Fantasy Lights

Bri enjoying fantasy lights that Val won free tickets for.

Steve's phone

Snow

First snow of the season. Bri loved it!

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6 months

Here's are beautiful 6 month old. As you can see, she's officially a sitter now.

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South Carolina Aquarium

The girls and I headed out to the aquarium yesterday to see what they had to show us. (1st pic of Bri trying to do a shark attack with her arms in front of the giant inflatible white shark.) First thing we see... a baby skunk! I was a bit confused since I had thought we'd entered an aquarium, not a zoo, but apparently this aquarium has land and sea animals to show off. And yes, they assured me the scent had been removed so I wouldn't need to buy tomatoe juice after our encounter. 

The next animals we come across... lemurs! Still not getting the aquarium part of this place. (2nd pic, Bri inside the insert they made in the lemur cage so kids can get a better look at the lemurs during feeding time. We were not there during the feeding time hence no lemurs in this pick.)

Next animal, bald eagle. Okayn at least this one fishes in the sea. We're getting closer to what I thought was the theme behind this place... sea animals. (3rd and 4th pic, bald eagle up close and Bri flappong her wings in an "actual size" bald eagle nest.)

And then we found them. Fish! (5th pic, large fish tank)

Last but not least, we saw an... albino alligator. Okay, again not quite what I was expecting at an aquarium but pretty cool non the less. (6th pic, white alligator)

And that was it. Okay, we did see other sea creatures but I didn't take pictures of everything. Bri even got to introduce her octopus (we named Olivia shout out cuz!) to a real live octopus. 

7th pic, Bri next to the frog on the bench set up for a picture perfect view of the famouse suspension bridge. 

Disclaimer, this post was done on ky phone so sorry if pictures are out of order or the spelling's atrocious. 

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Thank you

Many thanks are in order to the many people who made my traveling alone with 2 young children yesterday doable.

Thank you Adi for sleeping through the night for the 1st time ever, enabling me to get as much rest as possible before the long day ahead.

Thank you Dad T. for waking me up at 5:30 after I slept through my alarm I had accidently set on vibrate therefore not waking me up at my pre-determined time. Thank you for taking care of Bri while I got Adi and myself ready.

I’m not sure if I should thank the airline check-in lady who insisted on rebooking us onto the next flight (multiple times) since we arrived after the time allotted to check baggage and who further made me rush through the airport somewhat unnecessarily to catch our flight. If she had not made me feel so rushed, I may not have run/scurried/begged my way through and maybe would have missed the flight. This I’ll never known.

Back to the thank yous.

Thanks again for Dad T. who immediately asked for a pass to accompany me to the gate once we realized I could not check a baby carrier, toddler car seat and piece of luggage I had planned on NOT having with me in order to juggle 2 small children easier.

Thanks to the TSA agent who when I originally asked if there was anything he could do to expedite our path in security told us we were out of luck, but after seeing the 2 little ones and and all our luggage, directed us to the pre-check line which was much shorter and does not require the removal of shoes/jackets/belts/liquids/underwear/etc. to get through security.

Thanks to the few people in front of us who let us cut in front of them to get through security even quicker.

Thanks to Dad T. again for then carrying Bri and the toddler seat AND running through the terminal to what must be the farthest gate on the A side.

Thanks to Bri and Adi. Bri laughing the whole time thinking running was the best thing in the world and Adi almost falling asleep in her carrier due to all the rocking in my attempt to run with it.

We made it onto the plane in plenty of time and were in our seats 15 minutes before take-off was due. (This is why I’m a bit annoyed with the check-in lady but again, would we have made it if we hadn’t rushed…) I was able to check the luggage through to Charleston and gate check the 2 car seats (why I didn’t check those through to Charleston as well, I’ll never know, brain was not fully functioning at this point).

But it continues. Thanks to the 2 people behind me who saw me with the 2 little ones and offered to switch seats with us since the 3rd person in their row hadn’t shown thus allowing us to have a whole row to ourselves.

Kids on the plane.

No, Adi is not asleep in this picture, she just doesn’t like the flash.

Thanks to the ladies at Mom’s group (Tana, Linnea and Nora) for letting me borrow toddler videos to entertain Bri on such a long flight.

I wasn’t looking forward to lugging around my carry-on, Adi, 2 car seats and monitoring Brielle through the terminal before my connecting flight but then Steve and Dad T. took care of that while I was in the air. So we continue…

Thank you Steve for somehow booking me on the same flights as two of your co-workers. Thank you (and Dad T.) for getting a hold of them and asking them to help me with the car seats through the Dulles airport.

Thank you George and Larry for helping with said car seats through the Dulles airport.

Kids in the terminal.

Adi IS sleeping in the first picture and then the second is the 3 of us waiting for our flight; Bri watching a video in the background. Still smiling.

Did I already thank the girls for being so good on both flights? I was so proud of how well Bri did, even helping me hold Adi when I needed a third hand.

And finally, thanks to Steve again for getting a pass to come pick me and the girls up on the tarmac after our plane landed. Seeing Bri run to him so excited made everything complete.

This day could have easily gone the other way so above all, thank you to all who prayed over this trip because your prayers were answered!

Christmas jammies :)

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The Farm

While down in V-town for Thanksgiving, Mom, Aunt Teresa and I took the girls to Underwood Farms. Fun was had by all. Here are just a few pics of the fun things we did.

Always love a good pony ride.

I know you can’t see her, but Bri is petting the goats. Okay, maybe not at the very moment I took the picture, but she did indeed pet these goats. And aren’t they just the cutest thing sleeping together? Mama goat and baby goat? No?…

Obviously Adi is beside herself with excitement at the farm!

The Brady Bunch, the Brady Bunch, that’s the way we became the Brady Bunch.