Road trip to Granddaddy's house

Over the Memorial Day weekend, Anna and I drove the kids to Granddaddy's house in Louisiana. The drive usually takes about 7 hours without kids, and surprisingly, it took only 8 hours with kids! Whoo hoo!

On the way there, our car ride was very uneventful. We stopped for lunch early and let the kids run around for a little while, then got back on the road.

(Sorry for the blurry phone pictures!! I can't figure out how to make them not blurry!!!!!! Arrgh!!!!!!)

Theodore fought his nap for a while:


But then he finally gave in and decided to fall asleep:

I love that smooshy cheek!!!!

The kids were super excited to see Granddaddy! Oliver couldn't wait to get outside and start working in the garden. He had to wait until the next morning, though. :-)  Anna and I took the younger two to a playground while Oliver stayed home and helped Granddaddy in the garden. He built this impressive shelter from banana plants!

The next day, I took all 3 kids to the playground and to see Mike the Tiger at LSU. Mike was very active, which was fun for the kids! 

Later that day, the kids played with food coloring and did acrobatics outside:

Then, all too soon, it was time to go home! 

On the way home our early stop was at the Louisiana Oil and Gas Park, where Oliver and Buttercup got to hold baby alligators. :-) 

Then after 6 more (mostly) uneventful hours in the car, we finally arrived home! So glad this baby boy can entertain himself happily with a book, especially after only napping for 15 minutes. :-)

Playing at the "far away" museum

Oliver has the week off from school, and we've been having so much fun with him at home. :-) When I first told him that he had a break from school coming up, one of the first things he said that he wanted to do was go to the "far away" children's museum. We decided to go today, and it was our best visit yet! Everyone was so well behaved, the museum was not crowded at all, and we just had a great time.

And as always, I'm amazed at how well Theodore does in the car, skipping his usual nap and meal times, etc. It definitely makes things easier for me. :-)

Christmas with Granddaddy

This year, Oliver, Buttercup, Theodore, Anna, and I were able to spend Christmas with Granddaddy! It's a long trip for the little ones, but everyone did GREAT. Even Miss Buttercup traveled well this time. (Mostly.) ;-)

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!