Sunday, March 27, 2011

Hello, Baltimore!!

Jeremy has been steadily working toward his captain's license the past couple years. Since he takes his classes on his time off, if we want to see him more than a day or two out of the month... we must follow him! This has brought us to Baltimore several times, and the most fun- Miami! This month it was tine to visit MITAGS again.

The flight there was, um, long!! I debated two options, a one-stopover flight right out of our hometown, or a nonstop flight from Jackson. I went with the nonstop flight, mainly out of fear of a delayed first flight leading to missing the connection. Two hours was a long time for Marion to sit still on an airplane. I am also really questioning whoever designed those airplane seat belts. Seriously, my two year old can undo it with one finger!!

I was so excited to be done with the travel when we got to Baltimore and found Jeremy waiting for us. I told him that I had all my bags and was ready to go to the hotel. We got to the hotel, sat down for dinner, and I had a panicked thought run across my mind... the green suitcase, did I remember the green suitcase?? No, I didn't. I was so freaking relieved to finally be there, I rushed away from the carousel one bag short! I begged Jeremy to chow down fast, and head back to the airport. He did, because he's awesome :), and my precious green bag was still there. Whew!!

So, I slept like a rock that first night, and we had company in the morning, Aunt Linda! She visited us at the hotel and took us out to lunch. We had a great time!
Later that night, I asked Grace what she thought about Aunt Linda. Grace's response was, "She's pretty." :)


The next day, we were ready for some adventure! I had spent hours at home before the trip plotting out fun adventures for us, and figuring out how we would get everywhere via public transportation. Jeremy's company actually did offer a rental car, but this girl isn't big on driving, especially in a strange city. Well, the funky weather on day 1 of adventures almost scared me into staying in, but I decided to go for it. We rode the shuttle to the Light Rail, tranfered to the metro, and ended up at Port Discovery. Oh, wow! It was fabulous!!



Cool Egypt Exhibit = scared the hell out of Grace!

The art floor, definitely more her thing!!

The water room!!! We literally spent a couple hours in here. It was amazing. If I were designing a children's museum, this would be a must!!
Bubbles, the bigger the better, right?!

Rain! They gave you a raincoat to wear in the water room.

So much awesome stuff to do!

Plumber's Park was super cool. The water spouts came out of the ground and you could attach piping however you liked to make a fountain. Super fun!! Do you see the 20-something playing the water chimes? You squirted water at different musical instruments to play music!

Of course, you had to get dry at the end :)

First time pumping gas.

3 story playground.

Cows and chickens, a little piece of Mississippi in the big city!

Wednesday, March 16, 2011

Valentine's Day

Valentine's Day, this room mom's last party of the year!

A couple weeks before the party, I was sitting in the mom-waiting-room at dance, chatting with the Mama who is room mom of the class next door. She mentioned that they would have a chocolate fountain at their V-day party. Then, my friend who's daughter is in the third Pre-K class mentions that they, too, will have a chocolate fountain.

Wow, that really sounded like fun, BUT, we were headed to New Orleans for the rest of that week, and no way was I pulling together all that for our kiddos (not to mention, I didn't want to BUY the fountain!). Okay, moved on, headed out of town with no guilt over Grace's deprived class.

Fast forward to the day before the party; I'm at Target, frantically asking the sales associate in small electrics if they have a chocolate fountain, what kind of chocolate do they take, is there anything else I need???

Yep, I always swear I'm not getting sucked into doing this stupid stuff (spending $!), but yep, at the last minute, I do it (and probably spend twice as much as I would have if I had planned ahead!)

Anyway, the chocolate fountain ROCKED, and hey, now I have my very own candy party in a box... anyone want to come over? It's yum!!
The kids had a blast, it was a total hit :)

Sunday, March 6, 2011

Audubon Zoo

A few weeks ago, Jeremy had a meeting in New Orleans. Sometimes they hold meetings at the Airport Hilton, but this one was at the Crowne Plaza, corner of Canal and Bourbon. Um, yeah, we went!! We bought a family membership to the Audubon society, and hit all three attractions while we were there.

Day 1 - Audubon Zoo!!

First, I must tell you, whenever I think about the Audubon Zoo, I cannot get this song out of my head... The Meter's They All Asked For You! (click to listen if you don't know what I'm talking about!)







They are building a waterpark in the middle of the zoo!! It should be ready this summer, and we are so very excited!!

My favorite baby monkey, Manari, is now a year old!! Last time we saw her, she was a newborn, in a human's arms and drinking from a bottle! I am loving the chance to see this little girl grow :)

Did you know Grace wants to be a sea lion trainer when she grows up? She decided last summer at the Seaquarium in Miami. She has no backup plan, so let's hope it works out!

This guy is is an artist!! Grace loved it!






Sweet but sad reminders of what can happen in this city...


Grace wouldn't get near the Swamp Monster, but Marion liked him. Kinda funny, considering she hates Santa!

White Alligator feeding!!! Well, it wasn't as exciting as it sounds. The handler tried so hard, but I think these guys are overfed. The lazy gator wouldn't even open his mouth for the chunk of raw meat being waved over his nose!



We took this picture for Jeremy's shop. Won't it look super cute framed and hung in there?!

More NOLA to come!! We have had two stomach viruses in our home over the last month... I'm trying to catch up...