The FishiesAnyway, back to today. Our first stop was the penguin exhibit, which all three kids adored! Penguins have a special place in my heart because when I was little my father read me "Mr. Popper's Penguins" and it became our special book. For years I collected penguin everything, and I still love the little guys! Emma laughed and got so excited to see them and kept returning to knock on the glass and wave hello to them, much to my great joy! Penguins are her new favorite animals. :)
Mommy Popper's Penguins:
She loved those aquatic birds!
We got to the aquarium just in time for the sea lion show (which my father used to volunteer in), and the kiddos were amazed by Squirt, the lovely 20-year old female sea lion. I was especially touched that Squirt was our performer today, as my mom calls Emma her little Squirt. :) After the show we stayed up on the second floor and looked at no-eyed fish, piranahs, fish that eat stones, albino freaky things, and lots and lots of skeletons. After a quick trip to the diaper changing station the babies toddled around the first floor and enjoyed the sharks, huge fish, and sea lions (the view from under the water). We stayed for about an hour and a half, which is amazing considering we had 3 toddlers. And NONE of them got cranky, not even for a second. Fishies are magic, I tell ya!
In case you didn't believe me when I said where I was today (and introducing Squirt):
Watching Squirt jump over bars, balance balls on his nose and other fun tricks:
In other news, we're having a lovely visit with Jared's mom (Emma calls her Nani). She arrived on Tuesday morning and we spent that day lounging around lazily enjoying Emma. Yesterday, after Jared went to work, Nani, Emma and I went to my parents house to eat a lovely dinner of chicken caccatore (or however you spell it) and dessert of chocolate cake. Oh, my mother makes all my favorite foods when company comes and I loooooove her for it! My mom is the cutest; the house was spic'n'span, the dining room was set up with table cloth, fancy place setting & candles, and she was all dressed up! MIL really appreciated the nice touches, as did I. We had a wonderful visit and left late, our bellies full of yummy food. Unfortunately Emma's belly seemed to be overfilled, and she had bounced and played so heartily that she made herself sick. Halfway into our drive home she became hysterical and I had to pull over at a church and grab her out of her seat...just in time to pat her back and catch the vomit. My poor, poor baby! I sang her a Kindermusik song and got her to sleep, then put her back in her carseat and held her head while Nani drove home. Of course, she felt much better when I got her changed and was awake for another 2 hours, leaving us enough time for a tubby and more fun!
Emma's wonderful grandmothers:
Today we had fishy day, followed by a 2 hour nap for Emma and Nani, quick dinner, and shopping at Tar-jay - paid in full by MIL. Oh, how wonderful it is to be spoiled. I got a really beautiful tea kettle and 2 new maternity shirts which I will model once my bump is a bit bigger. We ended the night with more dinner, tubby, and lots of fun. Tonight is supposed to be the coldest of the year. Boy, am I glad to live in Buffalo! Oh well, I'll just snuggle up to Jared when he gets home (1.5 hours!) and be thankful that it's been such a wonderful week. Coming soon: details about Jared's first week of work (hint: IT'S FREAKING FANTASTIC TO WORK FOR THE CAVEMAN INSURANCE AGENCY!!!). For now, here are more pictures of our day at the aquarium:
Daddy with Emma, clapping for Squirt.
The three friends enjoy the sting rays:
Pointing to her favorite fish:
Look out behind you!
Emma, Daddy and Nani enjoying the show:
OMG, she's soooooooooo big! And even more beautiful, if that's possible!
Nice to see you tonight. I'll come back and get more caught up soon, but just wanted to let you know I stopped by with a teary-eyed hello.
I've missed you.
xo