Well I'm back to the blog after a few days of being away. We headed to Florida to see Scot's parents for a few days since I had time off from work. It had been a few months since we had seen them, and it was all Ryder could talk about! I ended up making a "Grammy and Grampa countdown" for him to pull off one by one until it was time to head down. As usual, we left bright and early to maximize our vacation time and to avoid as much traffic as we could. I was a little worried at how the drive would be, seeing as how I am now six months pregnant, but it ended up being better than I thought, and Scot made sure to make lots of stops along the way for me. I was able to get up and stretch my legs and it helped with the 8 hour drive.
It was at some point during the end of the drive that Ryder discovered his neon green playdough that was in his bag and also discovered what playdough tasted like. Apparantly not too good because when I heard him sputtering, I turned around to see what he was doing and that was when I realized what Ryder had done.
We made it to our destination, and after being in the car so long with the Florida sun beating down, we were all ready to unpack and cool off in my in-laws pool. They had bought Ryder a very special fire boat that he fell in love with right away. He wasn't very interested in going
in the water, but by being in his boat, I think he felt safe and had just as much fun as if he had been in the water swimming around. We are hoping that he will eventually like the water, but we aren't forcing anything because we don't want him to be afraid of the water.
It was so relaxing to cool off on their float and just let the water wash my worries away
Of course while I relaxed on my float, there were also some water gun fights going on between the boys!
Later that afternoon after we had our share of fun in the pool, Grammy and Grampa surprised Ryder with a new bicycle! He was very excited about his new bike, but wasn't too sure about having to use the pedals. Luckily the bike came with a handle bar to steer with and he liked it that way!
Before long we were able to push Ryder along and his smile showed how much fun he was having.
Friday we decided to take Ryder to Sea World, seeing as how much he loves sharks and dolphins we knew he would be in for a special treat. I don't ever remember going to Sea World as a kid, so it was just as much for me as an adult once we drove into the park and I saw the iconic sign for Sea World.
While the boys rode one of the many roller coasters, Grammy, Ryder and I hung out and waited so I could try to capture their big moment on film. Unfortunately I wasn't successful with my camera, but caught it on tape with my camcorder. I was happy that they had so much fun, like two big kids!
One of the main attractions at Sea World are all of the shows that the animals put on, but before catching the Shamu show, we took Ryder to visit some of his favorite animals, the shark. I wasn't able to get the best pictures, but it was so cool as the sharks swam above and in front of us that we went through twice! Ryder's eyes were as big as saucers as he took it all in. He was so excited and kept yelling out "Look at all dose shaaks!!" There were so many sharks and huge fish, but his favorite was the saw toothed shark.
It couldn't be a trip to Sea World without riding a few rides. We knew how much Ryder loved the carousel, but there were a lot of other cute rides for the kids in the kid-themed area of the park just for Ryder's age and older. He rode the carousel, squishy fish teacups, and then he eventually got to ride the pirate boat with his Grammy and Grampa that we were all surprised at how much he enjoyed it. He could have sat in his stroller and watched the roller coasters all day if we let him, and he kept asking to ride one, so we knew he would have fun on the mini version of the roller coasters just for kids his size.
Next on our adventure we went to the Artic to see penguins and puffins, the polar bear (who was sleeping soundly), a few beluga whales, and the best part of all was the walruses! It was so cool how they gracefully swam and turned on their backs to show us their bellies and then spun around in the icy water. My camera wasn't so great at getting any pictures because they kept the exhibits as close to the wild as possible, and I guess this time of year in the artic is very dark. Ryder was so fascinated with the walruses though, and we got a really good view of them close up! I had no idea how big they were!
Time to see Shamu!
It was a cute show and I really enjoyed seeing the killer whales, and Ryder was wide eyed the whole time, even though he was looking like he needed a nap since it was past his daily nap time.
The whales were so cute and looked like little puppies as they were begging for treats after each performance. They even "begged" and wagged their "tails" happily at their trainers
Since we were there a week before Fathers Day we decided to celebrate early with Grampa on Saturday. We had chocolate cake and treated him to a yummy meal at Olive Garden (their request) and then Ryder gave him his Grampa & Me book that we found at Hallmark. I think it was a great day overall and it was good to spend Fathers Day with him since we live out of state and aren't able to see each other for all holidays.
Before ending the day, it was bath time for Ryder and time to play with his new Animal Planet sea creatures.
I think these pictures sum up all of the fun that we had while we were visiting my in-laws, and we were glad that they had the time to spend with Ryder before we had to head back to North Carolina.
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