Mystic Seaport

For our final summer adventure, we packed up the babes and took her down to Mystic to visit the fishes. We had been telling her about it all week, hyping it up, not knowing what kind of reaction she would have. Would she be scared? Would she be overtired and fussy? Would she be overstimulated? Or would she be so insanely in awe of every gorgeous sea creature that she might see? Fortunately for us, she was the latter.

So. In. Awe.

And so were we. Of her.

We took her to see the Belugas first, to see how she would handle the outside tanks before bringing her inside into the dark to see the remainder of our new fish friends. When we walked up to the glass and she glanced across the pool to the huge beluga whale before us, her hands tightened into little fists and for just one split second I was so sure that she was going to have a freak out. But no...instead, her little body started shaking with excitement, and for the first time since she started cooing, she was utterly speechless. She was SO excited and so in awe. It. was. amazing.

After she got acclimated to the outside tanks, we took her inside. And she was all over the place, pointing and saying "THAT! that! THAT!!!" and bouncing from tank to tank to show us what she saw with her wide little eyes.

I think she loved the penguins the most...they would come to her from behind the glass and "kiss" the little hands that were smooshed up against their world...but in reality, they were trying to bite her. :)

Avonlea may have loved the penguins...but mama loved the jellies...they were so amazing to photograph!

I waited all day for this turtle to come out so I could snap this pic. :)

A zombie tuna in the shark tank! ah!

This little fish was so homely. The Steve Buschemi of fish.

Although summer is coming to a close, I know that there are many adventures on the horizon for this Autumn. School starts tomorrow for the husband, and "school" starts on wednesday for the babes. We have lots of home improvements planned, and lots of lovin' to sneak into this season. I can't wait to see what Autumn brings us with her breath of colder winds and flamed trees. No matter what, we will make the most of it.

And everything is gonna be alright.

Alone time....

I loved this little video...for the tone and the idea itself.

Makes one think about just the act of being alone...how we have trained ourselves to never want to be alone. Or to even believe that being alone is a bad thing.

I am choosing to embrace being alone. It is so rare these days with the little running around, but here's to making a conscious effort to enjoy my own time, my own mind, my own hobbies and skills.

:)

24 hours in New Hampshire

What do you do when you have 24 hours of unplanned time?

Well, I packed up the babes and threw her in the car for a short 3 hour car ride to lovely New Hampshire, where the family is thick as thieves and the love is a'flowin. Just what I needed for a 24 hour vacation.

What do you do once you get there?

Eat fresh silver corn. and lots of it. And swim in a quasi-warm pool. and get loved up by those delicious grandparents and aunties and cousins.

I love when grandma sits in the kiddie pool. It's oddly hilarious to me.

And then out come the bubbles.....

Zoe also enjoyed the bubble popping....she and Avonlea compete....

A 24 hours well spent....we came home with full bellies and full souls. What more could we ask for?

:)

p.s. this post is for my dad...who swears there are NO pictures of him and the babycakes. take that grandpa...you wanted 'em...you got 'em. ;)