Virginia Bch Aquarium- Anniversary Day Out

We decided to celebrate this 5 year wedding anniversary as a family, and it turned out great!

We started with a visit to the Virginia Beach Aquarium here in town and Abby encountered some fun animals. Then we went out for dinner and ice cream, and to our surprise she did great at the restaurant, entertaining herself with the food of course!

Next year we will be celebrating with 2 kids!! YIKES!

Abby and daddy checking out the turtles
This kid loves anything water related

Touching her first horseshoe crab! Not a bit scared! The handler was even shocked she wanted to do it! Such a big girl.....she probably thinks..."if I can handle Roxy, I can handle a silly crab!!"

She wasn't too excited to pose, as she became more interested in the steps at this shark tank exhibit, teaching herself to go up and down the steps upright without putting her hands down! Thats a new trick! Once she figured out she could handle it, she attempted it over and over and over.

HAPPY 5th ANNIVERSARY TO US!!!!!

Not looking so bad after 5 years, having moved 3 times, and about to have baby #2!

Finally a family shot! Even if she does look a little shocked! Maybe a shark swam by behind the camera, who knows!

A mouthful!!! This was some feat! I had to crawl under this silly shark exhibit on my knees, and Mike handed her to me through the teeth!! Not made for pregnant mommies! Oh well, it was cute!!

Checking out the small fish

Her first snake exhibit!! He was lively and moved his head right toward her!

So the color came out funny, I think because of the odd lighting in the restaurant, but this was a funny moment of self-entertainment at its best. After becoming bored with the crayons and paper and the books that I brought, she decided to try dipping spreadable butter into melted butter, and eat it!! It was a hit, and it kept her quiet and occupied for a good 20 minutes!! We will discuss her cholesterol in 20 years or so!! All I cared about was that I got to finish my meal for once and didn't have to clean up any spills!

Yum!!! Different forms of lard!!!!

Relaxing!!

Abby cracked us up today while we were outside swimming! She sat on the top step and was actually laying with her legs straight out before this photo, then I told her to lay down to reinact the cuteness, and this is what I got! She pretended to be asleep! As if we sleep in the pool!! Too funny.

Library Storytime

I took Abby to our local youth libary down the road this past week for her first library storytime experience. She loved it! It was stationed out with different toys to play with for 30 minutes, then the librarian gathered the kids to put the toys away, then sat on the rug for a story, then played with the parachute, then a finale with the bubble machine! Abby had a great time, and enjoyed reading through new books afterwards (see pic below) in the main part of the library. Its great because since it is a youth library, there is really no need to worry about noise level, so the kids just run free.

New Playgroup-Pool/Beachside

Today we attended our first Norfolk squadron instructor's wives playgroup out here and had a great time. It was held at a family's condo down at the waterfront, and the condo pool is right on the beach! Very fun, Abby loved spending time with the other girls! All the kids are 1-4 months apart, so it is a perfect group of girls for her right at her age!

I LOVE these ruffly butts!!!! Summertime at its best for the kids!

Hmmm....what's going on over there????

Lots of "home" time!

The month of June and July have been filled with lots of time spent at home, so we've loved having the pool to relax in, but most of all, Abby and I have LOVED having daddy around to play with! We're still getting used to him being around SO much!! But its growing on us...hehe!

Miss Rolly Polly in our bed watching cartoons
Storytime with daddy

Watching daddy jump in off the diving board!

"Where'd he go?" and "There he is".... 2 of her new phrases she uses when something leaves and returns to her line of sight! Here she watched Mike dive into the water to disappear, only to reappear moments later from under the water! She's getting very good at putting her words together. We've been working a lot on the 2-phrase words, adding please and/or more to her demands.....and its working!

She has that finger point down pat!

This was a beautiful evening for an after dinner swim.

Chasing after her "hippo" toy as a reward for kicking.

Ahhhh....I hate when I squirt myself with my toys!! These aren't tears though, just wiping the water away!

Dora bottle!!

Grandma Donna sent Abby a package full of her favorite items.......anything "DORA"!!!

Her favorite item was the Dora water bottle. Thanks Grandma!!

Child labor at its best!

Abby is all about copying mommy these days! Mostly just excited to try new things!

I took advantage of her interest in the hand vac and put her to good use while I was cleaning house! I was surprised that the noise didn't scare her off.

Arizona Reiss Family Visit

We've had a wonderful visit with my Uncle Ken & Aunt Joanne and my Cousin Erin from Arizona. Erin brought her 7 month old son Andrew along for the fun too! Abby has had a great time interacting with "baby Andrew".

Floor time fun! Abby finally enjoying being close to Andrew. She is still a little hesitant to share her toys with him, as if he might take them! Too cute.

Loving on Andrew

Huh???? (Someone looks just like his daddy!!)

Two peanuts on the floor!!

Baby Bump-23 Weeks

Okay, so this photo came out a little shadowed, but it gets the point across! We went to a friend's wedding last night and got dressed up a bit! This is after an afternoon at the beach on a beautiful day, hence Mike's sunburned face! He wanted "a little" color, so thats what you get for being stubborn!! My baby bump is about 23 weeks! Just under 4 months to go!!

And then there's our munchkin who loves her "Mr.Potato Head" glasses and especially loves wearing two pair at once!

Being floppy silly with daddy

Abby and Mike flopping on the bed this morning

Swimming so far....

I don't have any photos to share, but Abby finished her 2nd week of mommy-and-me swim lessons yesterday (2 more weeks to go!), and is doing sooo much better. She cried and screamed through the first 3 days of lessons, and finally at this last one she relaxed and joined in the fun.

Yesterday she learned and successfully held onto the edge of the pool on her own and climbed out of the pool at the edge all by herself by swinging her knee up onto the ledge and pulling out!

I was a proud mommy to watch her since she had only learned how to do it 2 days before. I can't wait to see her progress in 2 more weeks.

Quiet times!

Mike caught us taking a nap on the couch yesterday! Abby woke up from her nap and was still sleepy and fell asleep right in my lap, so I decided to take advantage of the moment and get some shut-eye too! Roxy joined us to snuggle.

Here we are doing our bedtime routine, reading books. Abby wanted to say goodnight to her baby sister, and was rubbing on my tummy just before Mike took this photo. She is beginning to learn that the "baby" is in mommy's tummy, and frequently points to my belly and kisses it/her!

More Zoo Fun

We met my friend Julie and her daughters at the zoo this week. Abby and Emily had a great time following each other around and walked the whole zoo by themselves with barely any stroller assistance.

Here they are holding hands, walking together as we entered the zoo.
The bald eagle enclosure!

The girls are so cute! Emily is 10 months older than Abby.

BIG Uh Oh!!!!

This week we had our first ugly encounter with Mr.Crayola! He "mysteriously" showed up on our family room wall, which is Abby's playroom. I went into the room to clean up while Abby was napping yesterday and I actually gasped in shock and Mike was like "what's wrong?" He came to see what made my jaw drop and we both giggled for a while. We never actually saw her do it, but now she is on crayon restriction and may only color during supervised visits!

By the way, she even got creative and used two colors! So I figure she must have been standing there for a good while doing this. I guess I learned my lesson that silent play is never a good thing.