Trip to Granny's house and The Long Beach Aquarium of The Pacific

Since Jim had a extra day off for Memorial Day Weekend we headed down south to Granny's house. We had a great visit, Granny and Maggy spent lots of time getting to know each other.
We all love to be at Granny's, her home is comfortable and very, very kid friendly. She made us her famous waffles on Tuesday morning, Sunday night we all went out for a lovely dinner at her favorite steak house. Despite her claims of being too old for anything and the fact that she feels like she is falling apart she would take Maggy from me every chance she got and walk her all over the house. You can't tell from the pictures here but Maggy is already almost half her size, that doesn't stop Granny. Look at her smile!


Fletcher spent as much time as possible outside on his bike. Riding is one of his favorite past times. He talks about all the bikes, dirtbikes, motorbikes he will own when he's "18". We must have gone around Granny's block about 4 times per day while there.

Dad and Maggy on one of the many bike rides out front of Granny's house.

My daughter has THE longest lashes in the world! She is really talking a lot now, laughing and enjoying our attention very much.


On Monday we packed up enough for the day and drove a bit further south to Long Beach and the Aquarium of the Pacific. Fletcher has been asking to go there since some time around Christmas when he saw a commercial for the aquarium.
Fletcher in a boat, playing some type of capture game with the other children. Maggy and Dad standing by and watching Fletch play.

Fletcher spent at least 30 minutes playing with the bat rays. There was an aquarium worker standing behind Fletch on a loudspeaker telling the crowd all about the rays. After about 3 minutes Fletcher took over her job, lecturing anyone standing near him about the life and habits of rays.Maggy lost interest in Fletcher's lecture very quickly.

A touching tank, and Fletch holding a hermit crab. This aquarium volunteer was really great, he was patient - answering Fletcher's questions and obviously really enjoys his work.



We enjoyed the aquarium, but both Jim and I agree the Monterey Aquarium is a bit better, more engaging and interesting. Still it was a great way to spend our day, the weather was perfect and we couldn't have asked for more. Well, Fletcher can! A ride on a real boat is what he wants next.

Back at Granny's after a very long day.....

but still smiling!

Ready to wrestle with dad, poor dad.

Then fall into bed.

It is always hard to leave Granny's, while at the same time we are always ready to head back home.
While Maggy has taken much better to her carseat, the first few months she screamed as soon as she was put into her seat, a three hour ride was asking a lot of her. We ended up making three or four stops on the way home to let her lay under a tree and visit while Fletch ran around. Thanks to well kept rest stops and a park we've never been to this was a nice addition to our weekend.

I love this picture, I think it's the look of pure joy on Fletcher's face. He does love his daddy.

OOOOOh, another animal! This guy was really nice and let Fletch hold the bird for a moment.What a sweet brother.

At the park we stumbled upon, we were fortunate enough to see a rare wild leaping lemur! He was hiding in a tree when we got there, but soon came out to play!

Great weekend all around.