Lions and Tigers and Bears oh my

we had another fun outing to the zoo today with some playgroup friends. the weather was just perfect especially after a rainy weekend. Just a few pictures.

Watching the ever so fun otters.

Elijah got to go into the petting zoo area today.

The tiger came right up while Elijah was standing there.

Go Giraffe Go!

Elijah figured out how to make his giraffe rock all by himself.

To Pappy From Elijah

To Daddy from Elijah

Mommy's a Sucker

Elijah loves balloons. The other day we were at the Dollar Tree looking for some cheap Fall decorations and there was a half deflated balloon laying on the floor. Of course Elijah saw it, picked it up and carried it around the store. And when it was time to leave mommy had to exchange it for a fully inflated balloon. At the checkout an older lady was infront of us and asked what the occasion was for the balloon - I said "No occasion, mommy's just a sucker".

He also likes to pretend that he is vacuuming. I guess he's learning right. :)

Mommy will you read to me please?

Miami Seaquarium

And finally the last of the pictures. Instead of spending a few hours in the airport after the cruise was finished, we all decided to go to the Miami Seaquarium (parts of the show Flipper was filmed here). We saw the Sea Lion show, the Dolphin Show, the Flipper Show and the Killer Whale show.
Here are the pictures from that:
http://picasaweb.google.com/madelyn.howe/MiamiSeaquarium#

On the Carnival Imagination

The Carnival Imagination was home for the week of Sept 8th-13th. It was the same ship that Jim and I spent our Honeymoon on, but recently was upgraded. The best part about the upgrade IMO is the Waterworks section where there is a Twister Waterslide, a racing waterslide (Jim and I both loved these) and a sprinkler park that Elijah loved. This is where we spent much of our time while on the ship.

Here are the pictures from on the Carnival Imagination:
http://picasaweb.google.com/madelyn.howe/OnTheShip#

Nassau

We ended up being in Nassau for 2 days. The first day we walked around and did some shopping. The second day we took a Horse and Carriage ride around the town (and did some shopping). Our carriage ride person showed us the hospital where Anna Nicole Smith had her baby. We never made it to Paradise Island and Atlantis - next time we go back there.
Here are some pictures from there:
http://picasaweb.google.com/madelyn.howe/NassauBahamas#

Freeport

As I already said, we were rerouted on the cruise due to Ike and we ended up in Freeport Bahamas. I wasn't impressed with it and if we ever go back to that port we're definitely doing some kind of excursion or just staying on the ship. Here's the link to the pictures from there:
http://picasaweb.google.com/madelyn.howe/FreeportBahamas#

View from the plane

We had some gorgeous views on the plane ride home. This was taken while flying over the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of the Carolinas.

We're back!

Our first family vacation was a success. The itinerary was changed due to Hurricane Ike so we ended up going to Freeport Bahamas (which I have no desire to return to) and 2 days in Nassau (which I would go back to since we never made it over to Paradise Island and Atlantis). We found out that James is allergic to escargot. Elijah did great, especially considering he is getting a new tooth and was completely thrown off his schedule. We're already looking forward to our next cruise which will hopefully be December 2010. Stay tuned for pictures (there are over 500 of them). Here's a picture from sailing away from Miami.

Bon Voyage!

We leave tomorrow am for our first family vacation. There will be LOTS of pictures when we get back!

Fun in the Sun

It was hard to believe today was September since it was more humid and hotter than it was in August. Elijah, Charlie and I cooled off in the backyard this afternoon. We played in the pool, splashed at the water table and played with the hose.

Hmm ... now how do I tie this?

Apparently Charlie was thirsty

Yup - there are my feet

Don't worry mom - I'll turn the water off

Packing

T minus 4 days until we leave for vacation.
Elijah seeing how big the suitcase is.

Good bye summer

We had a busy 3 day weekend. On Saturday we went to the Philadelphia Zoo. Elijah is enjoying the zoo more and more every time we go. This time his favorite animals seemed to be the little monkeys. They were jumping all over the place and entertaining him. Here he is very excited to see the monkeys. (Yes he was trying to bang the glass)Playing in the treehouse area.The flamingos.The giraffes. As one of the little kids around us pointed out - they were making a 'L'.
The rhinoceros
The sloth bear
On Sunday we went to Ocean City. It was a beautiful evening, the temperature could not have been more perfect.

Elijah enjoyed walking the boardwalk.

We have a feeling summers in a few years are going to get pretty expensive. We walked through Gillian's Wonderland Pier and Elijah had a blast watching all the rides. In particular, he enjoyed watching the Thomas the Train Mono-rail go by.

The summer is now unofficially over. In one week we'll be sailing the high seas on our first family vacation.