A Trip to the Zoo!

On Saturday we headed to the Atlanta Zoo with Hannah and our sweet friends, the Daniel family. They have twin girls a few months younger than Hannah. All three girls were SO good! We spent 4 hours outside in the HOT-lanta sun and ended the day with a picnic in the park. It was a great day and I'm so proud of Hannah for welcoming a new experience without hesitation! I thought she might be scared when she realized just how big some of the animals are in real life. She had such a great time that she's been asking to see "more amimals" all day long today!

Does she look like she's five years old or what?!?

Hannah really liked the "pink birds", but boy did they stink!

They had lots of these little cut-outs set up where kids can put their face where the animal face would be...Hannah kept referring to them as "games!"

I was most proud of Hannah for going into the petting zoo area. They had goats and sheep to pet. At first she was extremely hesitant, just as I suspected. But after a minute or two, she finally touched them! That's a big deal for this little girl!

A few more animal pics:

And here is my personal favorite...I've always loved elephants!

It was neat to go back to the zoo as an adult. Neither Mark nor I have been in over 15 years! We'll definitely be taking Hannah back again when she's a little older and maybe during the spring when it isn't quite so hot!

The last of the vacay pics

Here are a few more pics from vacation.

A late gift...

For Hannah's 2nd birthday (yes, it was 2 months ago!) I made her a cross-stitched birth sampler. I finally got around to having it framed. I think it turned out really well!

I hope Hannah will like it one day!

Vacation Pics: Part Deux

Here are some more pictures from our vacation last week. We had a great time with our families and can't wait to do it again next summer! I'm keeping my fingers crossed that Hannah will be more open to the experience next year. It was hard for me to truly enjoy my time there knowing that Hannah was unhappy. Unfortunately, it seems that Hannah has inherited my dislike for dirty, messy things.

Only once during the seven days at the beach did she willingly touch the sand. I even bought her an extra-special bathing suit, hoping for some good photos of her splashing in the water and playing in the sand. Here she is drawing the letter "H" in the sand.

Fortunately I was able to get some good pics of Hannah OUT of the sand!

Some more family shots.

I have some more pictures to share of some landscape and sunset shots, which I will post later this week.

A few beach pics

Here are a few pictures while we're here at the beach.

Here is Hannah's first trip down to the beach.  As you can see, she did NOT want to put her feet down in the sand.  Three days later, she still hasn't walked in the sand.

Hannah hanging out with both of her grandmothers.

Hannah is not afraid of the ocean - go figure!  Most kids would be afraid of the water rather than the sand!  She loves sitting in our sea kayak.

Here are a few family pics.

More to come later!

Biplane Ride

Last year for Father's Day, I gave Mark and his dad a gift certificate for a ride in an old restored WWII biplane. After having to cancel their flight several times due to bad weather, they finally got to fly on Monday. They loved it! 

Hannah also LOVED the airplane.  She pitched a royal fit when she couldn't get in the plane. The pilot let her sit on the wing, which seemed to make her pretty happy!

If you are interested in learning more, check out the website for Biplane Rides HERE

Unfortunately, I set the bar pretty high for Father's Day gifts. I only know of one thing that would top it...sorry Mark, I'm not letting you go skydiving!

Weekend on the lake

We spent the past weekend at my parents house on Lake Keowee to celebrate my mom's birthday.  We couldn't have asked for nicer weather.  We went out on my dad's boat a couple times and went swimming in the lake.  I thought that Hannah would be terrified of the water since it is SO much different than swimming in a pool, but she LOVED it.  That makes me happy, especially since we'll be spending a week at the beach very soon!

My dad's rule is that everyone must wear a life jacket when swimming in deep water, regardless of how good a swimmer you may be.  Growing up, I thought that was a silly rule, especially since I was a competitive swimmer. But as an adult and a parent, I can now appreciate that rule.  Hannah loves wearing her new Dora "jacket"!

Hannah completely wore herself out and fell asleep in my arms on our way back to the dock.  Hannah has never been the kind of child to fall asleep just anywhere, so we had to capture this once-in-a-lifetime shot:

Hannah sang 'Happy Birthday' over and over (and over!) all weekend long.  It's the first song she can sing from start to finish!

If you are looking for a good birthday gift for a mom, sister, or grandmother, check out THIS website where you can design your own photo pendant necklace.  My mom loved hers!!