Our Trip Up North

In September we took a trip up north to see Chris' family. We visited with Nonni & Poppy first, then went to Jamestown to see Grammy Hayes, Great Grammie Long, Aunt Colleen, Uncle Brian, and the cousins! Raleigh had a great time playing with her cousins! Here are all the kids together (above) - this is the LAST shot of many, they are all pretty much looking at the camera. I think that's a miracle! Raleigh and Aiden with Grammy Hayes and Great Grammie Long...

What a happy little man!

We visited the Aquarium while we were in Niagara Falls. After we walked over to a little look out on the American Side. It was a really beautiful day.

They threw a little birthday bash for me since my birthday was just a week before our trip...

We had a great trip!!!

Sea and Sand

Raleigh has had a pretty exciting couple of days! Saturday Grammy and Grandpa went to Sam's Club and picked up a sand and water table/picnic table set. We split the cost and they kept the little picnic table and we got the sand table. Worked out perfectly! I knew this was something that Raleigh would just LOVE and eventually Aiden could use too.

She had a blast Sunday digging in the sand and running the three boats all over the water side of the table. I think her favorite thing to do is wet her hand in the water, coat it with sand, and shake the wet sand off her hands all over everywhere! She must get this from her father, because I am super careful not to get sand anywhere other than where it belongs - serioiusly, not a grain of sand should be on my beach towel, it drives me CRAZY!

Today we went to the Florida Aquarium. Grammy was off with us again today too, which made it all the more fun for Raleigh! We adults felt like $17 was a little overpriced for what was there, but Raleigh had a wonderful time seeing all the fish!

There is a long "touch tank" filled with starfish and other sea life to touch. Raleigh was a little nervous at first, but once Daddy put his hand in the water, she decided it was probably ok. After this she wanted to touch EVERYTHING! Silly girl.Aiden was mesmerized by some of the lights and brightly colored fish. Here he is gazing up at a fish tank with a glass bottom.




There was a small room with a series of tanks all containing different types of seahorses. This is a leafy sea dragon. Aren't they cool looking?




And, this was by far my favorite sign...Who ever though you could be envious of a seahorse, right?

As we were coming downstairs there was a "Birds of Prey" demonstration on the main staircase. Raleigh, in all seriousness, wanted the hawk to come land on her arm. She kept saying "That birdie needs to come land on my arm!" or "That bird wants to land on Raleigh's arm!"Every time we would walk near where the bird demo was, even after they were long gone Raleigh would stick her arm out so that the bird could come land on it! So cute! At one point the bird was kind of close to us and she put her arm out but quickly pulled it back in, like she was seriously nervous the hawk might just consider her arm a good place to land. It had the three of us cracking up!

Attached to the aquarium is this outdoor water park. Raleigh played here for a little while before we went home!




Daddy and Aiden watching Raleigh play in the water...

Needless to say, today was a day without a nap for Raleigh. We had a couple minor setbacks with the potty training, and I think her being tired probably had something to do with it. We are realizing that if she is AT ALL interested in what she is doing, she will tell you she dosen't need to go to the bathroom, and if you try to take her she won't go because she does not want to miss anything while she is gone. This happened today. She just wanted to go see the fish, and wouldn't use the potty. Result? Accident #1 for the day. By 5pm Chris had a pull up on her and had given up on the potty training for the day. I guess tomorrow we'll start fresh....

Weather permitting, we will be going to the beach to get some seashells for Raleigh's new sandbox tomorrow.