Lions, Tigers and Bears!

The weekend of May 15 we took a quick trip with my family to the GW Exotic Animal Park in Oklahoma. If you've ever driven from Dallas to OKC you've seen the signs. It's only a two hour drive from Dallas. We stayed at the Gaylord Texan hotel in Grapevine.

This was my Mom's Mother's Day gift - she loves tigers. This place has the most number of large cats in the world.

Casper the White Lion. He's only 19 months old and won't get his full mane until he's five years old.

A female lion playing with Miller. It was amazing how much they watched Miller compared to everyone else. I think they wanted to eat him and knew he would be easier prey to catch.

Can you see the baby tiger nursing? It was born only a few hours before we got there.

Each and every tigers face has different markings and you could really tell the difference. The only thing that is the same is that each one has white spots on the back of their ears.

They rescue large cats from around the world. This lion came from Hollywood. He didn't really like the acting thing - seriously.

White Peacock.

Evan fed a monkey goldfish right out of her hand. Miller loved it.

One of my mom's dreams in life was to play and hold a baby tiger. The baby was two weeks old and his eyes weren't even open. I'm guessing she's hooked now and will for sure go back.

Miller petting the baby tiger.

Miller giving the baby tiger a kiss.

This is my new favorite type of large cat - a Taliger (the dad is a tiger and mom is a liger (lion/tiger mix)). Tigers and lions mate on their own, but aren't in the same locations in the wild.

We fed raw chicken to lions and tigers below.

Feeding the lions and tigers.

Miller's Big Boy Room

Once Miller was potty trained, the next step was to move him into his big boy room with a big boy bed. We had been getting it ready and talking about it for a while so he seemed to be excited. The first few nights went pretty well, but nap time (or lack of) was a nightmare. We told him he couldn't get out of his bed, and he actually listened. Now, a few weeks later, he is doing great and loves it!

View from the door. Miller had to be in the picture. We still have a few little things to do, but mostly it's done.

I still need to take a picture of the dresser - I absolutely love it.

Miles is pretty much getting Miller's old room with a few tiny changes. Poor second child - at least he won't know the difference.

Tommy the Turtle

One morning last week, Miller and I went on a walk with Noni along the bayou behind their house. Besides me forgetting the jogging stroller, we had a lot of fun. Every time we crossed over a bridge, we would look for turtles in the bayou. We never saw any in the water. However, we did find one on a path through the woods. A tiny box turtle we named Tommy. Miller was so excited that we decided to take him home. We put him in a box and walked around the backyard finding sticks and leaves to put in the box with Tommy. Miller had to go out about every hour to check on Tommy until Daddy got home. Then we let him go in the backyard. We haven't seen Tommy since, but we know he will show up one day.

Well, I'm now 30 weeks and can't believe how close it's getting. Everything is looking great and my due date is still July 15. I'm still feeling good, but starting to get tired again. The second trimester honeymoon phase is starting to wear off. Miller is super excited about the baby and really seems to understand. He always wants to hug and kiss my belly and tells me everything he is going to share with him when he gets here. We just moved him to his big boy room (pictures coming soon) and big boy bed and it has gone pretty well . He has been refusing to sleep at nap time, but doesn't get out of his bed. It could be much worse.

We have finally decided on a name for this boy ... Miles Judson.

The Ride to Austin

Once again, Jud rode the 150 miles to Austin for the MS150. Thank you to all who supported him. It was his 5th BP MS 150 ride from Houston to Austin. Here is part of an email he wrote after he got back.

I got into riding a road bike under very selfish circumstances and every year I am humbled more and more by this experience every time I ride.

I first got a bike when I won a sales production award from at a bank that I worked at. I was told to pick out something that is for YOU, anything you typically wouldn’t buy for yourself… so I got a road bike.

I road two Kansas City MS 150s with some good friends of mine and then decided to ride the BP MS 150. Until that day, five years ago when I road into Austin I road for myself. I knew it was for a good cause, I do know people that have MS, but I rode to challenge myself and force myself to stay in shape. While I rode into Austin that first year and was feeling really good about myself I saw someone in a motorized wheel chair as we approached the crowds of people cheering us on at the finish line. This individual held a sign that said “I have MS. Thanks for riding for me!” Ever since that day the image of that man has been burned into my brain.

Well, the more I give to this cause the more I seem to get out of the experience. This year I was in La Grange at the Club 300 hospitality tent and a woman came over to our table and started up a conversation. She explained her daughter started riding this MS 150 race a few years for her because she was diagnosed with MS. She told her story from being put into a wheel chair and thinking she would never walk again. Well, due to the advances in medicine that the doctors have prescribed her she still uses a scooter to get around but is able to walk short distances (from her table over to ours to meet us and back to her table). All she wanted to do was thank us for riding and the effort we put into the ride and fundraising. I don’t think I will ever forget her and how grateful she was.

I share this because many of you just get e-mails from me to donate and some of you ask about the ride and how I did… I thank you for your concern and appreciate you for your support… but this ride isn’t about me… this is about finding a cure.

The morning of day two at the starting line one of the announcers said he hopes there is a day when he can announce that this is the last BP MS 150 because we have found a cure. Well until that day I will ride and ask for your support for those who can’t!

If you have given thank you! If you would like to give please CLICK HERE.

At the finish line (Blake, Jud, Jeff and Andy)

A Day in the Country

A few weeks ago Noni, Miller and I drove up to Lufkin for a day to visit Grandy (Miller's Great Grandmother) and Uncle Phil. I was a little worried about the two hour drive each way since we had just been through potty training, but Miller did great! He was super excited to see the Hank the horse, but seemed to be a little scared of him this visit. He didn't even want to ride him. The riding lawn mower on the other hand...

Easter

After church, we went to Royal Oaks for brunch as usual. They have a great spread, but we may have to switch it up next year.

The Argue clan. Too bad is was a gloomy morning.

Miller's new pal - the Easter Bunny. He gave him a hug, but wouldn't take a picture with him by himself.

He just melts my heart (when he's not having a meltdown). You can't tell by looking at this face, but we are right in the middle of the terrible two's. I pray for patience daily.

Easter Egg Hunting

We went to our church's annual Easter Egg hunt on Saturday and had so much fun! Miller is such a great age for these things.

At first we tried to hunt with the big kids (over age 3) and got a little side tracked with the first egg. Hello, the egg has candy inside. Needless to say, we didn't get that many eggs during that hunt.

Then we went to the under age 3 egg hunt and filled up our basket right away. We had to tell him he had enough eggs and to leave some for the other kids. Look how proud he is of his loot.

Taking a break from egg hunting with Daddy. The shoulder up with the head to the side is his new picture pose (I'm not so sure I like it).

Picture in front of the pretty flowers at the church.

Silly family picture after the Egg hunt.

Rodeo Time in Houston!

Jud took last Thursday afternoon off and we took Miller to the Houston Livestock Show & Rodeo. It was such a beautiful day and I can't even tell you how much fun we had. We did almost everything you can do with a 2 1/2 year old.

The first thing Miller wanted to do was to ride a pony. He chose to ride Twinkle and was so excited.

Loving every minute of it.

What a cool dude!

Checking out the honey bees.

Look at all the baby pigs. Miller could have stayed here for an hour.

Driving the big tractor. The tire was more than twice his height. It had a TV set up in it that looked like you were driving in a field.

In the petting zoo. This is not the deer that ate my skirt, but I assure you that one did. Miller thought it was too funny.

For some reason they had a Wallaby in the petting zoo. Of course Miller said it was a kangaroo and would not be convinced otherwise.

Checking out the pigs curly, wiggly tail.

The newest rodeo clown.

After we had a fabulous dinner (Miller ate an entire corn dog) we headed to ride carnival rides. Miller was so excited. This was his first ride ever.

When he got off one ride he would say, "let's go ride another one" and run off.

He couldn't wait to ride the pink elephants.

Super excited to ride the airplane.

He got off the airplane and said, "Next time I'll ride the helicopter."

After watching it go around a few times he really wanted to ride the "dragon train" as he called it. Check out his face. He didn't seem to like his first roller coaster ride. When he got off, Jud asked him if he liked it and he said, "No, it made me dizzy."

We're having a ...

BOY!!!

Miller was the only one who thought this baby was a boy. Everyone else guessed girl. We are so excited for him to have a baby brother. We don't have a name yet, but will for sure post it when we decide on something. Hopefully it will be soon! Even better news - he looks super healthy and weighs almost a pound! They said he has long legs - go figure. God is so good!