Crash, Boom!

While I was in Houston my sister and I visited an aquarium with sting-rays that you could pet. I fell in love with sting-rays when I visited just such an aquarium in Virginia, and I think it's easy to see why:

The stingrays are just so friendly! They come up wagging their tails like dogs and want to be petted. It makes me laugh every time.

My nephew Talmage clearly did not share my love for stingrays. He was terrified!

Don't worry, though. After some coaxing he did finally pet one or two of them.

Aren't they cute? This one has come over to the side to get fish.

Talmage was also terrified of this fake gorilla. It made noises and moved around when you got close (and let's admit it, I was a little terrified too--it was kind of creepy!) and he wanted to run away every time we took him near. Despite his mother's enthusiastic efforts to get him to make gorilla noises, he just looked terrified.

We went to Kema, which is a nice little waterfront area with shops and rides. I don't know if it was from the extreme heat or the fact that it was the middle of the day on a Monday, but it was deserted! It was a cute place but definitely a better idea to go when it's not quite so hot.

That night, instead of letting my sister put Talmage to bed, I distracted him (and her) by pulling out my camera. Talmage is so so skinny and in his pajamas he looked especially teeny. Isn't he cute?

We put him on the top bunk (he usually sleeps on the bottom) and he had the grandest time playing "Crash, Boom!" on the bed--a game in which he stood up, said "crash!" and then jumped in the air and sat down. "Boom!"

Apparently Talmage likes paparazzi pictures as much as everyone else...

We also stopped by the Houston Temple, which I have been waiting to see since I was in 4th grade and they started building it. I did a current events report on it and everything, but unfortunately we moved before it was finished. And now I finally got to see it! It was closed for cleaning, but we sat at the gate for at least 4 minutes in the heat and I snapped a couple of pictures.

This trip to Houston was another dream trip--no 56 hour road trip this time, but as a stop in the middle of my trek across the world, I'd say it was pretty awesome (orange-show type old town included)!