big big fish

We (Tripp and I) surprised Lee with a last minute mini vacation to Atlanta on Saturday. He has a big birthday tomorrow, and we thought it was the perfect occassion to get away. Thursday afternoon I told Tripp we were going to take Daddy to see the big fish. Well as soon as Lee gets home about 45 minutes later, Tripp starts saying big fish daddy, big fish. Well Lee wasn't catching what he was saying. Eventually he figured it out. With a sweet friend's connection, we got tickets to the Georgia Aquarium and I got a nice hotel room cheap via priceline.com. So Saturday morning we headed east. We checked into our room at the Renaissance Atlanta Downtown and then made our way to the Marta station. Tripp loved riding the "choo-choo." Once we got over to the aquarium, I was a little worried it would take us a while to get in, the place was packed. Apparently it's like that every weekend. But we went straight through the will call line and made our way in pretty quickly.

Waiting paitently to go inside...

It was hard to get him to look at the camera, all he wanted to look at were the fish. We even tried to pick him up away from the glass. I tried hard to get a smile, but no such luck...

Coming down the giant mouth slide in the children's area.

The aquarium is really neat and huge! It's divided up into different areas and we made our way through them all. Tripp would run straight up to the windows, and point out the big fish. Even though it was crowded, we still got to see everything. I think we all loved the Ocean Voyager area the best. You first walk through a tunnel with the fish/sharks swimming all around you, and then you end up in front of a gigantic viewing window. They have whale sharks there, and they are massive. After our visit, we made our way to dinner. After a long day, we just stopped at the Varsity by the hotel. Lee had never been, and we didn't have to worry about bringing a toddler there so it worked. We enjoyed some hot dogs and ice cream.

We had a great short visit. The Aquarium was a lot of fun and we enjoyed it very much. Hopefully next time we visit Atlanta, we can do more. I also highly suggest priceline.com. Definitely the way to go getting a cheap nice hotel room. We'll try it again soon!

fourth of july!

We spent the fourth of July down in Orange Beach. We had a great relaxing weekend. Daddy got to go fishing while we enjoyed the sunshine at the pool. The weather was hot, but perfect for the beach. Tripp had a blast riding the boat, swimming in the pool and riding on the golf cart.

Checking out all the big boats!

Swimming in the pool

Ready for a boat ride on the skiff

Helping JoeJoe drive the big boat!



Catch of the day!

I wish we could have stayed a little longer. It was nice to kick back and relax. We can't wait to get back down there again soon!!

daddy's little helper

Last weekend we got several new trees and bushes to put in our front yard. Over the last several days, Lee has worked hard and gotten everything in the ground. The other day he was planting the new boxwoods and Tripp just had to help. It was so cute!

Daddy's Helper!

More like Daddy's little shadow!

Tough work!

Today was Tripp's two year well check up. He was so good and we were surprisingly in and out pretty quickly. He got a finger prick which he did not like, but other than that we had a great visit. He weighed 27 1/2 lbs. (45%) and is 34 1/2 in. (50%). He gained 3 1/2 pounds since his 18 month check up and grew an inch and a half!

We are excited about the long weekend (as it started today for us)! Happy 4th of July!

the big 2!

Tripp had a great birthday last Thursday!! He was really into the cake, singing and of course the presents! He definitely knew it was his birthday and if you ask him how old he is, he will say two!

Ready for presents!

So excited about the Thomas tent!

He is saying cheese and showing me his new movie
(He recently has become a huge fan of Dora and Deigo....)

Whoa! A dump truck!

He got an even bigger dump truck from Paw and Grammie.

Cake Time!
He knew exactly what to do!!

yummy cake!!

Tripp's birthday party was on Sunday and we had a great time! We had it out at the Oaks again. They were going to sand the back and so we just enjoyed the sand before it was spread for Tripp's digging party.

Having fun digging in the sand!

Playing with Price

Jumping in the bounce house!

Lila wanting to jump too!

Excited about more cake!

MMMMM!

We had a great (and hot!!) day!
Thanks to our friends and family that made Tripp's birthday party so fun and special!

Nothing better than ending the day with a kiss from Ella Jane!

Happy 2nd Birthday Tripp!!

My sweet baby boy is two years old today! I just can't believe it! I said it last year and I'll say it again, but it really seems like just yesterday coming home with him and now here we are two years later! He has blessed our lives more than words can say. I can't even imagine what we would do without him.

Tripp loves loves LOVES trucks, tractors and trains. No matter where we are going, he can spot them a mile(s) away. I will not even see them and I here "big tractor mommy" and its way off in a field somewhere. He also loves playing outside. He would stay out there all night if we let him. He is talking non-stop, often repeating what we say. I love carrying on a "conversation" with him. His favorite words right now are no and mine. It is funny to see him react to something he doesn't like, he gets a stern look on his face and says "no mommy" or "no daddy." It's so cute and hard not to laugh, but we are trying to teach him that he can't say no to us. He really isn't a good sharer (is anyone at this age??), but we are working on that too. He says "my truck" "my tractor." It is cute like when I hug my mom or Lee, Tripp gets jealous and says my daddy or my mimi.

Oh and he has an obsession with shoes. Not like having too many, he just always wants his on. And if he gets to pick, he always picks his gator shoes (we have the navy ones). We're going to have to get another pair soon. It's usually a little battle if I want him to wear his sandals or tennis shoes. If I or Lee walk around barefoot, he goes and finds our shoes and bring them to us and says "shoes mommy." If I am riding in the car and slip them off and prop my feet up, "shoes mommy." He wants them on when he wakes up and doesn't take them off till bath time/bed time. Crazy... He is still sleeping good, I haven't even thought of moving him out of his crib. He's never attempted to climb out and he does so well with going to sleep on his own that I am scared to try anything new until we have to.

His two year check up isn't until next week, but I swear he's taller and heavier! He can get stuff off the ends of counters and reach the door knobs. Pretty soon he'll be turning them and I'll have to keep the doors locked. He is so smart and it's so amazing to watch him learn. I do miss my baby tripp, but I just love this stage when we have so much fun together. I could go on and on, but I'll stop.

Since he has a love for trains, I really wanted to get him a train table. So I searched and searched and ran across a steal of a deal on Ebay. (I love Ebay) So I found a brand new one for $50.00 in Minnesota. It had a high shipping fee. But coincidentally Lee had a truck up there and picked it up so we didn't have to pay shipping. It came from the Sportsman Guide Outlet store and the original price was 5x the price we paid. It even will convert to an art table and came with two long rolls of white paper!

Normally we would have saved something this big for Christmas, but we decided he really doesn't know the difference right now. So we set it up last night (it was kinda like Christmas Eve) and woke him up early this morning to see it before Lee left for work. He was so excited!!

He definitely did not want to leave it to get ready and go to school. He has a few other small things waiting on him this afternoon to open. And we are looking forward to his little party this weekend with friends and family!

Happy Birthday Tripp!!

We love you so much!!!

birthday cooking!

I felt a little like Betty Crocker last night! I made the cutest cupcakes last night for Tripp to take to school today for his birthday. I saw these months ago online on a blog and wanted to try them out. I was pretty impressed with the way they turned out!

Cute little monkey faces!!

Just take a whole nilla wafer and cut the top off and then take the mini nilla wafer and cut in half for the ears. Use black and red icing for the eyes, nose and mouth. Easy and cute and fun!! I also made another cake to have tonight. Nothing too fancy...

Tripp loves cake and I hope he'll enjoy this one! My mom always made cakes for us when we were little and I really enjoyed making these last night for Tripp. I can't wait for him to blow out his candles!! He will be loaded with sugar after his cupcake at school and then cake tonight, but that's okay because it's his birthday! :)

out mommy...

Yesterday after I pick Tripp up from school, we were talking and I was asking him about his day. He then tells me "out mommy out mommy" and I look back (only for a quick second) and see this....

Apparently he wanted out. He pushed the little chest bar down and successfully wiggled his arms out. I am hoping this is a one time thing, but just in case, I tightened him up a bit more so he doesn't become a little houdini. I pulled over and got him back in (after a few pictures).

Over the weekend we enjoyed some ice cream from Marble Slab. I had a buy one get one, so Tripp and I shared. Needless to say he really enjoyed it. He definitely has a sweet tooth like mommy and daddy!

MMM MMM Good!!!!

This cutie patootie turns two in just 2 days..... He (we) can't wait for all the birthday action coming later this week.