"It's a Shark! Oh My Gosh!

It was a spur-of-the-moment decision. We had nothing planned for Saturday and I wanted to get out of the house and do something fun. And since Luke has been obsessed with sharks lately, we headed up to Gatlinburg to go to the Aquarium. The traffic was pretty bad getting up there. Where it would usually take less than an hour, it took us a little over an hour and a half. But once we were there, we were happy we came.

I couldn't pass up the photo opp in front of the pretty flowers.

Another photo opp...

That catfish was bigger than Luke...

You know, it was kind of an expensive little trip -

Tickets to the Aquarium - $50

Gas there and back - $25

Souvenirs and food - $20

Hearing your 3-year old yell "It's a shark - OH MY GOSH!!" - Priceless!!

What I love about Ripley's Aquarium is the tunnel - where the sharks can swim right over your head. Greg tried to lift him up so he could see it better, but he didn't like that too much.

I kept humming the Jaws theme every time one went over our heads ...

Check out the teeth on that shark!!! Vewy Scawy!

Luke liked the sting rays. And so, of course, we talk about Nemo's teacher Mr. Ray ...

(We made many many references to 'Finding Nemo' throughout the day.)

These sting rays crack me up ... looks like Casper the friendly ghost...

Check out that huge Spider Crab... said they can live up to 100 years!

That's an eel ... isn't he scary looking??

The picture really doesn't do this turtle justice ... he was HUGE!!!

"Ooohhh.... Barracuda" Couldn't help singing the Pat Benatar song when I saw them ....

And since they make you leave via the gift shop, he had to have a shark!

Oohh... A ferrari! (Yeah, It's not real).

I have no idea what this little pose is...

Just like a kid in the candy store ... ha!

Of course I had to let him get some gummy sharks, fish and turtles... and he had to get them out himself.

And here we are on the main strip. You can't tell from this picture but it was crazy busy. Tons of people and cars. Oh, and it was 95 degrees outside!! You can probably tell the little guy is hot - his face is really red.

He did awesome. He didn't get crabby til the very end and it was understandable - we had been walking all afternoon. I knew he was tired and hungry. But overall, he had a great day!!!

And we've had our fill of Gatlinburg for another year. Maybe next summer we'll ride the sky lift.

Rainy Day Activities...

We had to get creative on a rainy day. So we parked my car in the driveway so that Luke could play in the garage.

He saw Daddy with his tools and he wanted to "fix" his trike...

All fixed!

Then we thought it would be fun to make homemade pretzels...

This is a picture of them before they went in the oven ... I didn't take a picture of 'after' because well, we ate them all as soon as they came out of the oven. They were yummy!!!


Now, let's take a trip on memory lane for a minute ... remember this picture?

(almost doesn't even look like him)

Well, I had Luke pose with the very same duck to see how big he's gotten in 3 years!

Wow - these 3 years have just flown by!!

The Turtle Needs a Name...

(just kidding ... we're not keeping the turtle)..

Look what was in the driveway when we got home yesterday....



A box turtle.


Luke was very excited. But I told him that he couldn't touch it - he could only look at it.




We put him in a box til Greg got home.

And then they released him back into "the wild" (aka - the woods behind our house). I wasn't about to have a turtle as a pet. Plus, as we told Luke, his mommy and daddy were probably looking for him! :)

All-American Weekend

The boys got home from their Braves game on Saturday morning. After Luke took a 4-hour nap (!), we had a little cookout on the deck. (I think he was a little worn out!)

What could be better than a watermelon on a hot summer day??



Luke wanted the whole thing to himself...


Too cute...


This is his new 'mad' face ... all scrunched up.


Then, we grilled out hamburgers and hot dogs, and sat out on the deck til the sun went down.


Luke doesn't eat a hot dog like a normal person ...


Check out that face ... he has ketchup everywhere...


Then, on Sunday after nap, we got milkshakes and went to the pool! Luke wanted chocolate, of course, while Greg and I got strawberry.
(We tried the new Wendy's Frosty Shakes ... I wasn't too crazy about them).



And then we had corn on the cob for dinner! YUM!! (my favorite)!!



So it was a real 'American' weekend, complete with a baseball game, a cookout with watermelon, swimming at the pool, and eating corn on the cob!! The only thing missing was the apple pie. But that's ok - I baked oatmeal cookies instead. :)

A 'Brave' 4th...

To celebrate the 4th, Greg and his dad took Luke to Atlanta to see a Braves game! It was a great game - the Braves won 6-2 over the Houston Astros.

There's Luke and Grampa Joe.



Getting the baseball autographed ...


He wouldn't let go of that baseball ... he loved it!!


My boys...

They had great seats!


There's Chipper Jones... That's how far away they were ... Greg didn't have to zoom at all.

Then, he goes to zoom the camera to get a better pic and darn if some lady didn't stick her phone up in the picture ... ha!

Check out that HUGE American flag on the field...


Luke loved it when the fighter jets flew over...



One of the reasons to see a Braves game on the 4th of July is for the awesome fireworks show after the game...

Check out these cool pics...

According to Luke, the fireworks were "really loud and scary." Greg said he climbed on his lap and held on tight til the show was over.

A Trip to the Grocery Store

This kid had me crying in the aisles, I was laughing so hard!! A trip to the grocery store turned into a riot. One of my least favorite places to go is the grocery store, but it's not that bad if I take Luke with me. He makes it fun.

He always wants to get the grocery cart that is shaped like a car and has a steering wheel. But I am always secretly wishing those aren't available. And I get lucky about half the time. No such luck last night. We got the 'big yellow car'. I hate those things - they are so hard to maneuver around the store.

Well, he was in a great mood. He was waving at everyone we passed. Most people would wave back or say 'hi'. One nice man who works at Kroger asked if he could give him a cookie out of the bakery. Sure. Can I really say no? So Luke was in heaven - riding in a big yellow car, eating a cookie while he gets pushed around the grocery store, pointing at things he wants.

So we went down one aisle and he waves at this man coming towards us. The man smiles and says 'hi'. That thrilled Luke, who then loudly asks "What's his name, Mommy?" I said, "I don't know, buddy, do you want to ask him what his name is?" Since the man was still standing there and heard Luke say that, I asked him for his name. He walks over to Luke, says "My name is Greg" and shakes his hand. Well, Luke got a really confused look on his face. If you'll remember from yesterday's posts, he just learned that his Daddy's name is Greg. I guess he doesn't realize that sometimes people have the same name.

Anyways, he was talking non-stop through the store. "Look, Mommy - crackers. I like crackers. Can we get some crackers?" Next was, "Look Mommy - cookies. I like cookies. Can we get some cookies. I like the chocolate ones." Then "Look Mommy - peanut butter. I like peanut butter. We have peanut butter at home. You make me a peanut butter sandwich for lunch. It was yummy." And on and on and on. Thankfully we haven't hit the "why" stage yet, but I'm sure that is coming very soon.

Then we passed a rack of Matchbox cars. "Look Mommy - cars!" So I let him pick one out. He chose the Ferrari. His dad and Grampa Joe would be pleased. He was such a good boy! (And by good, I mean - no screaming, no crying, no fits - which is still common with a 3-year old who has his own little opinions)!

3-year Check-up

This morning, Luke had his 3-year check-up. He weighs 33lbs (75th percentile), and he is 37 inches tall (50th percentile). He did so awesome at the doctor! I was very proud of him.

But he was absolutely cracking me up all morning. He knew we were going to the doctor. I'd already told him about 10 times, especially since we had to rush out the door earlier than normal. When we pulled into the parking lot, he says "Where are we Mommy?" I politely responded, "We're at the doctor, buddy." He said, "But I don't want to go to the doctor. I want to go to the dentist!" ha.

So then we go back with the nurse who weighs him and take his measurements. She is so sweet, asking him questions and talking to him. And he gets all shy on her, won't answer her back. But then when she leaves the room and it's just us, he won't shut up. I feel like the man who had the dancing/ singing frog but when he tried to show other people what the frog could do, the frog would just sit there.

("Hello my baby, hello my darlin" --Michigan J. Frog)

Anyways, there were no shots today, thankfully, but he did have to get his finger pricked. I was sure there would be tears, but there weren't. He surprised me. He was fascinated by her squeezing the blood out of his finger. When she was done, she put a band-aid on it. He kept showing me the band-aid and telling me he had a boo-boo. I think he was proud of it.

One thing that cracked me up is while we were waiting on the doctor to come in, we were chatting. I asked him if he knew what I put in his lunchbox today. He responded, "I don't know, Mommy, what did you put in my lunchbox?" (serious full sentence - very cute)! So I told him there was a circle sandwich. He gasped and very excitedly said, "A circle sandwich? Oh my gosh!!" Which, coming from a three-year old was hysterical.

(In case you were wondering, a 'circle sandwich' is a Smucker's Uncrustables, which is wonderful for rushed mornings when you don't have time to prepare a real lunch. He loves them!!)

I forgot to bring the camera with me this morning. But I did take this one picture from my cell phone (which is why it's not that great of a pic). He's in the Jungle Room. All of their rooms are painted with a different theme.

Here's a funny story from last night:

It was bedtime and we had just finished reading several books, said our prayers and now it was time to lay his head down. But he wasn't ready to sleep yet. He wanted to chat. I don't know how we got on the subject of his full name, but I made him say his full name a couple of times. Then he asked me, "What's your name, Mommy?" I told him and then he asked what Daddy's name was, I told him. So he gets up and says, "I want to go give Greg a hug." I laughed, of course. Then he comes back and he says, "I want to give you a hug, Katie." I said, "Darlin, you need to call me Mommy." This perplexed him. He replied, "But your name is Katie." Yes, you're right. "But you call me Mommy." I couldn't believe I'd just had that conversation with my 3-year old. Too funny!!!

And, last story for today:

I'm sure you notice in my stories, I usually call him 'Buddy' or 'Darlin' or some other term of endearment. Well, if he's in a crabby mood and I call him 'Darlin', he says, "Don't call me Darlin". (which I'm certain is the title to a country song, right?) And sometimes I do it just to irritate him. So I asked him what he wants me to call him. He said, "Call me Lukie Bear." He came up with that one on his own. Too cute!

WALL-E

When we took Luke to see Kung Fu Panda, we saw a trailer for the movie, WALL-E, by Pixar. Luke belly-laughed! In fact, all the kids in the theatre did. And then every time we would see a commercial for it or we saw it in the Disney store, he would just crack up and say, "That's funny!" Well, okay. We figured, it's by Pixar - how can it be bad?!?!


Well, hmmm, it wasn't good. It was a story about a little robot who falls in love with another robot. There was hardly any dialogue. Luke got very restless and was actually playing in the aisle, which I let him do because there was only like 10 other people in the theatre with us.


So my review is a big Thumbs Down. That's one Pixar movie we won't be buying. (And I think we own most of the rest - 'The Incredibles', 'Toy Story 1&2', 'Monsters Inc', 'Cars', 'Finding Nemo'.)







Those first two pictures were taken before the movie when he wouldn't stand still. After the movie, we walked out and saw the big cardboard cut-out of WALL-E ... he runs over to it and says "Mommy, take my picture!"

More good pool shots...

Luke got a very cool kick board for his birthday, which helps greatly in keeping him upright. It doesn't require quite as much hands-on attention from our end. So now I can relax just a little bit while we're at the pool...

My goodness - he is certainly not a baby anymore!! Where did the time go? He is such a big boy!!

Here's a funny story for you: This morning, we were on our way to school and I decided to go a different way than usual, which took us over some railroad tracks. We go this way occassionally but we've never seen a train, well, that is, til today!! He was so excited. He said, "Mommy, where's the train going?" I said, "I don't know buddy, maybe it's going to Nashville." He said, "We've been to Nashville!" I replied, "Yes, we have! And, mommy has run a Half Marathon there too!!" He thought for a second and said, "I can't go that far." How does he know how far a Half Marathon is? Or that it's far at all?!?! I said, "Well, maybe one day you can run with Mommy and you will run a full marathon too!!" That will be fun when we start running races together!