Summer Visit with Oma, Part 2

We went to the Virginia Aquarium on Monday, the day before Momma had to go back.

Their changing exhibit is a butterfly garden, showing all the various stages of a butterfly's life cycle.  They had caterpillars crawling around in little terrariums, and a case full of cocoons in addition to all the butterflies fluttering around the garden.  The case is checked twice daily, and any butterflies that have emerged from their cocoons are released.  (I'm not sure when the exhibit ends, it just says "through August" on the website.  It's worth checking out, for the locals!)

We saw only 3 different kinds, though I'm sure there were more. I almost stepped on this little brown one as I was taking pictures of the others, he was so well camouflaged with the leaves.  Momma warned me that it was there, but I still didn't see it until she physically pointed it out to me.

We didn't spend any time looking at the informational exhibits,  focusing instead on all of the animals.  The girls enjoyed watching the harbor seals making laps around their pool right outside the entrance to the aquarium itself.

Personally, I had more fun watching my mom and the girls than I did the animals.

So many of the areas are so dark that it's really hard to get good pictures...

The turtle tank.  This one in particular was very friendly.  He (she?) swam right by us several times in a row, as if to say 'hi'.

The sting ray tank.  Both girls had their hands in all the way up past their elbows, and Kaylie's hair was falling in the water.  I'm sure she would have been happy to just get in there and play with the rays!!

When we left the aquarium, we detoured by the Cheesecake Factory in downtown Virginia Beach for some cheesecake.  I left mom in the car with the girls and ran in for a few slices to take home and share.  Man oh, man.  So good.

Of course, we did more than the zoo and the aquarium.  Mom and I went out for lunch, pedicures and shopping on Saturday.  Saturday night, Mom stayed with the girls so that Brandon and I could have a date night for our anniversary.  Sunday, we took the girls to see Monsters University.  Not to mention the down time, just hanging out at home.  It was all so much fun!  I'm so glad that Momma got to come up and hang out with us for a week!  One day, we'll live closer and get to see each other more often, but in the mean time, these visits are a treasure.  :)

Summer Visit with Oma, Part 1

My mom came up for a week in the middle of July.  I didn't take as many pictures as I should have--Of the 7 days that she was here, I have pictures from only three--but I do have some to share.  She flew up on the 9th, and we were very, very glad to see her.  Elora barely left her side.

Momma's been doing the superman thing with the little ones since I was a little one.  She also puts them up on her feet, and flips them from her knees over her head.  She said that Elora is the first one to ever try flipping backwards.

Unfortunately, I was not able to get the whole week off from work.  The annual inventory was scheduled for the morning of the 12th, and since mom was there to stay with the girls, I went in both that morning and the one before it, to help.  So, knowing that those 2 days would be out for going and doing, we took advantage of the days we did have free.  We went to the zoo:

The kids got to play in the water again, which was great.  It was really hot that day!  I should have worn a swim suit as well, so I could cool off too.

Our friends met us there:  Rebekah and "Big" James, and Lydia and "Little" James.

The girls were in rare form that day, especially Kaylie.  I could get Elora to stay put by one of the fountains, but Kaylie was all over the place.  I was going a little crazy trying to keep an eye on them both.  At least until Kaylie threw a tantrum over returning a toy to another family, and I put her in time out, over by Momma and Aunt Bekah, who had given up on the fountains in favor of the shade.

She ended up being distracted first by the birds fluttering around in the areas behind them, and then by all the fun games on her Oma's phone.  We went to get lunch not long after that, and then walked around to visit the animals.

Oma's phone was in high demand.  It got put away during lunch, and then it was Elora's turn.  Why the phone was more exciting than the zoo, I have no idea.  Miss Kaylie continued to be in her funk for the rest of the day.  Maybe she was working on molars?  Maybe it was the heat?  Or maybe it was just that she's two.

The baby giraffe was out and about with its parents.  It's so stinking cute!  Just like a tiny version of the adults, but brighter and fuzzier.

The last thing we did was to visit the tigers.  Momma absolutely adores tigers!  We only got to see one of them, being lazy in the shade, and I didn't get any pictures.  She had to settle for pictures of the statue.  :)

We went to the aquarium, too, but I'm thinking that maybe I ought to make that another post.  Stay tuned.  :)

June.

A photographic sampler of the month of June.

June 1: Water Play

June 2: Chuck'E'Cheese

or, More On Potty Training  Reinforcement

Elora, while fully capable of using the potty, has consistently shown a lack of enthusiasm for doing so.  Why gt up and go to the bathroom, when it doesn't seem to bother her in the least to have wet pants?  So, we've been trying to inspire the proper enthusiasm in her, both punishing her bad choices and rewarding her good ones.  This reward chart is actually something that I made for her back in January, but that I never blogged.

Note:  I made this exclusively for our own personal use.   I do not own the rights to any of these images.

These are the counters.  

I made 3 for Chuck E Cheese, 5 for the ice cream, and 7 for the movie.  I printed it all out at home, then took them to Office Depot to have them laminated.  I cut out all of the counters, and used Velcro in the squares on the chart and on the backs of the counters so that they could easily (and repeatedly) be moved around.  Then I hung it all on the wall right next to the potty, right at her eye level, with the card board sleeve from the movie hanging over it all so that she would be able to see that, too.

Based on advice I'd received and articles I'd read, I thought it might help to give her something to work toward, and for her to be able to see it and be reminded of it every time she went to the potty.  Initially, she was really, really excited about it, but she would never go more than a day or two without an accident.  Fast forward to June, and she FINALLY got her 3 days in a row!

June 6: At the Zoo (with Aunt Bekah)

We've been zoo-ing about once a month or so, since it got warm.  By this point, it had gotten hot, and knowing that they have these awesome water fountains just inside the zoo, we dressed the kids in their bathing suits.  We ended up getting there shortly before story time, though, so we did that first.

The kids could not wait to go play in the water, but when they got there, they were super shy about getting in it.  Elora, in particular, does not like to get water in her face, so she just kept backing into the fountains.  And of course, whatever Elora does, Kaylie must also do.

And then we learned that a baby giraffe had just been born that morning.  Have I ever mentioned that giraffes are Elora's favorite animals? These pictures aren't great, because they were taken through the glass and my camera kept wanting to focus on the fence rather than the giraffes (I forgot about manual focus), but isn't he sweet? Only about 7 hours old here, and already standing and walking around.  So, so cool.

June 14: Hopscotch

It was late in the day, either just before dinner or just after.  The girls and I had been inside all day--we hadn't even changed out of our PJ's.  It was a beautiful afternoon. not too hot, and Brandon decided it would be criminal if we didn't get at least a little fresh air.   We opened the garage door, set out the blue lawn chairs, and watched the girls play.

I didn't really take any pictures of their faces.  I was fascinated by the light, the nightgowns & boots, and the chalk lines.  Is it weird that I'm kind of in love with this picture?

June 28: Farmer's Market & A Speech Therapy Update

There's a farmer's market at the local park every Wednesday and Saturday during the summer, and Rebekah and I finally got around to taking the kids to check it out.  

We ended up eating half of our strawberries right there, they were so good!  We haven't made it back yet, but I'm thinking we really ought to.  

That afternoon, Kaylie had therapy.  We're still going twice a week, and Kaylie is making great progress!  She's added lots of new words to her vocabulary, and is signing for a lot of things as well.  Jennifer has moved from just trying to get Kaylie to repeat simple words to focusing on specific letter sounds and final consonants.  For example, Kaylie says "eee" for "eat", dropping the T and speaking only the beginning of the word.  We're trying to teach her to say the whole word.  At the end of each session, Jennifer always makes suggestions for what we can do with Kaylie at home, so that she continues to learn in between visits.

Elora always goes with us, and is always very good while we're there.  Jennifer either brings something special for Elora to play with, incorporates her into the lesson, or allows her to play one of the kid's games on her tablet.  Frankly, I think that might be Elora's favorite.

And that brings us to the end of June.  Next time, I'll try to bring us up to date in July.  :)

Command Family Day Picnic

Brandon's command put together a family day picnic last Friday.  We'd never seen Brandon's workplace here, so we went in before the picnic to have a look around.   He's an instructor at a training facility, so a lot of what we saw were just classrooms and offices.  If you've seen a class room and an office before, then you know what they look like.  Just imagine military gear piled up here and there, along with some large, official looking manuals, and you've got it.  But a lot of their training involves hands-on practice, so much of it happens outside a classroom.  That was the really interesting stuff.

They call this the climbing tower.  One of the courses they teach here requires that students be able to climb this 30 foot rope ladder while wearing weighted vests, to simulate being weighted down by full gear, in 2 minutes or less.  It looked easier than it actually, was, I'm sure.  I found myself wishing that I hadn't worn a dress that day, because I wanted to know if I could do it.

This is the "ship on land",  a mock-up of an actual ship, with orange cones to designate "piers", used for practicing certain security techniques.  (They also have a real ship in Norfolk that they practice on.)  The best part, though, was getting to check out the FATS system.

M4, top; M9, bottom.

The FATS, or Fire Arms Training Simulator, is basically a giant video game.  Real weapons were modified for use with this arcade-style target practice simulator, which is controlled by someone at a computer set up at the back of the room.   On the opposite wall, there is a floor-to-ceiling screen, divided into several narrow sections, each with its own target, so that multiple people can practice all at once. When "fired", the weapons recoil and you hear the sound of a gun shot, and a "hole" appears on the "target".   It was really neat!  And I did pretty well, for someone with approximately 0 weapons experience, no glasses (I'm near-sighted), and 2 children pulling at her skirts.  But then Brandon picked them up and squeezed off a few rounds, and I knew precisely how awkward and inexperienced I am.  Is it odd, that I hate violence, but I think my husband's obvious expertise with weapons is sexy?   There's just something about a man who knows how to handle himself--and a weapon--that is incredibly attractive to me.  But I digress.

He showed Elora the pistol and let her "shoot" it, but she only did it once because she didn't like the noise.  Kaylie didn't like it either, for that matter.  That's why she was clinging to my skirt while I shot the M4, and why I was holding her when I shot the M9.

The picnic itself is barely worth mentioning.  The food was good, and they had several corn hole stations set up in the shade, and a fire truck for the kids to check out, but it was so ridiculously hot that pretty much everyone just ate and then went home.  

A few of us stuck around and went in the pool to cool off, but we didn't stay too long.  It was just so hot!

Stay-Cation: Brave

Sunday, we didn't go anywhere.  Rebekah came over for the afternoon, we hung out, played with the kids, and I got some sewing done.  Monday, I took the girls to see Brave, and it was amazing!  

I would highly recommend it to everyone!  It was definitely a break from what Pixar has done in the past, but they did not let us down.  There are a few parts that are a bit intense, for small children...if you're thinking of taking your wee ones, but worried about whether it's appropriate, this review is spot-on.

I love kids' movies.  It's possible that I like kids' movies better than I like grown-up movies.  Disney is bringing The Little Mermaid and Finding Nemo back to theaters to show them in 3D, which is pretty cool.  And did you know, Pixar is putting out a Monsters, Inc. prequel?  It's called Monsters University, and it's supposed to be released next summer.  I'll certainly be taking the girls to see that one...Ooh, and there's a Despicable Me sequel coming out around the same time...I'm so excited that I have children to take to the theater!

Stay-Cation: Virginia Living Museum

My girls are crazy about dinosaurs.  Elora can name all the common ones, and the only animal sound I've been able to teach Kaylie is "rawr" for dinosaur.  So naturally, when the Virginia Living Museum started advertising a "living" dinosaur exhibit, it went to the top of our "must do" list for the summer.

We got up on Saturday morning (after our sleep-over) and caravan-ed (since neither of us has a car big enough for 2 adults and 3 car seats) up to Newport News to check it out. 

Kaylie, telling Aunt Bekah what dinosaurs say---without prompting

corythosaurus with nest

triceratops with babies

skinless dinosaur robot, with a panel to control its movements

the t-rex

I think this one was Kaylie's favorite

triceratops photo-op.  I should have taken the photos from straight-on, but I didn't think about it until I was going through my photos at home.

Naturally, the dinosaurs were a major hit, but there was a lot more to see there then just the dinosaurs.  We didn't venture outside, because it was just too hot, but we did look at all of the inside exhibits, which focus on the local ecology.  

Appalachian Cove exhibit, upper level

There were lots of hands-on and interactive things to see, do, and climb on.

Cypress Swamp and  Appalachian Cove exhibits, lower level.

I'd say we saw about half of what the VLM has to offer, and it was great.  I'm thinking that we'll have to go back.  The dinosaurs will be exchanged for something new in September; maybe we'll go back then?