Anna drove the big kids on Wednesday since I wasn't sure how Theodore would do in the car for so long. Theodore and I woke up e-a-r-l-y the next morning and flew to New Orleans, and Anna, Oliver, and Buttercup came to pick us up. Since we were so close to the Aquarium of the Americas, we had to go!
Theodore was happy either napping or being pushed in the stroller, so we were able to stay until the 3 year old got too tired. Our first stop was the big aquarium tunnel, which I think was Buttercup's favorite part of our visit! She loved watching the sting rays swoop over our heads. I tried to get a good picture, but they moved too fast and the light was too low for the camera in my phone to get a good picture. They really are amazing!
Lionfish are really cool!
There were huge fish in the Amazon River room, including this ginormous catfish:
Hammerhead shark tank!
A leafy sea dragon. I love these guys, they're so neat!
We spent a good chunk of time at the sting ray touch pool.
Both Oliver and Buttercup's arms were too short to reach the rays, but they tried so hard!
And thank goodness for the aquarium play area, where the little girl could blow off some steam and run around for a little bit. :-)
Our last stops at the aquarium were the jellyfish and the big salt water tank. We happened to walk past right when an aquarium employee was giving a talk about the creatures in the tank, so we got to learn more about them! It was also feeding time for the animals, and the giant sting rays were so funny, the way they glided up and down the side of the tank like they were on pulleys. :-)
We finally got to Granddaddy's house at the end of the day! Theodore had some changes to his usual routine -- sleeping in a playpen and taking a bath in the sink. :-)
The next morning, we got to pick fresh strawberries from some of Granddaddy's 3,000 plants! They were SO delicious!
The shade house:
We also picked kumquats:
After all of the harvesting, Oliver and Buttercup spent some time cutting down the banana plants with plastic knives. :-)
And Oliver helped Granddaddy build a fire.
Theodore was too little to work and play in the yard, but he and Granddaddy still had special time together. :-)
The last big part of our visit was that Granddaddy took Oliver to see Happy Feet 2 on Christmas day. Oliver got to ride in Granddaddy's special car, and no, your eyes are not playing tricks on you, and yes, that IS a hearse.
Then it was time for us to go back home! I decided that Theodore and I should ride back with Anna and the big kids on Christmas day to beat the traffic. I was a little leery of how the little fat boy would do for such a long trip, but he did GREAT. It took us about 8 1/2 hours, and he was awake for about 5 of those hours and cried for a total of 5 minutes. What a sweet boy!!!
Of course Oliver also did great on the trip, and Buttercup did remarkably well by Buttercup standards. ;-)
It was a short but very, very, very sweet visit and such a special time! We love you, Granddaddy!
No comments:
Post a Comment