Our Trip to Connecticut and New York

Keith and I got to have a weekend getaway to CT and NY while Lee Lee watched the girls. CT was beautiful and the weather was perfect. We took a day trip drive up to Massachusetts and back down through CT. The scenic drive was beautiful and the trees were just starting to change colors:We stopped at a Rockwell-esque little town in Massachusetts, walked around, and found a quaint tasty chocolate shop:We ended the day trip in Mystic, CT- a small seatown with lots of scenic areas:While in CT, we stayed with my brother Adam, his wife Carlee, and their little boy Jack. We found a really tasty breakfast spot the first morning there, and took my brother and family back the next morning. Little Jack is a bottomless pit and ate more than Keith and I combined- I'd be a bit worried, but my brother was the same way as a boy:After breakfast, we headed up to a park that overlooks New Haven, followed by a quick tour of the Yale campus, where my brother recently started grad school:After the Yale tour, we headed to NYC to visit Keith's stepbrother, Michael. Michael and his girlfriend Maclaren took us on a few fun walkaround tours of the city, which is particularly fin since Michael is an expert on the history of NYC:
And we came across quite the interesting scene while walking around one night- a robot war contest inside a bar complete with a Pimp Referee and background commentators who reminded us of the commentators' scenes in the movie Dodgeball:

They had a mini-stadium setup with tons of tiny figurine "fans" sitting around the arena while the actual contestants sat outside the arena and controlled the robot battle royale:

Our Trip to Nana and Papa's

With Nana and Papa's busy summer travels, we decided a trip to Houston was long over due. Avery was thrilled to be there and went into wild child mode once she got around my sister Angela and her husband Scott:

And she got Papa to join in the rough housing:

Unfortunately, getting a good pic of the wild child is near impossible:

So I guess I have to settle for at least getting her to face the camera:

Addie, on the other hand, is our photographic angel and smiles whenever she sees a camera pointing in her direction:

Our Trip to the Exotic Zoo

With the weather finally getting bearable, we decided to take a trip out to a drive-through exotic zoo. The resort guides gave us a few bags of food to feed the animals, and the animals really will come right up to the car:

Avery was thrilled to see the zebras:

But she got a little freaked out at how close they got to us in order to ger to our food. I was even a little worried- I've never heard of death by zebra biting, but this one flashed his teeth right in my face, and I threw half a bag of food out the window to get him away from the car:

The ostriches looked the meanest of all. I opted not to feed them and rolled up the window whenever they came close:

The emus didn't appear to be quite as angry about life as the ostriches, but their beaks are even pointier and their eyes are red, so they made me just as nervous: