Out and About - Georgia Aquarium

 We met up with our friends in Atlanta at the tail end of their spring break, and went to the Georgia Aquarium. It was a beautiful day, and the girls enjoyed the park as well as the aquarium. Georgia Aquarium has a lot of touch tanks, James was helping Aurora reach the sharks in this touch tank (no, he isn't trying to feed her to the sharks!)

 Aurora was very interested in the coral reef exhibit, they had touch screen computers that would let you spot a fish in the tank then touch it on the screen and learn its name. Aurora and I read about nearly every fish in the tank! There was an exhibit that we had never seen before - FROGS! Aurora loves frogs - in real life as well as in the aquarium. We even saw a "bumblebee Frog" (that was its name, but also made Aurora happy because she has developed an obsession with the transformers character bumblebee.) Everytime she sees a yellow car she yells out BUMBLEBEE!! (like Linda, when she would point out Tweety Bird Cars)

 Our trip to Atlanta was really nice. We even got to visit with Nana before we left! (I forgot my camera that day :( ) It was really great to see every one, and Aurora was so please that she was able to see every one. She is still talking about it! (Actually, that is what reminded me to post this for you to see.)

Have you been out and about lately?

Trick or Treating 2011

Aurora dressed as Jesse the Cowgirl for Halloween! Our day starteed off like usual, early wake up, have some breakfast.....

"mom, seriously? stop taking pictures! Its just Cheerios."

The cutest cowgirl ever! She took this little soft pony to school for nap time, but told me "Mom, its too small for me to ride!"

Posing next to our pumpkins on Halloween day!

After school and work we came home and got ready to go out Trick-or-Treating. Our friends Danielle and Riley (as Aurora calls him: Riley the Boy, not to be confused with Rylie the girl!) came over to join us. Aurora took her stick pony with her this time.



"Giddy Up!"

Ringing the bells, they took turns - and then would peek in the windows.

Cowgirl America!!!!

At some point in the night Riley and Aurora traded accessories - thus transforming Aurora into.......

 As the night drew to an end the kiddos gave up and rode in the Wagon. It was a great night. we went through Aurora's candy haul and picked out 10 pieces. The rest we left in a bag for the GREAT PUMPKIN to come and get.

For those of you not 'in the know' about the Great Pumpkin.... let me tell you....

The Great Pumpkin comes in the night and takes away your Halloween candy, then leaves you a gift in its place. This is great - Aurora is happier with a gift than she would be with hoards of candy (and so are her teeth!) This year the Great Pumpkin left her a new color wonder coloring book of Dinosaur Train!

First Dental Appointment.

Aurora went to the dentist for the first time today. What a wonderful experience! The dental hygienist used to work at a daycare center with me many moons ago. They counted and cleaned her teeth and made it so fun! Aurora got a goody bag and a tattoo when she finished.

Wednesday Wardrobe - Tonka Fun [#41]

Wednesday Wardrobe - Tonka Fun

Guest Post by John Mabes

Today we spent the afternoon in the back yard under the giant oak tree playing. However before hand, Aurora wanted to be sure she had on her new set of shoes which light up....she was very proud of them.

After making sure that they did in fact still light up, it was time for us to go outside. She spent the remainder of the afternoon playing tag with the dogs, pretending to be a princess on safari with her Barbies and Lion King toys, and last but not least playing with her much beloved Tonka trucks in the dirt.

Gravity .vs. Aurora (warning there are photos of blood and guts)

Ok not guts, but blood. 

Aurora fell at school today while on the playground. Seems she was running, and there was a boy with black hair running too... and when Aurora fell, he fell on top of her! She hit her head on a piece of the play equipment (the tree house) and gashed her head something special. She also scraped her elbow and hand a little.

When they called me at work I went right to get her, and we went to the ER in Huntsville. A few hours later, and one transfer into the Pediatric ER, Aurora left with one staple in her head.

while waiting in the ER for a couple hours, we got gloves to play with, and snapped some photos while watching Bugs Bunny.

getting the numbing agent on the gash.

 

 

 

Single staple, and off we go.

 

After getting stapled up, Aurora asked for Pasta for lunch. We got that and headed home for a nap. it has been a busy day! 

Wednesday Wardrobe

Guest Posted by John:

Wednesday Wardrobe - MMMMMM, Thai!

Upon coming home from an early day, I found Aurora excitedly awaiting me at the door and wanting to show me the outfit she had picked out today.

The conversation went something like this:

"Look Daddy, I picked it out all by myself. It says (pointing to her shirt) I am your's and Grandaddy's Princess and I always will be!"

She then went on to tell me that she was hungry and wanted Chinese. As it would turn out, I had been wanting to try out a Thai restaurant and off we went.

She ate an entire plate full of seafood fried rice that had a hint of Thai flavoring. We had the entire restaurant coming to check on her as she finished off the plate. They were simply amazed that such a young child could eat all of it and with the Thai flavoring. It helped that the food was simply fantastic. She even tried my spicy yum ta-lay (seafood salad) and enjoyed it...but didn't want anymore.

Helping Dad Get Ready for Work

Guest Posted by John:

I know the post is a little late, but this work this week has been crazy.

So on last Sunday evening, I was getting ready for my early morning on Monday. Aurora naturally decided she wanted to help me.

Mostly she wanted to wear my load-bearing vest and my helmet. Once she had them on, she turned to me and said, "Look Daddy I'm ready to go to work with you!" She then proceeded to march around the room for a good 15 minutes.

Wednesday Wardrobe & House Hunting

Guest Post by John - Wednesday Wardrobe & House Hunting:

Today, once I got back from more in-processing on post, we prepared to go look at more houses, which Aurora was very excited about. However, after getting dressed and looking really cute, Aurora wanted to make sure that her stuffed animals looked just as good. So she had to do their hair too. Once that was complete, she informed us "I'm ready to go on an adventure!"

We spent most of the day looking at some more homes and when we got back she wanted to watch "Donald the Duck" as she calls him and as you can see took a nice little nap but was soon was ready for more fun...

Wednesday Wardrobe at Catfish Junction‏

Guest post from John:

Wednesday Wardrobe at Catfish Junction

So this Wednesday, Rorie tells me "Daddy, let's go find something fun to eat." To which I obliged and we went in search for authentic Louisianian cooking....

To which we found Catfish Junction and as I was reading her what all we could eat, when I came to breaded alligator she immediately decided that was gonna be dinner.

So we chowed down on some fresh gator, which to no surprise she loved.

Hope you guys enjoy the pics as she enjoyed the eatin'.

Drive through Safari any one?

We went to Harmony Park Drive through Safari yesterday. It was so fun, we took Aurora and her friend Riley. The kids got to feed the animals out the window of the car as we drove through the park.

The Emus are pretty aggressive, they were all about reaching into the car and taking the treats from us.

 This cow was all kinds of crazy too! It would run laps around the car, even when we were moving. It licked the windows trying to get the treats.

The camel was neat, he reached in and ate right out of the bucket.

This goat was a nutter! that is the door handle there under his mouth. The kiddos were dumping food straight onto the ground, instead of tossing it away from the car some (ok, ok, I am guilty of that too).  This one even left a mark on the door. OOPS!

 This Zebra followed us halfway through the park.

Aurora and Riley having a grand ol' time at the safari.

 

fuzzy horned deer

llama or alpaca?

green tree snake.

 After the Drive through portion of the Safari, we got out and walked through the reptile house to see all the snakes, baby alligators, turtles, and lizards. We were able to buy lettuce and feed the tortoises. 

Riley

climbing a tree away from the stampeding tortoises!!

Friends!!! so sweet!