It's Been A While.....

We've had a busy summer and now it's over (although not pool time...it's still warm enough to swim for a few more weeks).

E had a couple of first in the last few months:

1. She started swimming w/o any swim aids (vest, ring, water wings).  She is quite the fish now and LOVES to swim.  I may need to get her on a swim team.
   
2. She has started reading.  She has a few Step 1 (K-1) books and she is reading them fairly easily.  She is so proud of herself and stops just about every sentence to say "Mom, look, I'm READING!" 
   
3. She is OUT OF PULL-UPS!  This is the one that makes me the happiest.  She has stayed dry at night for all but one night the last two weeks.  I do wake her up before I go to bed to have her go potty but she is doing great and I am so proud of her!

We've started Kindergarten at home and we both LOVE it.  We took our first field trip last Friday.  We went to the St. Pete Pier, which has an aquarium on the 2nd floor.

We took the bus there...what long trip it is.  Then we had to walk about 15 minutes from the bus down to the Pier. We walked through a little park and saw a great fountain and some beautiful flowers.

It started to rain and we got drenched.  E was worried about her dress getting all wet but I just kept telling her it's only water and it will dry.

First stop was an ice cream at a little food court while we dried off.

Then it was up to the aquarium to check out the fishies and other sea creatures.   Some were beautiful...and some were just plain strange looking. LOL

I have so many other pictures but they were all taken with my cell phone and the quality is just not good.

On the way out, we stopped at the gift shop and bought a few things to remind us of our trip....a story about a flounder, a sticker book with some aquarium fish, a coloring book and crayons (mostly for the bus trip home) and a coin purse with the Aquarium logo on it.

Next, was a trip up to the 5th floor.  There is an observation deck with awesome veiws of the city skyline and Tampa Bay. 

Last stop was the restaurant also on the 5th floor for a quick dinner before heading back home. 

Turns out there is a trolley that runs from the Pier up to 1/2 a block from the bus stop so we were able to catch that...and only costs .25! 

E had a great time!  We will definitely go back another time.  She loved the clownfish and the fish that looks like Dori from Finding Nemo...and the little sting rays.

Now you are all caught up.  As usual, thanks for stopping by.


N