have breakfast with Elmo and all of his friends. What a treat and Henry was beaming with excitement. He had no fear of anyone but Cookie Monster and only seemed bothered that he didn't have a cookie with him.

We then spent the better part of the day exploring everything in the park. Henry was fascinated with watching the 'train' (aka rollercoaster) and I even took a ride so that he could see me. We saw a sea lion show, viewed the fish in the aquarium, explored Sesame Street Bay of Play, and cooled off in the kiddie pool, but by far the high light was the Shamu show. A great time was had by all!