Galveston Moody Gardens 2011

We took a mini vacation to Galveston this past weekend. We stayed at the Moody Gardens Hotel and explored the Gardens. Brinson had a lot of fun. It was pretty hot, but at least we were inside/outside. We did the Rainforest pyramid, Aquarium pyramid, Penguin Encounter, Dinos Alive, 3D Bugs on IMAX, 4D Dora adventure, Colonel Paddlewheel boat, Bones exhibit at Discovery museum, and Palm Beach waterpark. A lot of stuff to do in 2 1/2 days but we managed to do it! And a few things we even managed to do twice. We got home yesterday in time for Brinson's first day of school today. It was really nice. I'm glad we did it, even if it was a flogging...lol

I am going to make a separate post with my cell phone pics, I couldn't get them organized well to put them in this post.

Time to start the day!! Wakey wakey!

Brinson was ecstatic to see Dora walking around at breakfast, her lil face just lit up!

Hugs for Dora

Waving bye bye to Dora

Inside the hotel lobby

Posing like Dora

Gettin ready!


Entrance

Safari girl playing with the river otter

He was really cute and very playful

Looking at a butterfly on the bottom of the bench

Closer view

She loved walking thru the ropes

Playin in the water (yuck)

Playing in the air vent, Wheeeeee!

Carrion flower, smells like something dead

Birdy

Lizard

Monkeys!

The 3 Musketeers lol

Ready for fun!

Exercising at the Bones Exhibit

Coloring a skull


And one!


And two!

Life size Operation game

Grrrrrrr!

Dinos Alive

She was all happy when we entered....

Then the dino roared....lol

She went to touch this one's face, and right before she got to it, it roared, and she freaked lol!

No, mommy! I don't want to touch it


At least there was no crying!!

Rainforest pyramid (I think)

My Favorite Fish!!! Yellow headed Jawfish

Seahorse in center of pic

Another seahorse

Watching the fish/sharks/turtles with Daddy


Aquarium pyramid

Feeling coral

Boy, what a system!

Swimming like a shark

In the shark cage with Mommy

This was dinner last night at Cheddars.....exhausted!

Update on B's vision

Brinson saw Dr. Coats yesterday for a 3 month checkup. We got good news and some surprisingly bad news also. The good news is that her vision has improved a bit since her last visit. The bad news is that she's legally blind in her left eye. Now, while Ned and I knew she had the amblyopia, neither of us knew just how bad her vision was. We knew she had bad vision, but were under the impression that it was corrected somewhat with glasses. They said it's obviously from the prematurity, her retina just didn't develop properly in that eye. Her CORRECTED vision (with glasses) is 20/40 in her right eye and 5/300 in her left. I was trying so hard to not cry in the doc office. When they tell you "if her vision doesn't worsen she might be able to drive a car when she's older" and "they have an eye clinic where they can help her with eye exercises" and "she can have a form from the state for when she goes to school to have her sit in the front of the classroom, have large print books, and possibly a tutor to help her learn" that was a lot to digest.
We are going back to patching her eye daily. We are starting off at 2 hrs/day and working our way up to 6hrs/day. She did really well today with 3 hrs. This may or may not help her bad eye, but it's the only thing we can do at this point. She's a real trooper and understands why we have to do it. So far she likes playing "pirate" with Mommy.
She goes back to the doc in October for another assessment. And we won't know for sure where her vision stabilizes until she reaches puberty. All we can hope for is that it gets better and doesn't worsen (which is also a possibility).
Send your prayers this way please.

Lil Picasso

Misc Brinson

Circus 2011

Brinson got to see her first Barnum & Bailey Circus last month. The whole family went with the exception of Grandfather. We thought he would be in Trinidad, but it ended up he was here...It was alot of fun, just a little long for adults..lol We got to see the animals for a few mins before the circus started. I think B could've cared less..lol
By her reaction, I'd say she liked the trapeze act the best. She made it through about 2/3 and then passed out. I'm just glad we got to expose her to it. Hopefully next year she'll get more out of it.

Walkin in with Grampa


Group photo


Watchin the elephants with Daddy


Beginning


Eatin a hot dog...she LOVES that hat!


This was about midway








Silly clowns


Only in Texas..lol





This was at the end, unfortunately my battery died right after this shot.

Sticker girl

Okay, it's been a long time since we've posted anything! Life gets busy and we don't always get the time to post. Our best friends, the Baldwins, moved to California mid July and we were very sad to see them go but wish them the best! I had a really nice weekend in Vegas with Ned in mid July as well. Man, I love that city! We are taking a lil mini vacation to Galveston next week before B starts back to school. In September, B has her tonsillectomy scheduled. Will be so glad to get that over with. I'm hoping we will have much less sickness this winter than last. Then in October Ned's cousin Jenn is getting married so we are flying out for that in Arizona. We decided to expose B to the southwest so we are taking some extra days to go to the Grand Canyon and toodle around Sedona/Flagstaff. Then in November we are spending Thanksgiving in Indiana. Should be alot of fun as we will have a new member to the Tatman family!!! And somewhere after that we hope to head out to Cali to visit the Baldwins. I really miss them.

Ok, so back to the posting...


This kiddo loves stickers. When she's quiet in the backseat, this is what she is usually up to.

Last visit with Baldwins at their house

Our last visit with the Baldwins before the headed to California (permantly).  It was a good visit, but also sad, because likely we would not see them for a while.

Zachary and Brinson played, and we all had great conversation about what was to come.  Stephen showed me a mock of his business card and Kim shared all worries her about the transfer.

It is sad to see them go.