Children's Museum

We took a family trip to the Children's Museum of Acadiana this week. Caroline is getting old enough to really like to play around other kids, and she really loved this place. I can't tell you how many times she looked at us and smiled, like she couldn't believe how much fun it all was.

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Cooking in the "restaurant":

Driving the "ambulance". They actually have a "hollowed out" full size ambulance there. It'll be a while before she's driving...as you can see she isn't even sure where to sit!

Shopping in the grocery store. Look at how cute the little cart was. This was right up her alley. Notice the little "list" she's holding. 'Ya think she's seen mommy do that one or a hundred times?? She also loved the cash registers!


Bubble land. This was, by far, her favorite part. I think she could have stayed there forever. She just kept on making bubbles and waving that little wand around. It must be popular, because they actually post their bubble "recipe" online here.

In this area, you could stand and raise a circular tube around you that would encase you in a giant bubble. Caroline wasn't all about standing still and letting that happen, but her daddy had some fun with it.

After the museum, we took a walk to check out the fountains at Parc Sans Souci. Caroline had a blast watching the watter and even getting a little wet. It was, though, approaching both lunch time and nap time, and we had to get the show on the road. Anyone in the vicinity of downtown on Friday at lunch time might have heard what happened shortly after the following photo was snapped.

Not pictured: Kevin carrying one kicking, screaming, hitting toddler back to the truck.

Swimming and Working

In an effort to continue celebrating summer, we broke out the "kiddie pool" and let Caroline have her first water frolick of the summer. She put on her "big girl" swimsuit, courtesy of Aunt Kathy, and went to town.


Because the pool probably reminded her of mom's oasis, the excitement didn't last long. However, soon Caroline realized that taking the water OUT of the pool could be pretty fun. And she did. Cup by cup. She's a pro-transferrer (remember the sand box)?
So, I'm just sitting around snapping pictures and just enjoying watching Caroline play. According to Kevin, I do not do this enough. I, instead, start to do this and that outside and pretty soon I forget I'm even watching Caroline and become intent on getting things done. So, I'm determined that I'm going to just sit on this day. It was that determination that led me to the idea that I could actually get Caroline to pour the water *into* the plants that desperately needed to be watered.
You will notice in the picture, Kevin is totally enjoying the moment. In fact, I told him he was in the background of the shot, so he wanted you all to see "his guns". Hope you enjoy that show! She was doing a GREAT job. Watering all the dead plants that I haven't had time to deal with lately. And then she became my hero. She, with one little smile, one little pull of her daddy's hand, one little blink of her eyes, got her daddy up and working with her. She was in heaven. A woman with a mission, and a man to help.

And that is how I enjoyed just sitting and being in "the moment" today. And got my plants watered as a bonus!

Mommy Time

So while Caroline and daddy were playing on the floor, I wrote a little message to her:

She took it and immediately started working on a return message to me:

With a face like this, I could hardly wait to see what she was making me...

::THE FINISHED PRODUCT::

Make of it what you will, but I read all sorts of loving things into it! And I'm keeping it to show her during the "terrible teens"!

Daddy Time

Things finally are beginning to calm down. On the night I took these, I realized how long it had been since we had all gotten on the floor to play at night. I know this is one of Caroline's favorite things. I couldn't resist getting some shots of her and her daddy.

Maybe One Day...

So, this is one of the main reasons why I was totally excited about buying this house last summer. I had many visions of laying back in this thing filled with bubbles and relaxing all my worries away.

*Cue the noise of a record needle scratching across a record*

Here is what my oasis looks like these days:

Which is tolerable only because this is the beautiful, happy, little face that is enoying her own version of relaxing:

I think her look here says it all. I never stood a chance at bubbles or relaxation or even privacy in this tub. Maybe one day...

Maybe the Easter Bunny Knew Better

One present that Caroline did NOT get from the Easter bunny was a sandbox. One just like the one she could play at for hours at Dallas and Carrie's house. It probably wouldn't fit in her Easter basket. In any case, and it is probably needless to say that this point, but she got one right after Easter day. We broke it out on the first sunny day of Spring Break, filled it up with the soft, white new sand and took out all the accompanying sand toys that we felt she just had to have. Honey was here for the grand occasion. I have to give her credit, she did express some doubt that Caroline would know how to play with the sand, and I vaguely remember hearing something about her "throwing all the sand out of the box" in the midst of lots of protests that she was going to get "very sandy". Being convinced that we are going to be uber-parents and let our daughter experience all the messy things that were outlawed when we were younger, I was oblivious to the warnings.

Here's how it went down:
(1) she spent many, many minutes doing nothing but emptying the sand from the sandbox into the yard with a cute little purple shovel
(2) she watched me make a "bucket sand castle" in the sandbox and realized that the bucket held more sand than the shovel
(3) she spent many minutes emptying the sand from the sandbox into the yard with a big bucket
(4) she got very sandy
The pictures were probably the best part - at least for me, but I do think Honey has had some vindication.

In an effort to make the most of our last days of Spring Break, we took Caroline to Incredible Pizza Company on Saturday night. We did this with a lot of trepidation, because she wasn't exactly the happiest toddler on the block all day Saturday. That, given with the fact that she has become very fond of throwing things at us when she doesn't get her way, made us both a little nervous, but we braved it anyway. m
Jack came with us and the whole thing started off wrong when Caroline began screaming loudly after she realized she couldn't just walk around on her own. Her daddy strapped her into a highchair and we got her some food and prayed for the best. Unfortunately, she wasn't hungry so things weren't looking good for any of the rest of us. Two bites into dinner, she decided that she didn't want to be in the high chair anymore and tried to start climbing out. We had to hold her in, which led to lots more screaming. I'm sure at this point, Jack was rethinking his decision to come along with us.
All of this led to what you see here, my not-so-great-mommy-moment number 132. I gave her some of my root beer. Here you see her spooning it into her mouth, along with large pieces of ice. What I found was that it made her quiet. And happy. Which made me happy, along with the rest of the people dining nearby. So, I let her have it. And then I gave her more, and more. I snapped these photos so I would at least look like I was a good mom, despite falling into the "Britney Spears" school of parenting tricks.

She had enough of the spoon towards the end, and just started drinking it like shots of liquor. Nice, huh?

Driving (after drinking, even)!

I didn't get any tokens for her, and she seemed to have just as much fun running around. Hmmmm, could it have been sugar overload??

She had fun on the drum machine, even if it wasn't turned on!

She also had a little too much fun shooting this play pistol!

Not pictured: One exhausted mommy from chasing her all over, and I do mean ALL OVER this over-crowded place. Note to self: Give the root beer at the END of the trip next time.