Family Fun Day 2009

As I have mentioned in previous posts, we save our change all year long. Once a year, we count it and roll it and use that change for Family Fun Day.  We have been trying for the past couple of months to have Family Fun Day, but one thing or another comes up and delays the plans.  Today, we woke up, not planning on making it Family Fun Day, but we were talking, deciding what to do and we realized that this was the last weekend of the year that we would have time to have Family Fun Day.  So we made it happen.


First, we stopped by Burger King for breakfast in the car.  The girls loved this because they got to eat junky foods that we don't normally allow for breakfast.

Then, we took a road trip to Jekyll Island.  I had stayed on Jekyll Island one other time for a week when I was seven and I had been for the night once when I was 16.  Andy and the girls had never been.   So that made it special because we were going some place out of the ordinary as a family.

Our first stop was to look at the beach.  It was cold and windy, but nice just the same.  The beach was deserted, which was awesome because we were able to see several, empty, still hinged shells.  Ella loved playing in the sand. Arin was extremely nervous about her sister walking into the water.  She kept telling us to hold on to her.  We were not doing an adequate job in Arin's mind, so she felt it necessary to hold Ella's hand and drag her around the beach (far away from the water!).  I really do love Arin's protective nature over her sister.  Ella would have been happy to stay at the beach and play in the sand all day, but Arin was relieved when it was time to leave (so she wouldn't have to keep such a close eye on her sister).

Our next stop was to 4-H Tidelands Nature Center.  This turned out to be the favorite place for all of us.  It was small, but they had fish, snakes, crabs, turtles, a shark, etc. Ella loved the sea turtle.  It was great to see her face light up and to hear her squeal with excitement whenever she saw the turtle swimming.  Arin loved seeing all of the animals. They also had a couple of touch tanks, so Arin was able to feel some of the animals on display.

Once we left there, we went to The Georgia Sea Turtle Center.  Andy and I felt like this was a huge disappointment.  Nothing like what we had expected.  Arin said she liked seeing the turtles, so I guess it wasn't a total waste, but certainly not a place that we would visit again in the future. 

By the time we left the turtle center, we were all getting hungry, so we drove to Brunswick to eat at Firehouse Subs.  Ella slept during lunch. We had planned on going back to Jekyll Island to play putt-putt golf, which is something Arin has been asking to do since the last time she played it (in October).  It was getting colder and colder out, so we decided to skip the putt-putt.  We headed to St. Simons Island.  Once there, we went to the Lighthouse.  It was very windy, so they would not let us outside at the top of the lighthouse, but we were able to climb all 129 stairs to the top and look out through the window. We also visited the museum there.

After the lighthouse, we walked on the beach, but not for long because it was so windy and cold. 

 The girls spotted a playground, so we let them play on it for a little while.

Then, we saw a second, not crowded, playground a few yards away, so we walked over to it and let the girls play for a few minutes there too.  Arin didn't want to leave the playgrounds, but it was just so cold and windy, so we promised her a future trip back to play again.

We started to walk down the pier, but had to turn around, less than halfway down, again because of the wind.

When we were at lunch, Arin spotted a Pet Smart.  She asked to go see the animals there.  So once we left St. Simons Island, we headed back to Brunswick, where we let the girls look at the animals in Pet Smart (this also allowed time to warm up!).  Before, we got to Pet Smart, we drove by the airport, where we watched an airplane and a helicopter take off.

Next, we headed to Target, where we let the girls each pick out a toy.  The aisles were crowded and I decided we wouldn't allow them to pick out their own toys at this time of the year again! 
Ella got the Fisher Price Moo Sounds Milk & Cookies.  I picked this out because she loves putting stuff into containers.  Arin picked out a Curious George movie and a Barney movie.

We then got some Taco Bell for dinner and headed back home. Although, it wasn't as planned as our normal Family Fun Days, we had a great time spending the day together and I know we made great memories together!

Temporary Blogging Break

We had a great week in FL visiting family and friends.  While we were there, my laptop broke and is now being shipped off to Best Buy where they said it'll probably be a month before it is fixed and sent back.  We do have a desktop computer too, but I try not to blog until the girls are in bed at night, which is the same time that Andy uses his computer, so it looks like I'll be taking a temporary blogging break.  I may blog a little on the weekends while Andy is playing with the girls.

Tying Shoes

Arin is learning how to tie shoes and she is quite pleased with her progress!

Wow!

We are thrilled to announce that we found out tonight that we are expecting baby number three!  Although, I am only four weeks along, I am already feeling symptoms.  I have slight nausea on and off during the day and I also crave salty foods.  With the girls, I didn't feel sick until six and a half weeks along and I never craved salt.  Perhaps this one will be a boy?

I'm Checking my Blog!

Arin has a vtech laptop which she was playing on tonight.  Ella wanted to play on the computer too, but Arin's response to her was, "Not right now, I'm checking my blog!".

Where's the Ball?

This idea came from here.  I took three different sized cans and a small ball.  I hid the ball under one of the cans and asked Ella to find it.  No problem.  Then, I put the ball under the same can, but changed the cans position.  Again, no problem to find the ball.  We repeated this step again and again she found the ball on the first try.  So I put it under a different can and tried the game again.  This game never tricked Ella.  I was surprised that no matter how much mixing I did, she still picked the right can on the first try everytime!  She did have a lot of fun with this game though.

A Shoebox & Playing Cards

This idea came from my friend, Melissa, at Chasing Cheerios.  Ella really seemed to enjoy this simple game.  We cut a slit in the top of a shoe box.  Then, I handed her a pack of playing cards.  She slipped the cards through the slot and into the box. 

Thanksgiving Pictures

We went to Andrew's brother (Pat) and sister-in-law's (Julie) house for Thanksgiving.  We had a wonderful time with great people and great food!

around the dinner table

before we left for Thanksgiving dinner

making funny faces on the way to dinner

sitting with Uncle Todd

Grandma & Papa

Uncle Pat

walking on Uncle Todd's feet

playing Go Fish!

Ella's new trick

Daddy

playing animal charades (she's a duck)

playing animal charades (chipmunk)

poor baby ran a fever on and off all day

I realized I didn't take that  many good pictures, including no pictures of the food.  We had a fantastic meal of turkey, gravy, mashed potatoes, stuffing, green bean casserole, sweet potato casserole, yams, homemade rolls and my mother-in-law's famous cinnamon rolls, pumpkin pies, cheesecake, chocolate caramel bars, and oreo turkeys. Yum!