Girls Trip

I've been wanting to take Audrey to Atanta to the Georgia Aquarium for awhile now but things just never seemed to work out so we could go. A sweet friend of mine moved over there and had a baby recently and we decided that now was the perfect time to go and see the baby and get to have our little trip to the aquarium. I mentioned it to Clay and he was a little thrilled with the idea but not a lot thrilled. He wanted to see Audrey's reaction to the aquarium but was not excited at all about going to Atlanta. So, we agreed that I would ask one of Audrey's little friends and her momma to come with us! It turned out to be the best decision we could have made because Clay would have been going crr-aa-zzy smashed in that aquarium with us and all of Georgia.

It's been awhile since I've had time with Audrey all to myself. Once we decided we would go, the weekend couldn't get here fast enough! I love spending time with both of my girls but it's been really hard for me to squeeze alone time in with Audrey lately. I was so looking forward to spending some time with just her! :D

Here we are waiting for our friends to come pick us up. We left bright and early Friday morning at 7:30. Audrey isn't usually awake at that time so this was early for her! Oh, and yes, I am really that pale. I say "yes" to the sunscreen!

 Our first stop was the Cracker Barrel in Anniston. Audrey had to use the bathroom. About an hour later, we stopped at another Cracker Barrel because she needed to go again. I made the mistake of dressing her in a sweet little romper that required me to take it completely off of her to go to the bathroom. Um, yeah, we won't be wearing it again any time soon!

Once we made it to Atlanta, we went straight to The Children's Museum so these precious girls could run some energy out. They had been strapped in their car seats for a good while and were ready to go!! After 3 hours of giggling and squealing in the car, I was ready for them to get some play time as well!

 The children's museum in our town has a cafeteria that has lots of food choices and we fully expected the one in Atlanta to be the same or better. Not the case. All they had was a kiosk of Chik-fil-a food and it was sold out when we got there. They did get more in, about an hour after we got there. This picture is of Audrey and Addie sitting as far away from us as they could get. We are standing in line waiting for our food and had sent them to sit down at a table. They chose this one.

The Children's Museum in Atlanta is a lot smaller than the one we have here in town but the girls loved it. It had different exhibits than the one we have and Audrey loves to play with new toys!! 

After the children's museum, we went to visit and friend of mine and her new baby. Jessica has two children, a boy Audrey's age and a new baby girl. Jackson is the first friend from MDO that Audrey ever talked about at home. She loves and misses him! She talks about going to see him all the time! They ran around and played the entire time we were there. They are sweet together! 

This little Addie wants a sister of her own. Or as she says, "A Shelby Claire at her house."

After we left Jackson's, we went and checked into our hotel. Audrey was so super excited about sleeping at the hotel. We stayed in a suite that had a kind bed in one room and a sofa bed in the "den". We thought that would be good for separating the girls if necessary. Turns out it was necessary! We let the girls run wild all around the room and then decided to take two, two year olds who hadn't napped out to eat. I'm just going to say "crazy" and leave it at that. We came back to the room really quickly.

Here they are in the sofa bed when all was calm. Then Audrey decided she wanted Addie's blanket and it all went downhill from there! I took Audrey to the king bed and Amy slept with Addie on the sofa bed. It didn't take Audrey long to fall asleep once she was separated but poor Amy and Addie were up a loong time!

Here they are the next morning. Addie and Audrey are both early risers and are little rays of sunshine in the morning!! Addie had come in our room and snuggled up with Audrey. Right around this time she tells Audrey that she is her best friend. So stinkin' cute!

We got the girls ready and after breakfast at Chik-fil-a headed to the aquarium. I didn't take many photos there because we were packed in there like sardines. The girls loved it though. I hope to make a day trip back and go on a weekday. It most likely won't be so disgustingly crowded then.

 We spent most of the morning at the aquarium and then headed back home around lunch. We stopped for our third Chik-fil-a meal in 2 days and then made it home for Audrey to take a late nap. We both were exhausted but had a whole lot of fun with these two sweet girls. When I asked Audrey what her favorite part of the whole trip was, she said it was sleeping in the hotel! Later she added the dolphin show to her favorite list but she's not stopped talking about sleeping in a hotel!!

Wordless Wednesday: Window Markers

Fourth of July 2011

Little Miss Shelby Claire celebrated her first Fourth of July here at home. We went to a festival at Our Lady of Sorrows with our "hoover bunch" of friends and then my parents came up after lunch. We were going to go to the Freedom Festival here in town but it rained us out!

The festival at the church was a scorcher. It was SO HOT! I don't know what we were thinking even getting out in it. Shelby Claire's four month old self didn't care for it much but Audrey didn't seemed phased at all by the heat. Audrey was eating shaved ice like crazy though so I am sure that helped!

 Seema and Rohan (in the bouncy house) moved away July 5th. This festival was our last play date with them! Boo!

 Malay (Rohan's Dad) and Clay watching the kiddos bounce like crazy in the bouncy house. I'm sure they were secretly dying to get in with them! Ha!

 We planned to stay at the festival and eat BBQ but it was waaayyy too hot so we only lasted about an hour and a half. We brought our two exhausted girls home and let them get good naps. After nap, my parents came up and stayed the night with us. They brought us a watermelon from my Daddy's garden and it was so stinkin' good. They are always so much better than the ones you buy from a grocery store!

I have no idea why Audrey has that look on her face. The girl loves some watermelon!!

 hahahaha!

 My parents stayed the night and we had Cracker Barrel for dinner on the 4th and for breakfast on the 5th. One day I'll figure out how to cook them a meal so when they come up here they don't always have to go out to eat!

Applesaucer

Clay and Audrey pulled out Shelby Claire's exersaucer today and boy was it ever a hit with Audrey! She helped Clay put it together, clean it up and even tried it out. She loved it so much that we had our first fit over "sharing" with her sister. She didn't want to get out of it to give Shelby Claire a shot at it!

Bringing this exersaucer out (or applesaucer to Audrey) brought back a lot of memories of baby Audrey playing in it. She used to love it! I'd drag it out on the back porch in the afternoons and she and Sweet Pea would soak up some sun. Fun times!

Summer Reading Program

I took Audrey to a Puppet Show at our library Monday night. It is a part of their summer reading program but I wasn't sure if she would like it or not. Sometimes programs at the library during the summer aren't suited for preschoolers because all of the elementary kids are out of school and the library caters to them. Anyway, we went with Sophie Haris and Audrey absolutely loved it. So much so that we had a bit of a melt down when the show was over!

The show was at 6:30 and I wasn't sure how late it would last so I gave Audrey a bath prior to us leaving. In this photo she has just finished giving me her best impression of Ho, Ho (Santa).

The mark on her forehead is from a tumble she took last week at the science museum. They have a new exhibit and part of it is these huge foam blocks. Audrey built herself a tower, climbed to the top and fell off head first. The mark is a carpet burn! At that same moment, Shelby Claire was fussing her little heart out so I had two crying babies in my arms at one time. Thankfully, a sweet friend took SC so I could see about Audrey. She was pretty pitiful and said she was ready to go home! :D

Wordless Wednesday

Blueberry Picking

A group of Audrey's friends from MDO got together and went blueberry picking last weekend. It was opening day so there were tons of blueberries on the bushes. It didn't take Audrey and I long to pick a gallon!

Audrey was in an awesome mood that day. Clay kept Shelby Claire and it was just Audrey and me! We had so much fun!! She loved picking the berries and seeing her friends!

At this point, Audrey started to disrobe. I'm not sure why but she wanted her swim cover up OFF! See Hannah Grace in the sunglasses? Audrey has a pair of those glasses and wouldn't wear them for anything. I got them last year and tried and tried to get her to wear them! Now, if we go outside, she asks me, "where my gasses?"!

After the blueberry picking, Lyric, Audrey and Sophie Haris went to the Splash Pad to cool off. I love that place. To me, there is not a better toddler-friendly summer activity out there. Our splash pad is small, has the squishy rubber floor and is completely fenced in. Heaven! I can sit with Shelby Claire under an umbrella and watch Audrey live it up. Plus, she loves it!!

 I love the summer time!! :D