I Will Go Into the Zoo..

Today Gav, Laynie and I went to the zoo with Grandma Ardy, Papa Dave, Uncle Joel, Grandma Edie, Aunt Emma and Uncle Paul. With that crowd, how could you not have fun?

Hogle Zoo has a new baby elephant. Her name is Zuri... ...and she has the cutest bum in the world. Sorry, but I've got a thing for elephants.

Grandma Ardy and Laynie posed with the tortoise.

Then Uncle Joel fed her to the lion.

Gavin did not sleep well last night. He was a party. He sat in the stroller and sucked his fingers for a large portion of our trip. Perhaps he should go to bed and stay there?

Now he's taking a rest on the bronze rhino. Not my first choice for a pillow.

This is what happens if you let Joel hold your camera.

We watched the elephant show and then went to the bird show. The birds flew directly our over our heads. One almost clipped Aunt Emma!

This was the least irritating animal in the show. I will never have a parrot as a pet.

Grandma Ardy bought three carousel tickets per child. Joel and Gavin chose the wolf. Here they are howling together.

Grandma Edie got to accompany Laynie on one ride. Laynie chose the elephant. It was so tall that Grandma had to stand on her tip toes to hold Laynie in place.

Here they are on the tiger.

Joel and Gavin again...This time Gavin is on a leopard and Joel is on a baby elephant. Apparently my brother and son are on the same mental level.

Laynie with Grandma Ardy giving us her "Princess Wave."

Our last stop was aboard the train. It was a blast!

Laynie and Gav enjoyed the ride on "Thomas."

This fountain ball is pretty awesome. The kids work together to change the direction it rolls.

We stopped at Crowne Burger on the way home. Laynie didn't get to enjoy her food until later. She was a little to sleepy to eat.

Sea World 2010

Sea World is more than three hours from the Wallace's home in Houston. We decided to make a one-day round trip. I wasn't worried about entertainment. We have a small lap top loaded with DVDs. But we totally didn't need it!

Laynie was totally hamming it up in the car! It's not quite the same as Grandma Ardy's gummy worm boogers, but nearly as comical.

Between her and the awesome '80s rock station, the drive was a breeze!

The 4-D Pirate Movie was our first stop. The movie itself is in 3-D, but the theater is equipped with water cannons, air puffers (I'm sure that's the technical term) and vibrating seats.

It was a little intense for Laynie. Bats came flying at her while the air puffers were doing their job. She screamed hysterically and began sobbing. I had to take her out.

Next stop: The Killer Whale show called "Believe." The trainers aren't allowed to swim with the animals as a result of the incident in Florida (if you don't know, google it). Laynie posed with the Shamu statue. Gavin was...being Gavin. No posing for him.

The kids were really excited for the show to start.

But we had to wait for such a long time that I was afraid they would fall asleep and miss the show. It came close.

But then the whales started jumping and they perked right up!

I got some great shots of the orca in action.

We were sitting six rows from the pool and got drenched. Laynie got a Shamu-created wave to the face and screamed and cried hysterically. Again.

My blue-eyed boys.

All Laynie's crying resulted in a emotionally-induced slumber. So she missed the dolphin feeding. I didn't mind so much...I got to feed her tray of smelly fish to the dolphins. If I had the money, I would do nothing but hang out at the dolphin alcove all day.

Laynie slept through most of the aquarium fish-feeding time. It was pretty incredible. A scuba diver hand fed all the sting rays. Their barbs were only a few inches from his head. It made me wonder what happened with the crocodile hunter, Steve Irwin.

Rain threatened the entire day. But we still managed to get to the kiddie pool before the rain started. Jamie didn't bring a swimsuit and was on camera duty. Darn. He didn't get any shots of me in my suit. I'm sure you will all feel sad about that.

The management closed the pools because the rain finally broke through. It was pouring too hard to see the water. While we waited for the deluge to end, we grabbed some snacks. Strangely enough, there was a stage show with all the Sea World mascots.

At the end, they invited all the kids to come up and dance. Laynie thought that meant on the stage. She was almost there before one of the "human" dancers pulled her back to the floor. I think she was a little offended that she didn't get to be the star of the show.

She recovered enough to pose with Sandy the Shark.

Jamie doesn't get to go to Utah with us this summer, so at least we got some quality family time. Sea World was awesome and we hope to come back soon!

Mt. Vernon with Gugs and Papa

We took a water taxi from Warden and Rick's hotel to Mt. Vernon. It was 50 minutes each way, but my kids could have stayed on the boat all day!

Warden and Rick spoiled them with popcorn and treats while we boated along.

I love this 'in-depth' conversation between Grandfather and Grandson. I think they were discussing birds of prey. A brood of osprey were nesting in a buoy that we passed.

I loved this shot of a sailboat in front of Fort Washington. Such an interesting juxtaposition of peace and war.

Here is the mansion at Mt. Vernon as seen from the river. It definitely looks like a home worthy of our nation's president.

Here Gav and Rick are posing with General George. Gav was more interested in the weapons George used - sabers, muskets, cannons - than any other piece of history.

This tree is on the path to the Washington's home. That's me in the background. It gives you a good perspective of the tree's size.

My children's favorite part of Mt. Vernon is the green behind the mansion. It is speckled with ancient trees and has a beautiful thick lawn. If it hadn't been so miserably hot, we would have spent more time playing on the grounds.

Rick - and after a while Gavin - sought some shade on the back porch. Can you imagine George and Martha enjoying summer evenings in the same place?

It was a long, hot day. Laynie totally zonked out on the boat ride home. We all wish we could have!

Guggy and Papa's Awesome Hotel

Jamie's dad had to come to Washington D.C. for a conference and Warden thought she'd accompany her husband. For the first couple of days the Wallaces stayed at an incredible hotel in the National Harbor.

The kids and I drove up to visit and had a great time.

Gavin was a little nervous around the wax statues and wouldn't pose without me.

The entire roof and backside of the Gaylord Hotel is made of glass. The view of the Potomac River and Harbor are stunning...too bad I didn't get a picture of that! A portion of the interior is devoted to shops and arboretum. The trees and flowers are beautiful. Gav and Laynie decided to stop for a sniff.

During the summer, the hotel has professional sand castle builders create Washington D.C.-themed artworks inside the building. Pretty fancy pants if you ask me.

The "backyard" of the hotel is terraced with different gardens and fountains at each level. My kids would have climbed in this fountain if we hadn't stopped them.

The luxury pool had a splash pad that Gavin and Laynie couldn't get enough of! I love that Gav's face is directly in the spray of water in this picture.

His other swimsuit was too wet to pack. Gav had to wear the next size up. Love the Coppertone shot! Too cute to be called plumber crack.

Laynie wasn't as excited about having the fountains spray her face. She had her own method of fun - she backed in!

Warden took this picture of Laynie and I thought it was one of the cutest I've ever seen. Of course, I'm her mom so I'm prejudiced.


I didn't get a picture of us enjoying room service in Warden and Rick's hotel room. They totally spoiled us!

Thanks for a great day Guggy and Papa!