Wednesday, March 31, 2010
Grady and the Easter Bunny
Yesterday we went to meet the Easter Bunny at the mall. Because we were the first ones there and there was no line Grady got to really have a nice visit, which made him happy. After hitting Gymboree and having lunch at Panera we stopped by again and there was no one with the bunny (I was shocked - I thought it would be busy, especially since it is spring break week). So Grady ran right in and gave him more hugs and told him he loved him and stuff. I wish I had taken video of it! Here is the professional photo. Unfortunately there was bright sunlight streaming in the windows that morning, but there wasn't much we could do other than take a picture with sunglasses on! He's not squinting too badly here - it was the best we could do. Of course he didn't care about the picture anyway.
Tuesday, March 30, 2010
Anna Maria Island Trip - Part 2
Wednesday morning we woke up to especially nice weather and headed right out to the beach.
I like this one:
He was pretending to be a man at an ice cream shop and bringing us ice cream. He can't go 2 seconds without setting up some pretend game. How thin is he though? Geez - he has "baby abs" I think he is just always going to be a thin guy.
As we do on every beach trip, we buried him in the sand - he loves it!
Then we came back and played in the hot tub and pool some more...
After nap that day we went to a family reunion dinner just over the bridge in Cortez (for anyone familiar with the area). It was a fun seafood place with a marina area right next door, so I took Grady to check out the boats after dinner. It was nice because he just did such a great job at dinner. He ate all of the fish in an adult fish and chips (there was no kids menu). But he doesn't eat fries - isn't that funny? He also ate quite a bit of calmari and some coleslaw. Everyone was telling us how good he is at dinner, which he really was. He was definitely a good example for the other little ones!
The next morning was a family reunion event on the beach. We (me, Eric, and Grady) decided to go to the beachfront restaurant there and get breakfast so we could make the most of the morning, especially since Grady still needs to take his mid-day nap (or at least have some quiet time). He actually took a mega nap that day, so it was a good thing we didn't push it with the nap. The weather ended up turning cooler and cloudy just before we left, so we got the best part of the day anyway. We had a fun morning, and Grady really liked the playground that was at that part of the beach. Here's Grady before we left:
Here we are at breakfast, where Grady once again ate like a truck driver - sausage, milk, OJ, and 2 large pancakes with blueberry sauce on them.
That afternoon we took G to fly a kite on the beach since it was windy. There were perfect conditions for the kite and G (who had never flown a kite) was freaking ecstatic. He was literally jumping up and down giggling in delight the entire time. That night we ordered pizza at the house and then Eric and I went out for ice cream and just to check out the island more after G was in bed.
My 30 week belly shot with a very nice backdrop!
Cute little Eric
The next morning (Friday) was our last full day. Before we headed out for the day Eric, Grady, and Grandpa took a walk down to the beach to fly the kite again. This time they got some pictures...
Grady is holding the string
After that we headed to Sarasota Jungle Gardens, a really cool place for kids!
Checking out the exotic birds
With Cousin Arno - aren't they so cute together, even from behind?
Then Grady got to hold one of the birds on his arm! He loved it, of course!
The boys playing in the playground area, on the train
How funny is this? Check out their expressions:
Then we headed over to the area where you can feed the flamingos right out of your hand. Fearless Grady of course loved this too.
Grady's Uncle Mark got there a bit later with Grady's cousin Claudia. Grady loves babies and small children of any sort, so of course she got a hug immediately.
Then it was time for the reptile show. After that Grady got to hold a baby alligator! Again - he was SOOOO excited!
We walked around more after that
And Grady convinced his cousin to try feeding the flamingos
Then it was time to say goodbye to Cousin Arno. They just loved each other - makes me sad they live in Seattle.
That afternoon we went to the beach since it was super nice.
That night Eric, and Grady, and I ate dinner at the Sandbar to celebrate Eric's birthday. It is a really cool place that sits right on the beach, and it was a gorgeous evening, so it was a lovely setting. We ate cake back at the house after dinner.
We had to leave bright and early the next morning, but the trip home was very easy and Grady was thrilled to get to hang out in the cockpit once we landed. The whole crew seemed to love him.
So all in all it was a great trip. Grady met some new family and had lots of new experiences like holding a gator, driving a boat, and feeding flamingos! And as always he just loved the beach and pool. He certainly didn't want to leave, so hopefully we will make it back to Florida in the near future!
I like this one:
He was pretending to be a man at an ice cream shop and bringing us ice cream. He can't go 2 seconds without setting up some pretend game. How thin is he though? Geez - he has "baby abs" I think he is just always going to be a thin guy.
As we do on every beach trip, we buried him in the sand - he loves it!
Then we came back and played in the hot tub and pool some more...
After nap that day we went to a family reunion dinner just over the bridge in Cortez (for anyone familiar with the area). It was a fun seafood place with a marina area right next door, so I took Grady to check out the boats after dinner. It was nice because he just did such a great job at dinner. He ate all of the fish in an adult fish and chips (there was no kids menu). But he doesn't eat fries - isn't that funny? He also ate quite a bit of calmari and some coleslaw. Everyone was telling us how good he is at dinner, which he really was. He was definitely a good example for the other little ones!
The next morning was a family reunion event on the beach. We (me, Eric, and Grady) decided to go to the beachfront restaurant there and get breakfast so we could make the most of the morning, especially since Grady still needs to take his mid-day nap (or at least have some quiet time). He actually took a mega nap that day, so it was a good thing we didn't push it with the nap. The weather ended up turning cooler and cloudy just before we left, so we got the best part of the day anyway. We had a fun morning, and Grady really liked the playground that was at that part of the beach. Here's Grady before we left:
Here we are at breakfast, where Grady once again ate like a truck driver - sausage, milk, OJ, and 2 large pancakes with blueberry sauce on them.
That afternoon we took G to fly a kite on the beach since it was windy. There were perfect conditions for the kite and G (who had never flown a kite) was freaking ecstatic. He was literally jumping up and down giggling in delight the entire time. That night we ordered pizza at the house and then Eric and I went out for ice cream and just to check out the island more after G was in bed.
My 30 week belly shot with a very nice backdrop!
Cute little Eric
The next morning (Friday) was our last full day. Before we headed out for the day Eric, Grady, and Grandpa took a walk down to the beach to fly the kite again. This time they got some pictures...
Grady is holding the string
After that we headed to Sarasota Jungle Gardens, a really cool place for kids!
Checking out the exotic birds
With Cousin Arno - aren't they so cute together, even from behind?
Then Grady got to hold one of the birds on his arm! He loved it, of course!
The boys playing in the playground area, on the train
How funny is this? Check out their expressions:
Then we headed over to the area where you can feed the flamingos right out of your hand. Fearless Grady of course loved this too.
Grady's Uncle Mark got there a bit later with Grady's cousin Claudia. Grady loves babies and small children of any sort, so of course she got a hug immediately.
Then it was time for the reptile show. After that Grady got to hold a baby alligator! Again - he was SOOOO excited!
We walked around more after that
And Grady convinced his cousin to try feeding the flamingos
Then it was time to say goodbye to Cousin Arno. They just loved each other - makes me sad they live in Seattle.
That afternoon we went to the beach since it was super nice.
That night Eric, and Grady, and I ate dinner at the Sandbar to celebrate Eric's birthday. It is a really cool place that sits right on the beach, and it was a gorgeous evening, so it was a lovely setting. We ate cake back at the house after dinner.
We had to leave bright and early the next morning, but the trip home was very easy and Grady was thrilled to get to hang out in the cockpit once we landed. The whole crew seemed to love him.
So all in all it was a great trip. Grady met some new family and had lots of new experiences like holding a gator, driving a boat, and feeding flamingos! And as always he just loved the beach and pool. He certainly didn't want to leave, so hopefully we will make it back to Florida in the near future!
Monday, March 29, 2010
Anna Maria Island Trip - part 1
We got back from Anna Maria Island, FL on Saturday. Overall everything went very well - we had pretty good weather (it rained a little one day and was not hot but not cold either), the house and location were fantastic, and we did tons of great things. Grady was so very good the entire time and just had a great time.
So the great thing about travelling there was how easy it was - we left from the airport that is literally 10 minutes down the street, the flight was one hour, and both airports were pretty small, so there were no headaches. I have never had such stress-free travel!
We got in at about 3 PM, picked up our keys, and headed to the house. Grady was immediately in love with the pool/hot tub (which we could control and didn't keep very hot).
an aerial shot, from one of the balconies
We mostly just swam in the pool, took a walk down to the beach (about 2 blocks away) where we found tons of shells, and waited for the grandparents to arrive. We grilled some dinner that night.
The next day (Sunday) was sort of cool and cloudy in the AM, so we headed to the Mote Aquarium, which was super cool. They had 2 different touch tanks, a huge shark tank, dolphins, manatees, sea turtles, lots of jellyfish (G loves jellyfish), and tons more.
Before heading to the aquarium we took a morning swim. We basically fit in a swim whenever possible.
waiting to get in to the aquarium
hard to get a good picture, but the beautiful jellyfish were mesmerizing
The first touch tank - crabs, urchins, and sea snails
The second touch tank - sting rays that were so friendly! We have them at our science center and they often won't come too close, but these ones would come right at you!
They had a special sea horse area too - they basically had a hatchery where there were babies only 3 days old! This was outside that area
The best part - manatees! They were enormous, and I think they were the only animal there that I had never seen before, which was cool.
This was so cute - measuring up to a manatee
Then we saw the dolphins. They don't do shows or anything because they are really more about rescuing animals and not training them. But the dolphins were still just playing.
On the way home we stopped at "Joe's Eats and Sweets" (a popular place in Anna Maria) for lunch and dessert. Grady loved his chocolate-covered banana
That evening we went to visit Eric's Aunt Barbara and Uncle Ed, who have a house in Bradenton. Grady got to meet his cousin Arno (Eric's cousin Steve's son) who is only 9 months younger. They became good friends over the course of the trip. On the way home we ate at Sharky's. I was impressed that Grady ate tortellini in red sauce and also enjoyed my tortellini in cream sauce. By that evening we were all exhausted though!
Monday morning we got up, went for a swim in the pool, and then headed to the beach for the morning.
Think he loves the water much?
The beach!
After the beach we headed home for a nap and then went out to ride the free trolley around the island...
Grady flagged it down
We rode it to the same ice cream place we went the day before because that area was so cute. This time he got ice cream. This was his first real ice cream cone, and he loved it, of course.
The lovely view from our table at the ice cream place
my cute boys
We walked around the historic Bridge Street area, which had lots of shops and restaurants as well as an old fishing pier. We saw jellyfish in the water and pelicans.
Here I am - getting large!
The next morning (Tuesday) we rented a boat for 4 hours and took it all around Anna Maria Sound. It was such a great experience, Grady loved it, and we just all had such fun!
Here he is - ready for boating!
pretending to drive
The whole crew (minus me)
My cute husband driving the boat - he is a very good boater! He's been driving boats since he was about Grady's age.
actually driving with Dada
and with Grandpa
the water was a beautiful color
We stopped at this little hidden beach with tons of shells. Grady loved that we actually got to use the anchor (for some reason he has been obsessed with anchors lately).
he looks shipwrecked
Showing me some treasure
Then we rode around some and docked at a nice restaurant for lunch. It's called the Mar Vista - it's pretty famous in that area. It was a really cool setting and they had great food! Grady ate tons of fish there!
But first he had to climb their tree
Great view from our table
Checking out the water after lunch
Back on the boat with Grandpa
That afternoon we headed over to Eric's Uncle John's house for a pool party and cookout. Grady especially had fun because his cousin Arno was there. He was so proud too because they kept saying how he taught his cousin to swim. Arno had the same floatie as Grady but wouldn't wear it. Once he saw how Grady could just float around and swim by himself in it, he wanted to do it too.
You can see an aligator lounging in the grass in the background (to the right of the sign)
The boys swimming together (with Aunt Karen and Dada)
Grady ate a big dinner there (that was a theme for him over vacation - trying lots of new things and eating a ton) and then we headed back to our house for bedtime.
To be continued...
So the great thing about travelling there was how easy it was - we left from the airport that is literally 10 minutes down the street, the flight was one hour, and both airports were pretty small, so there were no headaches. I have never had such stress-free travel!
We got in at about 3 PM, picked up our keys, and headed to the house. Grady was immediately in love with the pool/hot tub (which we could control and didn't keep very hot).
an aerial shot, from one of the balconies
We mostly just swam in the pool, took a walk down to the beach (about 2 blocks away) where we found tons of shells, and waited for the grandparents to arrive. We grilled some dinner that night.
The next day (Sunday) was sort of cool and cloudy in the AM, so we headed to the Mote Aquarium, which was super cool. They had 2 different touch tanks, a huge shark tank, dolphins, manatees, sea turtles, lots of jellyfish (G loves jellyfish), and tons more.
Before heading to the aquarium we took a morning swim. We basically fit in a swim whenever possible.
waiting to get in to the aquarium
hard to get a good picture, but the beautiful jellyfish were mesmerizing
The first touch tank - crabs, urchins, and sea snails
The second touch tank - sting rays that were so friendly! We have them at our science center and they often won't come too close, but these ones would come right at you!
They had a special sea horse area too - they basically had a hatchery where there were babies only 3 days old! This was outside that area
The best part - manatees! They were enormous, and I think they were the only animal there that I had never seen before, which was cool.
This was so cute - measuring up to a manatee
Then we saw the dolphins. They don't do shows or anything because they are really more about rescuing animals and not training them. But the dolphins were still just playing.
On the way home we stopped at "Joe's Eats and Sweets" (a popular place in Anna Maria) for lunch and dessert. Grady loved his chocolate-covered banana
That evening we went to visit Eric's Aunt Barbara and Uncle Ed, who have a house in Bradenton. Grady got to meet his cousin Arno (Eric's cousin Steve's son) who is only 9 months younger. They became good friends over the course of the trip. On the way home we ate at Sharky's. I was impressed that Grady ate tortellini in red sauce and also enjoyed my tortellini in cream sauce. By that evening we were all exhausted though!
Monday morning we got up, went for a swim in the pool, and then headed to the beach for the morning.
Think he loves the water much?
The beach!
After the beach we headed home for a nap and then went out to ride the free trolley around the island...
Grady flagged it down
We rode it to the same ice cream place we went the day before because that area was so cute. This time he got ice cream. This was his first real ice cream cone, and he loved it, of course.
The lovely view from our table at the ice cream place
my cute boys
We walked around the historic Bridge Street area, which had lots of shops and restaurants as well as an old fishing pier. We saw jellyfish in the water and pelicans.
Here I am - getting large!
The next morning (Tuesday) we rented a boat for 4 hours and took it all around Anna Maria Sound. It was such a great experience, Grady loved it, and we just all had such fun!
Here he is - ready for boating!
pretending to drive
The whole crew (minus me)
My cute husband driving the boat - he is a very good boater! He's been driving boats since he was about Grady's age.
actually driving with Dada
and with Grandpa
the water was a beautiful color
We stopped at this little hidden beach with tons of shells. Grady loved that we actually got to use the anchor (for some reason he has been obsessed with anchors lately).
he looks shipwrecked
Showing me some treasure
Then we rode around some and docked at a nice restaurant for lunch. It's called the Mar Vista - it's pretty famous in that area. It was a really cool setting and they had great food! Grady ate tons of fish there!
But first he had to climb their tree
Great view from our table
Checking out the water after lunch
Back on the boat with Grandpa
That afternoon we headed over to Eric's Uncle John's house for a pool party and cookout. Grady especially had fun because his cousin Arno was there. He was so proud too because they kept saying how he taught his cousin to swim. Arno had the same floatie as Grady but wouldn't wear it. Once he saw how Grady could just float around and swim by himself in it, he wanted to do it too.
You can see an aligator lounging in the grass in the background (to the right of the sign)
The boys swimming together (with Aunt Karen and Dada)
Grady ate a big dinner there (that was a theme for him over vacation - trying lots of new things and eating a ton) and then we headed back to our house for bedtime.
To be continued...
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