Mini Vacation South

The children and I piled into the Tahoe last week and "set sail" to head south on I-85.  We stopped in Atlanta, enjoyed a night in a nice hotel, visited the Georgia Aquarium, and then headed west to see our "other Nanny" in Alabama!  As you can see from these pictures, we had a great trip.  The crazy thing was that we went to the museum in April 2010 and when I asked the children where they might like to go one day, they both said to the aquarium ... super strange, but at least they are consistent :-)

The easiest way to get from Point A to Point B with alot of luggage and 2 almost-3-year-olds is clearly by riding on the luggage cart ... "Hold on, mommy doesn't have a license to drive this thing!"

As we walked through the aquarium, I tried to impart upon the children the fact that God made every type of animal that we could see there.  It was so neat to hear them talk about that throughout the aquarium; I tried to snap some pictures of God's abilities so that we can continue our discussion at home until our next visit!

 One of my personal favorites :-) I wish it weren't so blue, but are these 2 ginormous fish not so ugly they are cute?

 The Georgia Aquarium prides itself on their "collection" of Beluga whales - it's hard to tell from this picture, but these are pure white whales that are just beautiful.  Ian and Bonner, of course, after our visit when playing with their princesses and Toy Story friends were "running from the Beluga whale!" 

Bonner: "Help, Ian, save me from the Beluga Whale!"

Ian: "I will, Cinderella!  The Beluga Whale will not get you!"

I think I might actually blow this picture up and get it framed ... is that not beautiful!

Funny anecdote from Bonner during our visit at the aquarium.  We had been there a little while and I figured it was time for them to enjoy a snack so I asked Bonner, "What kind of snack would you like?"  Without even thinking (and standing among the 8 million gallon tank of unbelievable fish), she said, "Goldfish!"  I couldn't stop laughing and she had no idea why ... Ha!

 Bonner posing on a "beautiful princess mermaid!"

Ian on a seahorse :-)

We headed west after our visit to the aquarium to see Steve's part of the family.  It was a very relaxed trip and we thoroughly enjoyed swimming, hanging out with wonderful family, and just taking it easy!  Here's a picture of Steve's mom, or as the children call her "Other Nanny", with her great-grandchildren!  So special for me!

And, lastly, we came home Saturday night and got settled back into the home life.  Bonner found this princess hat and insisted on wearing it to lunch on Sunday!  Our neighbors brought it back to her from their trip to Disney back in January - when I see her excitement about it again and again, I am reminded how tremendously blessed my children are to be growing up around so many friends that love them so dearly.

Well, it's birthday countdown around here ... I doubt we will do a big party around here this year with so much going on, but I am sure we will come up with something very exciting as it gets closer.  The children will be back at Wild Dunes next week and I am going to enjoy some downtime in San Francisco!  I am super excited about the trip; I need the break so that I can be refreshed for taking on all the will-power of both Ian and Bonner as they turn the big # 3.

Lastly, since I have yet to do a baby book for either child, I am venturing to say that putting together a scrapbook of our adventures is probably not going to happen any time soon :-)  With that being said, I turned the entries from this blog in 2010 into a hard-cover book so that I can capture our adventures on paper for years to come.  I want to thank each of you for walking along side of us in 2010.  Looking back on all that we did and the memories we made was truly exciting for me and I am thrilled that so many of you were a part of them!