Trip to the zoo, and some news

Cora likes rubber duckies.

Phew, I'm glad to get that off my chest! Am I really posting only a week after my last one? Wow. I haven't done that in a while. This time, I actually have things to share. We are moving! That's the news. A little anti-climactic, I know. We've got an apartment in a house in the Houston Heights area, which is northwest of downtown. We'll be only 10 minutes away from Josh's school--hooray! We've been looking since the beginning of January in several different areas of the city. This place is in a great neighborhood with SIDEWALKS! There are almost no sidewalks in Spring, so I am very excited about this.

The apartment itself is very pretty, with hardwood floors and brand-new cabinets. We're on the upper floor of a house that was built in the 1920s. There's no dishwasher or washer and dryer in the apartment, which I said I'd never go without again, but I'm eating my words. (There is a coin-op washer and dryer behind the house.) We really feel like this is where the Lord wants us. We'll be right next to our landlord, who is very friendly. When we went to look at the apartment, he was stuck in traffic and arrived half an hour late, so we got to chat with his wife and 20-year-old daughter for that time. It was really neat. I think we're going to like living by them. We're going to start moving into that apartment on March 9th, and we have to be out of this one by the 16th. I'm really glad we'll have a week to get everything moved over.

Houston Zoo!

Josh had Valentine's Day off (as Presidents' Day), so we decided to go to the Houston Zoo. We've been wanting to go ever since we moved here a year ago. Since we're moving closer to downtown, we decided to get a membership so we can go whenever we want for a year. We also get a discount on guest admission, so come visit and we can go to the zoo!

Here's Cora admiring a peacock pheasant. Unfortunately, the bird wouldn't pose.

Cora and the Komodo dragon, 10 feet long and 150 pounds. That is one big lizard!

Cora wasn't sure about the animals at first, but she really got into it by the end. She really liked the iguana we saw in the reptile house, and some of the birds. She kept on saying "qua-qua," and we had to remind her that only ducks say that.

And our favorites--the elephants. They have two babies right now. There's a four month old female named Tupolu (pictured with her mother), and the other is a nine month old male named Baylor. They were so cute! We ended up staying at least half an hour there. A couple of the trainers were out talking about them, so we got to ask them some questions and learn more about them. They were so cool! Cora and Josh both did their elephant sounds, but I don't think the real elephants heard them. It was still cute.

She never looks at the camera when I want her to.

Josh's dream is to ride an elephant someday. This is as close as we've gotten!

They had a goat enclosure where the kids could play with and brush them. Cora had a blast. We sometimes had to remind her to be soft.

So, all in all, it was a great visit. I'm glad we got a membership so we can go back. Definitely worth it!

The Valentine's dinner Josh made! On Saturday we went on our V-day date to a pizza buffet and arcade (so romantic, I know, but we both wanted to go). We played mini golf and a few games. On February 14th, after going to the zoo, we ate pink, heart-shaped pancakes and watched Fiddler on the Roof. A simple but fun Valentine's Day.