Dolphins!

While we were at the beach, we actually decided to leave the beach for one outing.  While we were on the beach, we would occasionally see dolphins playing out in the waves, but only from a distance, so we decided it would be fun to go for a dolphin watching cruise.  Even though Audra has had not the greatest luck in marine mammal watching so far, we wanted to try again and see if the dolphins would come out for her this time.

We called the dolphin cruise boat on Wednesday morning to see when we could get a reservation and they said our only good time was that morning.  It's amazing to see how quickly 10 people can mobilize when the need to.  (Aunt Karen decided to stay home because her and boats don't get along.)

We headed down to the dolphin cruise dock, and it was a pretty hot wait for the boats to board.  Once on, however, the breeze cooled us off.  We were going to watch the dolphins with a tour group on two 50 ft. boats.  The boats search for the dolphins in separate areas and once they find some, the boats come together so the dolphins can play in their wake.  It's really a pretty unique set up. 

While we waited for the dolphins, everyone else was having fun, but Benny was not to happy.  He's not a fan of life jackets and he got a little overheated.  It took him about halfway through the tour before he finally decided the whole boat thing was okay.

After only about 5 minutes, a dolphin showed up.  He got right up in between the wakes of the boats and started jumping and playing.  It was amazing.  Then, a couple more times during the tour the dolphins came back, as many as 5 dolphins were all jumping in the wake at the same time.  I've never seen anything like it.  Everyone thought it was wonderful!  The boys even got to "drive the boat" at the end of the trip.

What an amazing time with my family!

 (One of the boats)

 (Ben the grump and I)

 

 (Grandma, Grandpa, Great-Grandma Dot, and Evan wait for the dolphins.)

 

 (The Mhire family)

 

 (We've spotted the dolphin!)

 (playing duo)

 (leap frog)

 

 (Jack and Uncle Tommy drive the boat.)

(Evan and Grandpa take their turn steering.)

Sweet Home Alabama...

...well, at least it was our home for a week, and what a great week it was!  Last week we were fortunate enough to head down to Gulf Shores, Alabama to spend an entire week lounging at the beach with the extended Bitler clan.  It was a long 16-hour drive to get down there especially with two toddlers in tow, but it was well worth it once we got there.

We arrived at about 4pm on Saturday afternoon at Martinique on the Gulf Resort after our very long drive, and Grandma and Grandpa were waiting for us with open arms.  Our house was called Martini Hut, and it was lovely. We all scoped out our bedrooms, waited on the arrived of the Mhire clan from Louisiana, and then headed down to the beach, of course.

One of the best parts was the golf cart that we were able to use to drive down to the beach each time, including that first time.  The boys loved it, and Evan had to sit on the lap of whoever was driving and "help".  He frequently requested to go the long way home just so he could have a little more golf cart time.  One of his favorite driving styles was "flooring it".

So, we drove the golf cart down to the beach and walked down the boardwalk to the white sand and beautiful blue ocean.  It was a beautiful evening with a cool breeze blowing, a great start to the week.

Evan and Ben immediately rushed onto the sand and began to play having experienced this whole beach thing earlier in the summer.  For cousin Jack, however, it was his first time to the beach, so he didn't quite know what to think.  At first, he simply held his feet up, refused to put them in the sand, and kept repeating "No mommy, No mommy, No mommy, Yuck!"  But eventually he got used to it and set about exploring the sand and the surf.

It was great to get our toes in the ocean and great to finally be together with my family that all lives way to far apart from one another.  More family would arrive the next day and many more adventures would happen as the week unfolded, so stay tuned...

(Grandson monkeys hang on Grandpa before our excursion to the beach.)

 (No Mommy...yuck!)

 (Benny would walk straight in if he wasn't held back by Grandma.)

 (Evan enjoys the waves with Grandpa.)

 (Dangling grandsons)

 (The Mhire family enjoys their stroll on the beach.)

 (Dads try to capture some pictures.)

 (Grandparents and their boys)

To Infinity and Beyond...

So, Evan is just getting old enough to really enjoy movies.  As we told you about earlier, he went to his first movie in the theater in June.  For his birthday, we got him several movies to watch at home including Cars, Finding Nemo, and Toy Story.  He loves Cars and Finding Nemo and only hides his eyes at the tractor tipping and barracuda parts.  However, we tried showing him Toy Story once, and he wasn't that into it. 

However, I think it's a really cute movie, so I was determined for him to give it another chance.  Last week, we sat down and watched it, and he absolutely loved it!  He kept talking about how Buzz Lightyear could "fly without a rocket".  It's so much fun to listen to him watch it because he just belly laughs, and I've never really heard him do that with a movie before. 

So, Evan's been playing Buzz Lightyear recently and flying around the living room.  This morning Benny joined in the fun.  Here's my two little space cadets with their fashionable helmets.

 (Evan in his space helmet)

(His lovable sidekick Ben)

Horsey!

Little Ben loves animals.  He always has to have a stuffed animal in his hand, especially his horsey that he sleeps with and a new little puppy dog that I found in my old stuffed animals.  So, when we headed to a new mall that had a carousel, he was entranced by the horseys going around and around.  We knew we had to take Benny on his first carousel ride. 

The whole family hopped on the ride.  Evan was a bit nervous, as he is with all rides, so he chose one of the chariots to ride in.  We picked a nice pretty horse for Ben.  As soon as the ride started, he was entranced.  He loved the horse going up and down, he loved watching the world around him spin, and I think he's definitely going to be a ride sort of guy.

Can't wait to take him on another ride!

Under the Sea

After Ian's scuba diving adventure, the boys and I were out on the porch and we noticed all of Ian's scuba gear drying.  Evan was very excited about the snorkel and wanted to play with it.  However, I knew Daddy wouldn't approve of us making a toy out of his nice equipment. 

So, we improvised.  I found some plastic pipes that became our snorkels.  Then, it sort of spiraled out of control from there.  We found every blue blanket and towel that we had and created an ocean in the living room.  We pulled out every sea creature toy we could find and spent the morning swimming, getting attacked by sharks, and playing around in the "ocean".  The boys loved it!  It reminded me how fun pretending and playing can be. 

(Ben, Evan, and the other sea creatures of the ocean)

It was fun, but boy was it exhausting!  This was Evan later on in the afternoon enjoying the peace and quiet of the ocean.

Separate Adventures

Last Saturday, I got in the car to head out somewhere and I looked around the car--it was just Benny and I.  That's right, we were only half of our little family of four.  For the first time in our family's short history we had all split up to go on separate adventures.

Gram had kindly invited Evan to head down to Charlotte for a weekend with the grandparents and a ride on the Charlotte light rail.  He was thrilled and couldn't wait to head out.  He loved every minute and I don't think he missed mommy one little bit.  He rode the train, explored Charlotte, and even enjoyed some treats at Chick-Fil-A.  It was so strange to talk to him on the phone-his little voice didn't sound like him from that distance.  I missed my little boy, but I'm so glad he had a good time and his Gram and Gramps took great care of him. 

(Gram, Gramps, and Evan enjoy their ride on he light rail.)

(Evan is clearly having a great time!)

Meanwhile, Ian was off having an adventure of his own.  Saturday, he headed down to the coast and took a boat out to sea for a little scuba diving.  He had a great time swimming with the fishies, jellyfish, sting rays, and countless other creatures. 

Ben and I were left at home.  While we missed the other boys, it was nice to have some time to spend, just the two of us.  We headed over to the NC Museum of Life and Science, one of our favorite places-only this time, we got to explore it from Benny's point of view.  He found a piece of coral in the dinosaur fossil dig and couldn't let it go.  He also loved the butterfly pavilion, especially the benches.  He had to sit on every one.

(Ben rides a dinosaur at the museum.)

(Ben and the bench)

On Sunday, we met up with Gram at the zoo-the halfway point between Durham and Charlotte-to retrieve Evan from his big adventures.  The zoo was great fun as always, but our little boys were clearly worn out when we hopped in the car to head home.  Our family all had great adventures on their own, but I'm certainly glad to have everyone back together!

 (Ben practices his walking around the zoo.)

 (The turtles-Benny's favorite)

(Evan had a great time, but I think he's tired.)

Don't Leave the Room

So, Evan and I have had the opportunity to do quite a few fun things over the past few weeks since he's given up naps.  We have a couple-hour chunk in the middle of the day when Ben is napping to do some creative, big boy activities. 

Today, since we had just been to the planetarium, we were focused on space.  So, we decided to do a watercolor painting of space.  We put on in his painting shirt and got out the watercolors.  He was doing a lovely black piece and having a great time. 

It was at that moment that I decided it would be a good idea to head upstairs to change into my swim suit for the afternoon's adventure. 

Well, when I got back downstairs it could have been worse, but there are definitely reasons not to leave a toddler downstairs with paint alone...