Aquarium Day

A couple weeks ago, we headed to the Aquarium for a school field trip.  It's probably the last time we will get to the aquarium before we leave the area and the last field trip the kids will go on with their classes.

Sometimes when we go on field trips, Jack and Casey stay with me and it seems like we're not even with a class.  This time turned out to the be the perfect balance of the kids enjoying their friends and me not feeling like I was being pulled in two different directions.  Casey wasn't as interested in being with her classmates as much but she interacted with her teacher and with Jack's friends very well.

Jack and his classmate were trying to keep up with the seals in this picture...

Casey was amazed by something but I can't remember exactly what it was.  We arrived at the aquarium at a great time as there were swimmers in the water cleaning the coral (?) and they had just fed the animals.  The sting rays were enjoying a bunch of romaine as we walked by them.

I love the next set of pictures.  They had just gotten a snake out for the kids to touch.  At first you can see them looking impressed that the lady was holding a snake, then they look kind of disgusted/shocked that she is going to allow them to touch the snake and then they decide to touch it.

Casey was quite a willing model for a lot of pictures.  She hopped right on the dolphin and waited for me to take a picture.

Later, on the second pass by the dolphin she made Jack get on there so they could have a picture together.  You can tell who's really into the photo shoot and who's not.

Jack trying to touch a sting ray...

At the wetlands center, they had a real possum out for the kids to touch.  I won't say that he was cute but he was definitely a cuddler.  I don't think I'll ever think of a possum the same after watching a video of Pat's Uncle Paul as he tried to get a possum out of his garbage can last year.  If only he'd known how cuddly they could be :)  

We went through the main aquarium, then walked 3/4 of a mile to the wetlands portion of the aquarium and then back 3/4 of a mile to the car.  This certainly tired the kids out and then I dragged them to the Navy Exchange and Trader Joe's since we were in the area.  We mainly went to the Exchange for lunch at Subway in the food court and to get dog food.  But no trip to a store these days is complete without browsing the toy aisles.  I managed to get out of there with no new toys, but when Jack spotted some Star Wars tooth brushes and asked for them, I had no problem saying yes.  I figure it's a win-win situation - Jack is happy because he gets something new with Star Wars on it and I'm happy that his teeth will be brushed with the force.  (And yes, Casey's teeth are speaking better Spanish thanks to her new Dora toothbrush.)

It was a great trip to the aquarium and I think Jack even learned some things on the way.  He was throwing some new facts out at me as we headed home.

Playing with Photo Booth

I just spent way too much time trying to figure out how to upload photos to blogger from iPhoto on my new computer.  Sadly I think it was exactly the same way I used to but I didn't scroll down enough to see the Media button that I needed.  But now I don't have it in me to write the post I was going to so I'll prove that I can upload photos.

There is a fun Photo Booth program (app?) on our computer that lets you take all kinds of fun pictures.  Jack, Casey and I have had a blast in the last couple days taking funny pictures of ourselves.  Finding something that makes all three of us laugh hysterically is pretty great...something I should remember to do on those days that aren't going so well!

 So we have my alien children...

The chipmunk family...

I think we are a frog family here...

This one is called blockhead but I'm going to say it transforms us into Klingons pretty well.  Just need a few more ridges in our foreheads...

This is the mirror function.  Jack worked pretty hard to position himself just right so he has three eyes, two noses and one mouth!

The kids think the mirror is pretty funny but I like this picture because I think it captured how much fun we were having...

 

Househunting

Time to jump back into the blogging saddle!  I had a weird dream this morning about another blogger...someone I've never met and she doesn't even know I exist.  But we were supposedly working together to sell some things and I ended up slapping her in the face two times because I was so mad at her.  She eventually slapped me in the face and then we were even and figured out how to sell some things.  I had to explain to her that I am not a salesperson but I would be really good at the organizing part of our business.  Anyway, I took this weird dream to mean that I should blog more often again.

Pat left on Saturday for his new job in Tennessee.  He drove most of the night and then got up early to look at some houses that we are interested in renting.  A few weeks ago, there were several nice houses on the rental market and then a lot of schools around the country had spring break.  Since I'm planning to go house hunting during our upcoming spring break it makes sense that other people were doing the same during theirs and the houses found renters or vice versa.  We started to feel like we might miss out on some great houses if we didn't act soon.  So Pat started looking at houses before he'd barely even realized he was in Tennessee.

I have a feeling we are going to rent a place soon and it will be sight unseen for me.  I asked Pat as many questions as I could about the places but it's not the same as seeing it with my own eyes.  All the elementary schools in the area are pretty good so that's not a worry.  Basically I want a nice driveway and place for the kids to play outside, a fenced in backyard for Tugger and a good kitchen.  I'm sure Pat will do a good job of finding the best place for us...but it's hard to give up control, especially of the place I will spend all my time and will turn into a home for us.