Georgia Aquarium

We drove to Atlanta after we left Siesta Key. We thought it would be fun the check out the Georgia Aquarium.

There were lots of different fish than what we got used to seeing in the Seattle Aquarium. 

We spent a fair amount of time watching the dolphins. The girls did not want to stay for the dolphin show later in the day though. I guess they had gotten their fill. 

I like how interactive it is. The girls loved running through and climbing up the exhibits. 

They all have a passion for penguins. Evie loves to state penguin facts. 

It's been a while since we've been able to see beluga whales. I don't think any of the girls remembered seeing them before when they used to have some at the zoo in Tacoma. 

Karalee tried to have a staring contest with this big crab. Do crabs blink? I don't think we ever saw it blink. This guy was missing a few legs, but seemed to be able to get around fine. 

Guitar fish? I think this was called a guitar fish. I thought it was a hammer head, but the person who said that turned out to be just a rando walking by. The lady who worked there said hammerheads are too aggressive for this type of exhibit. This tank is enormous. It is 30 feet deep and the size of a football field. And it is just filled with so many fish and animals. 

We came to the lobby for the penguin waddle. Evie was concerned we would miss it, so we were there a few minutes early to get a good place to stand. 

They waddled on down the ramp, hammed it up a bit, and then off they waddled. I'm pretty sure it was the highlight for Evie. 

I enjoyed walking through the tunnel in the big tank. 

I ate cake cor lunch. That's the sort of thing I do. 

After lunch the girls made paper turtles. Kara gave hers a movable mouth, which impressed the puppeteer. He said he was going to make a few like that too. 

The whale sharks were definitely my favorite, and the main reason I even wanted to visit. They have 4 of them if you can believe it. They are massive. we spent a lot of time watching them and took over 100 pictures just of these big fish. There were divers in the water talking about them, but it was difficult to hear. 

There was a 4D Spongebob movie which of course the girls thought was great. 

This was a rope bridge that the girls had lots of fun on. 

We had fun creating creatures and seeing if they were able to make it across the marsh. Most of them sank, and we had some giggles. 

I would totally come here again. I'm sure we missed at least a quarter of the activities. We were there on World Ocean Day, so there were so many fun things set up. 

Siesta Key

After Katie's graduation, we drove out to Siesta Key to spend a few days at the beach. The weather was a lot rainier than we were hoping for, but the kids were out at the beach every chance they got. They didn't really mind the rain when we had it. 

They found lots of treasures, possibly thanks in part to all the rain that was clearing the sand away. The first evening we were there, someone came by and said there is a shark that has come near the beach everyone should get out of the water. I don't know who he was, but he did have a "security" shirt. Someone pointed out to everyone what they believed was the shark. After 10 minutes or so, the guy came back by, and said, the shark is not coming in close, and is moving on. Feel free to get into the water and wade out as far as you are comfortable with. I could still see what had been pointed out as the shark, so I was a little nervous, but let the kids get back in the shallow part. The next morning, the dark spot was still in the same spot, bobbing away, and it was then I realized that what I'd been keeping my eye on was a buoy. Who knows where the shark had been? How close? How far? Apparently if one actually had been near, it was just minding it's own business and passing by. I don't know how they spot or track them at all, or if that guy was just on a power trip making things up.

This shell made it home with us and unfortunately still had a crab instead. Our car started stinking to the high heavens, and we tore it apart trying to find the smell. I took all the shells out of the girls bags, washed them out, but then put the shells back not realizing what the culprit was. We had narrowed it down to their beach bags, so those went up in the luggage topper, so we didn't smell it too much. I was rather annoyed when we made it home and I found this shell with a dead, stinking, crab inside. Whoops! Evie was devastated to have killed the poor creature. 

Kiersten could not get her cast wet, so we got a waterproof sleeve for her to wear. The doctor had said to avoid water, sand and sun, so Florida was the perfect place to be. She did a good job of keeping it dry, but was a little sad not to swim. She is the only one that was happy when it got stormy, and we had to leave the beach. 

Evie was glad she could swim in the ocean. She had a great time, and definitely feels at home in the water. 

Kerry and Lana drove out to the beach as well for a couple days. 

She loves to do this starfish float, and goes right over the waves. She can stay like this for a really long time. 

We even got Grams to go in the water for a few minutes. 

Everyone took turns playing in the sand with Kiersten so she wouldn't feel left out. She built a decent sized "sea wall" one day. 

When Katie and Brennon showed up with baby Rozzie, everyone was excited. 

Ben hurt his back a little after throwing the girls, Katie, Brennon, and a hilarious attempt at flipping his dad. They really are lucky no one got hurt worse. It was an ill conceived plan. 

Grandma Van Sickle came up too to spend some time at the beach. 

Kiersten was really happy to have Grandma there to pal around with. They walked all along the beach looking at shells and playing in the waves. 

We bought the girls a boogie board at a surf shop around the corner. It was great fun. Ben and I even tried it out a few times. 

The sunny parts did not last very long, but they were fun while they lasted. 

Rosalind is a good little beach bunny. Who knew eating sand could be such a fun time?

Gray skies chased us away. We actually stayed through quite a bit of rain, but left when we started to hear thunder. 

Because of the weather, more time was spent in the beach house than I'd planned for. WE had a few games though, and had some fun. The girls had their electronics to play with as well. 

Ben made burgers, and we feasted on those for several days. We made a Sam's Club order online, so we could stop on route to Siesta Key and pick up all the food we'd need while there. That worked out nicely. 

We went to eat at Captain Curt's  Crab and Oyster Bar. It was good. Kiersten and Evie got stuffed animals and all the girls had their meals served on frisbees they got to keep. They also had fun sodas with custom labels that the girls thought were pretty cute. 

I would love to go to Siesta Key again, but it'd be nice to know we would get some sunshine while there. 

Katie's Graduation

At the beginning of June, we were excited to drive down to Florida to see Katie graduate from medical school. The girls were so inspired by their aunt and proud of her hard work. Ben and I were also just in awe of all she's accomplished, and happy for her to be finished with school.

It was awesome to see her graduate.

Look at our lil baby sis!

It was a very long graduation. We had lots of time to chat. (Not that we really needed it after the long drive to Florida, haha.)

She is in there somewhere. It was hard to spot her with so many petite doctors with long straight hair. I think she was in the second or third row of her class if I remember correctly. 

Sweet little Rosalind is a good sport. I miss her wittle face!

We did not have tickets for the girls to attend graduation. It would have been difficult for them to sit through. So they got to hang out in a hotel room playing 3DS, kindle, and taking pictures of ducks outside the window. I think they had it pretty good. 

Dance Rehearsal

Evie was disappointed that we would be out of town for her dance recital this year. Luckily, we were able to make it to the rehearsal, and the teacher was ok with that. I was glad since we had already paid for the costume and couldn't return it. Pictures were that evening as well, so we definitely wanted to get those done. I found out that afternoon that there was a girl in class that had joined after it was too late to get a costume, and so she didn't get to be in the recital. If I had known that I totally would have given her Evie's dress!

She switched from jazz to ballet just because of the outfits. I don't think she was disappointed. 

The headpiece was uncomfortable, and there was some confusion among the moms about placement, so we kept switching back and forth from left side to right side. She did not love getting stabbed in the head repeatedly by the clip. 

Kiersten wanted to come, even though I offered to let her stay home with Kara. She was bored less than halfway through and ended up going home with her friend when her dad got there.

They were so happy and cute!

The teacher made 2 endings. One with Evie and the other girl in class that wasn't in the recital, and another ending for the actual recital. It didn't seem to mess them up too badly, and I really appreciated her thinking of Evie's feelings. 

We just got signed up for ballet again this year, and she can not wait to start in a few weeks!