Tuesday, June 3, 2008

Our Wild Adventure

Brian was on vacation from work this week, so we decided to head to Valdosta and take Olivia to Wild Adventures. Owen was too young to go, but he was very happy to spend the day with his Granny. Wild Adventures is a local amusement park that also houses animals. We spent a large part of the morning looking at the animals. Olivia is a big animal lover, but I've been a little concerned over her preference for reptiles lately. We spent more time looking at the snakes and at the water monitor than anything else. I couldn't be too upset, though, because the snake house was air conditioned whereas the other animal exhibits were not (and it was really hot outside).

There were plenty of opportunties to feed the animals at Wild Adventures, and I think Brian took advantage of all of them. He fed the deer, the goat, the swan, and the giraffe. He would have fed the llama too if we could have gotten it to come over to us. Olivia didn't want to feed the animals, but liked watching us do it. Her favorite was Ricky the giraffe. You are technically suppose to purchase tickets to feed the giraffe at the safari station. We were the only people at the giraffe feeding and didn't know that we should have tickets. Instead of making us walk all the way back to the station to get tickets, the park employee just gave us the carrots and let us feed the giraffe for as long as we wanted. I guess it was a good thing that we went on a day when there weren't many people in the park.

We also spent a good portion of our morning riding the rides at the park. Brian and I have been to Wild Adventures many times, but I can honestly say that we had never ridden any of the rides that we rode this time. We alternated riding with Olivia. I was lucky enough to ride the dragon ride and the kiddie log ride with her while Brian got to ride the carousel, the kiddie train, and the "Fiesta Express" which was a kiddie roller coaster. I wasn't really sure about how she would handle the coaster. As you may know- Brian and I are big coaster enthusiasts. We really wanted Olivia to have a positive first experience on a coaster (because she will probably spend many a vacation riding them). Well, the verdict is in- her favorite ride in the whole park was the coaster. She wanted to ride it over and over again and we had a hard time getting her away from it.















With our park admission, we were also able to get into Splash Island Water Park. Olivia had a great time playing in the little kid splash area. I also got into my bathing suit and played in the kiddie area with her (but you're not going to see a picture of that). Her favorite thing was going down the water slide. It was really a little too much for her to do by herself, so Brian and I had help her out. Of course her favorite thing was the thing that she couldn't do alone. After the upteenth time helping her go down the slide, we decided that our arms and back were sore and that it was time to go.

All things considered, it was a great day. Olivia was well behaved for the most part- even though she did get tired during the middle of the day. Needless to say, she went to bed very quickly once we got home.







Sunday, June 1, 2008

Olivia's Pool Progress

It has finally warmed up enough for us to enjoy the pool. The first thing on our agenda- as far as the pool is concerned- is to get Olivia started with the basics of swimming. Brian has been working with her for the last couple of afternoons, and we are pleased with her progress. At this point, she is wearing a bathing suit that has an inflatable built-in ring around her stomach.

On the first day of swimming, Olivia seemed hesitant to get into the water. She hung on to Brian for most of the afternoon, but seemed to really like being in the water by the end of the day.









By the second afternoon of swimming, Olivia felt comfortable enough to ride on her daddy's back. She even began to move her hands in the water like her daddy was doing.
Then yesterday, the third day of swimming, Olivia started to venture out a little on her own. She began to kick her legs to move about in the water. She also had better control of her balance in the swimming ring. Brian helped her practice by putting her at the very back of the shallow end and encouraging her to "swim" toward the steps. She did very well with this.

Tuesday, May 27, 2008

Owen Update


Owen went for his 2 month check-up and shots last week. I am happy to report that he weighs 15lbs and is 24 inches long. The doctor says that he is in the 95th percentile for both weight and height. He is such a good and happy baby, and he is pretty much sleeping through the night now.

Monday, May 5, 2008

Is it Summer Yet?

Well, Hannah broke out the kiddie pool last weekend for the girls to play in, so I guess it's official- summer has begun. I know that the "actual" first day of summer is not until June, but it feels like summer already. Let's look at the facts:
  • The weather is beautiful
  • I'm off work until the end of July (hooray!)
  • Our pool is blue and clean (which is rare for this time of year)

Yep, I think I'm going to call summer vacation early this year. Olivia has been taking full advantage of the weather. She has been playing outside almost every day. I've even had to start putting sunblock on her before she goes to daycare because she has been coming home pink.

Tuesday, April 29, 2008

Fun with Poppy and Nana

We recently enjoyed a visit from Brian's family. They made the trip down to Georgia from Delaware to see us and the new baby. It is wonderful when they visit, and we wish that we could see them more often. Olivia especially liked receiving all of that wonderful attention that grandparents give.






Saturday, April 19, 2008

Easter 08

This year the Easter Bunny visited Olivia at her Gigi's house since we were still at the hospital on Easter morning. Olivia was excited to get a pair of dress shoes, toy animals, and small bags of cookies in her Easter basket. Gigi said that it didnt' take her long to tear into the cookies-Nilla Wafers are Olivia's favorite!



At the hospital, Brian and I were trying to leave so that we could be home in time for Easter dinner. We had discussed early discharge with the nurses on Saturday, and they tried hard to make sure that we were out early. One nurse even called both Owen's and my doctor at home and asked them to be at the hospital early on Sunday so that we could leave. We were able to get home by lunch, so we didn't miss out on the food.
After lunch, we hid eggs for the girls to find. Ava and Olivia caught on quickly to what they were suppose to do. They really enjoyed searching for the eggs. Olivia liked it so much that Brian spent the next week hiding eggs around our house for her to find.

Saturday, April 5, 2008

Coming Home


After a long two days at the hospital, we were finally able to bring Owen home on Easter Sunday. The Easter Bunny had already visited our house and had left Owen a basketful of goodies. Among these treats were two new bottles, a taggie blanket, and a chocolate Easter Bunny (which is really more for me than for him). We had another visitor on Monday in the form of a big stork that appeared on our front lawn to announce Owen's birth to anyone driving down our street.

We are all happy to be home now (except maybe Olivia who really enjoyed staying with her Gigi for three days). Brian and I are still trying to get this two-kid thing down, and we are making really good progress. It's not really been hard, but trying to manage two kids while recovering from surgery is not really easy either- especially since I still can't lift heavy objects (like Olivia). Fortunately, we have had lots of help.