January was a blast! Full of fun and family and lots of great adventures!
We’re excited to have a new member in our family, Caesar! Caesar is a 3 year old, 100 pound German Shepherd we adopted at the beginning of the month. He came to live with us on New Year’s day and he and Hank have become fast friends. Its been an adjustment getting used to having a dog again (Cody died last February and we’ve gone nearly a year without a dog), cleaning up land mines from the yard, being more vigilant with the front door, making extra plans when we travel, protecting Hank’s stuffed animals, even cooking has become an adventure. We’ve become rather good at hip-checks while cooking, Caesar is very curious and he’s tall so he doesn’t have to work hard to check out whatever is on the counter or stove. Its been wonderful having him join our family! He has his own little quirks, like his ears, they touch together like a little hat on top of his head when he’s very excited or interested in something. And he loves to bark at squirrels and birds. We go through far less birdseed now that Caesar has joined our family. The birds still visit, but they tend to hide or fly away when Caesar goes in the backyard. We love taking him on walks (and he loves them too!), going to the park together and playing at home. Hank is enjoying t-ball right now and its been fun for him to have Caesar field the balls. Sometimes Caesar even tags Hank out on the way to home plate! Its really fun. 
Hank’s cousins, Ainsley and Dalton, have birthdays in January (different days/years) and they had a birthday carnival at their house to celebrate both of their birthdays. GG and Grandad took Hank to the party and everyone had a blast! Hank has had a great time with all the treasures and prizes he won at the carnival (thanks, Aunt Traci & Uncle Geoff!!). Hank spent some special time all by himself at GG and Grandad’s house this month and we also took GG and Grandad to the Houston Museum of Natural Science. None of us had visited that museum before and it was fantastic! We loved how the dinosaur bones were displayed in the Hall of Paleontology and were fascinated by quite a few of the artifacts in the Hall of Americas. Hank wasn’t sure what to make of the sarcophagus in the Hall of Egypt. We (Sarah and Tyler) were perplexed that the “Hall of Egypt” was actually just a corner in the basement but we were pleased to learn they were in the process of getting a full exhibit prepared and the real Hall of Egypt opens in May. We’ll be making a return visit as Sarah is fascinated with Egyptian artifacts and tales. We caught a live science show (on density) in the Chemistry Hall and were awed at the beauty in the Hall of Minerals. Hank enjoyd the African Wildlife and the Texas Wildlife exhibits and had a blast “experiencing an earthquake” and exploring clouds in the Earth Forum. One of our family’s favorite places by far was the Cockrell Butterfly Center. Once we stepped through the doors into the butterfly habitat, it was as though we weren’t even in Houston anymore. It really took Tyler and me back to our honeymoon in Aruba with all the beautiful flowers and butterflies. They even had a Green Iguana there! The iguana was actually colored orange and his name is Charro. Hank thought Charro was very funny! Hank got to touch real butterfly wings and see a waterfall. It was a wonderful family trip!
We also visited the Texas Sports Hall of fame in January. We met Grandad there and Hank had a great time checking things out and playing football with Daddy. There were lots of fun times with cousins in January as well. We played with cousins at parks, at our house, at Grandma and Grandpa’s house, we made art together, and shared lots of fun times. Hank is still enjoying playing violin. He was thrilled to return to his lessons after the break for the holidays and is stoked to be learning to play new notes on his violin. He loves playing whole songs and says he wants to “be a real violinist one day!”. This was a fun month. Here are some photos in no particular order, enjoy!
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