Spending the day catching up with my Mobile Family!!!

I was so excited to see on Facebook that my cousin Patty and her oldest daughter Krista were coming up to our neck of the woods for a choir concert at a local university. I quickly took the opportunity to meet up with them and catch up!!

Krista Beautifully dressed for her Chior Concert!

I have been a horrible cousin and haven't been to visit in over 2 years, despite our best efforts, nothing has seemed to work out with us getting together. So when I found out they were open for lunch and a little shopping I was super excited!!



Ellie woke up at 6:30 am this morning!! This was way to early for my liking, especially since I have a pinched nerve in my back and I got VERY LITTLE sleep last night, so I told her it was still night night time. I was able to keep her in bed until about 8:00, so that was nice. Around 9:30 I told Ellie I was going to jump in the shower while she watched Dora. She said ok and I took off to my bathroom. The next thing I know, I turn around and Ellie is standing there with her shirt half off telling me that she was taking a shower too. HAHA!! I finally caved and let her take a shower with me, she thought it was the greatest thing. She just laughed and laughed as the shower sprinked her with water. It was really funny...but it actually made washing her hair much easier. hmmm....



Well we finally got out and got dressed and headed to the mall to meet Patty and Krista.... We met at California Pizza Kitchen for lunch. They had never eaten there before since there is not one in the Mobile area. We actually got Krista to try new foods and she liked them!!! So proud of her for venturing out of her comfort zone!! "Go Krista!!"



Ellie was really good considering how long we were there. I think we were in that booth for over an hour. Ellie played around a bit, but for the most part she was really well behaved. Patty took this picture of her from across the table.

She smiled so big for her Aunt Patty!!

After eating lunch we promised Ellie some ice cream so we headed to 32 degrees for yogurt. Ellie was begging for her standard "pink with gummies." That translates to Strawberry with gummy bears and fruit. She loves these new yogart bars!! After finishing her yogart, she and Krista played together really well...

Krista was so good with her!

Then we went out to do some shopping. Patty and Krista took us into Swoozies. We had never been there before, but if you have a little girl, Swoozies is a MUST!!! I'm not even a girlie girl but they had some cute stuff. They have more than just little girly stuff but that was what occupied most of the space. Super cute store!! Then on our way back we noticed that it was starting to rain so I ran and got the umbrellas. Patty and Krista needed to hit (something) Charlies and Ellie and I needed to exchange something at Gymboree so we split for just a second and I was going to meet them back at the Charlie store. Well on our way to Gymboree, we get caught up in some major rain. You see this mall we are at is on outdoor mall, so when your walking from store to store you are outside and they do not have canopies over the sidewalks. So it is throwing us a good rain, Ellie is walkine with her little, pink umbrella up and I have my super huge umbrella up (covering Ellie and I since Ellie moves her's so much she really doesn't keep herself covered) and we are walking slowly through the rain trying to stay dry. You can imagine the looks that we are getting, but we are doing the best we can. I really wish I had a picture of this because I can imagine that it was a sight to behold! (I would like to preface that it was not cold so getting a little damp was not going to hurt either of us.) I wish I knew a security guy at the mall so I could get a copy of their security video.... LOL We met back up with Patty and Krista for a few more minutes and then we needed to head back home. It was getting late and Ellie hadn't had a nap. This makes her a ticking time bomb that could go off at anytime!! We said goodbye and I can't wait till we had to Mobile in May!! I love spending time with Patty and crew!! I so miss them!!

The Zoo...

On Thursday afternoon, Kenny and I took Ellie to the Birmingham Zoo. She loves the zoo and we were really excited to see the new African Safari area. They opened it the Thursday before my Spring Break began. Although the entire area is not opened up for the animals, once they aclimate all the animals to the new area it should be very nice!! The New Boma Area is going to be really cool once the animals are put together there.

The Children's area...

The carousel is Ellie's absolute favorite. She could ride it over and over and over again. It would not matter if she rode it all day, when you take her off of it she is going to have a melt down. (We are working on that...Haha) She always chooses the horses or Zebras as this case maybe.

At the entrance of the African Safari area there is a elephant statue. I do NOT believe that the intention of that statue was for children to climb on and take thier picture, but that seems to be what has occured with it. There was a fairly long line of families patiently waiting their turn to get their picture on the elephant. Ellie was so excited when Kenny placed her on it and then she refused to get down!!! LOL That's my girl, she doesn't want to give up a good thing!! Haha

The new African Safari area has a play center for children. In this center there are African Drums. Ellie just played her heart out on those drums. She was super cute!!

Also in the children's play center were these cute African Masks. Ellie had to beg her daddy to "put on" the masks, but he did it for her. I don't think he would have done it for anyone else but with her, he's just mush!

This ant mound is also in the play center. It is designed with the concept of a rock wall in mind. It was really designed for older children, but Ellie thinks that she can do it all and didn't hesitate to try. With a little assistance, she was able to make it to the top!!

There were a few things that we didn't get to do because we ran out of time so we will have to make it back soon. Next time we hope to feed the giraffe's, ride the camels, and hopefully it will be warm enough to get in the water!! Maybe we will see you there!!

Mommy's Spring Break 2011

Ok...Our Spring Break was filled with activities, this was The McWane Science Center! We went Wednesday afternoon. The Backyardigans were there. The place was packed but Ellie had a blast!! If you get a chance to go, I highly recommend it!

The lift at McWane

Freakin out after touching the shark in the tank!!

She loved it tho...

At the bottom of the giant slide. The lady at the top was super shocked that Ellie jumped into the tunnel and was off before she could ask if Ellie was going to be able to down by herself. Ellie instantly wanted to go down it again, and she was running up the stairs to do it again!! My little Dare Devil!!!

Seeing Tyrone!!

Squashing our faces into the colored pegs was hysterical! Ellie would just laugh and laugh, then she would say "again, again" and we would!

This is Ellie!!!

Ellie and Daddy looking through the Dinosaurs.

Ellie doing her archeological dig...

Playing in the water activitiy.

Riding the fish in the aquarium!!

Ok, It's super late and I am dreading the fact that I have to get up at 5:30 in the morning to get ready for work. Yes....It's back to the real world for me, so I am about to turn in. I will finish updating about our spring break tomorrow. We have many more activities to cover, but before I go, I want to show you what my baby girl did today!!!

She caught her first fish!!! She caught this very nice spotted bass on her tiny, little, pink, and purple Disney Princess fishing rod!! I missed the actual catching of the fish, but Kenny recounted the event for me. He said that she began by saying "I got sumfin!" Kenny thought she was caught on some weeds or something but to his surprise it was a fish. The sucker was fighting so hard that it almost pulled her in. He also said that it was about all that little rod could take to get that sucker in. He had to fight Ellie and that fish at the same time to reel it in because Ellie wanted to do it herself!! Haha

She's a big time fisherman!!!