Aquarium

Yes, I still have pictures of Charleston to post :) In addition to the children's museum, we also took a day (well...a morning) and went to the aquarium. We have been to the aquarium in Charleston a few times, but I LOVE it. It's one of my favorite things to do when we visit.

When we first got there, it was penguin feeding time. They brought out two penguins and did a small presentation about the penguins and what/how they eat. The penguins were just walking around the floor - one of them came right up to Owen. It was super cute, so of course that means I don't have any pictures of that :) We did take lots of pictures, though!

The Myers/Newton clan. I am a total sucker for these kinds of pictures :(

Whoa - this is crazy!

Jonah's super excited for the slide

Now it's Owen's turn

Check out this bird!

Yum, my fingers taste good after touching a sting ray!

Melt-down mode. This is one of my favorite pictures. (Side note - we normally don't let Owen roll around on the ground throwing a fit in public, but this time was really funny and we had the camera, so... :)

Jonah thinks that looks like fun! (Jonah is actually just looking at the fish - Owen is the one throwing a fit).

Hanging out

We had a lot of down time, too...just hanging out at the house.

Playing with Callie (or Caesar...I mean, they are pretty much the same dog (just kidding, Katie and Ben!)) is so much fun!

Hey, check out the ducks in the pond

A VERY rare moment - actually playing together!

...and Jonah's had enough

Lucas is having a good time!

Sweet Miss Elsie has something to say

Children's Museum of the Lowcountry

We did a lot of really fun stuff throughout our week in Charleston. Tuesday morning, we ventured downtown and went to the Children's Museum of the Lowcountry. We had an interesting time. The museum itself was awesome. It was quite a bit smaller than the children's museum in Cincinnati, but I feel like there was a lot more age-appropriate stuff for Owen to do. There was a water room (um...Owen's very favorite. The kid is OBSESSED with water), a room with a giant pirate ship, a medieval room with a big two-story castle, and a grocery store room.

Check out the awesome apron Mommy and Daddy made me wear

Mom, you're not seriously taking our picture again, are you?!?!

Learning about currents

Jonah was pretty interested in the water, too

So, by the pictures, it may appear like "interesting" isn't necessarily the best word to describe our visit - I mean, it looks like Owen is having a great time! The water room was the first room we played in...we should have just stayed there. We ventured to the pirate ship next. Owen was having a great time climbing up and running around, but at some point, he got knocked down (or fell down, but it's more fun to blame someone else :) and went into MAJOR meltdown mode. I mean, we're talking screaming, crying, kicking. It was awesome. We finally get Owen calmed down and take him into the medieval room...we lose him! Seriously - that little dude is fast and had climbed up the steps, ran around the second level, and climbed back down another way before we could get upstairs. After about five minutes, we finally caught him running through one of the doors. Meanwhile, our precious 10 week old is screaming bloody murder the entire time. :)

It really is a minor miracle we survived!

Jonah's Birthday Party

So, the main reason we went to South Carolina last week was for Jonah's 2nd birthday party...I cannot believe that kid is two already!!! Where has the time gone?!?! It was an AWESOME party - Katie had it at a fire station. The fire fighters did a demonstration of putting on all of their gear, they pulled out the truck and raised the ladder, and they even let the kids play with the hose. Basically, it was a little kid's dream :)

Inspecting the outside of the fire truck

Checking out the inside of the fire truck

Cheering on the fireman

Spraying the hose

Now it's Daddy's turn!

Hey, what's up there?

It's the ladder!!

Jonah wasn't thrilled about everyone singing "Happy Birthday" :)

He was, however, VERY excited about his new guitar!

Lucas was in very good hands (inside, out of the heat!)

Happy Birthday to Jonah!!

Reds game

So, we just got back from South Carolina where we had our first family vacation :) We've been on vacations with both of our families since we've had kids, but this was really our first solo trip. It was weird!!! :) I can't believe that we not only have one kid, but TWO!! We had a really great time, and took a TON of pictures. Before I get to those, though, I want to post pictures from Owen's first trip to a Reds game.

A couple of weeks ago, the Reds had a 4:10 start time, which was perfect for taking Owen. He is usually going to bed about the time games normally start. We took Lucas to Justin's mom and dads, and had a date night with Owen - it was so much fun!! He did really great - and saw a Reds victory (he even saw an inside-the-park homerun!)

Walking to the game in style

For the majority of the game, Owen was way more interested in pointing out all of the boats going by on the river.

Taking a couple of minutes to pose with Gapper

Channeling his inner Lou Piniella

Having fun at the Reds game

The night wouldn't have been complete without an ice cream treat!

A valiant effort in capturing a family picture from the lady behind us :)

Poison Ivy

For the past TWO AND A HALF WEEKS, I have been plagued with poison ivy. It's the first time I've ever gotten it, and I really hope it's the last. It has been awful!!! One might think I got this terrible case of death by doing something cool like hiking or camping, but NO - doing freaking yard-work on a Saturday afternoon. I really don't like to complain, but it's one of the worst experiences I've had in my life :) I pretty much think I'd rather go through child-birth again than have poison ivy. At least child-birth is relatively short (not two freaking weeks) and you get the best gift in the world as a result. :)

For laughs and giggles, I thought I'd post some pictures I took of myself. I took them with my phone so I could text my family to show them...it's pretty crazy.

For the first week, I kept telling myself..."At least it's not on my face!" Oops - spoke too soon.

My neck

My arm - day 12

The rashes and blisters were on my face, neck, stomach, back, up and down both arms, and finally made its way down my legs this weekend. I am on my second round of steroids from the doctor, and am finally feeling some relief! I think it has also been a little bit of Murphy's law - these past two weeks, we've had two dentist appointments, four doctor's appointments, Justin threw out his back, we took Owen to his first Reds game (my next post, btw...we had so much fun!), we closed on our old house (yay!), and tomorrow Owen, Lucas, and I are flying down to South Carolina. So, my itchy, nasty, poison ivy really couldn't have come at a more stressful/inconvenient time. :)