Playing Catch

Sydney's favorite ball is her red ball with little spikes all over it that I got at LinensNThings. It's actually a massage ball. She asks to play catch with it often. Here is a video of her and Andrew throwing the ball back and forth in the living room. I thought it was pretty fun to watch them.

 

Sydney's Day!

This morning we took Sydney to the Stay and Play in Old Saybrook. We don't go too often just because it is a little out of the way, but now that' we're moving we thought we should go one more time. Sydney had a blast! She's not a fan on the slide (she'll climb all the way to the top, sit down on the slide then change her mind) but she loved the soft climbing equipment like the little trampoline. It was pretty busy as there was a birthday party going on as well. We stayed about 40 minutes then stopped in Niantic on the way home for lunch at Illiano's, a great Italian pizzeria. After we got home, the Qin's called inviting friends over the the Poquonock playground for a playdate. We've driven past it many times but had never actually visited the park. My favorite thing is that it has the nice, soft padded flooring instead of wood chips. They playground is pretty neat with lots of slides and obstacles I'd never seen before. Sydney's favorite was a slide that had dozens of rolling bars that you sat on and rolled down. The lighter you are, the slower the roll which worked out just fine for her. We met up with the Qin's, the Vanderweele's and the Steele's and stayed about an hour. Here is a picture of Sydney and Evelyn sitting on a "couch" on a moving platform. They loved sitting while the grownups made the platform see-saw back and forth. 

Afterwards we went out for dinner at the ninety-nine restaurant. We all had such a great time. It's sad that soon we will all be going our separate ways with the Navy, except for the Qin's. They will just have to come visit us in Boston!

By the time it was Sydney's bedtime she was pretty beat. It was quite a day for her! She really deserved it too with Andrew and I being busy with the move. We were overdue for a Sydney Day!

Peanut Butter

At Sydney's nursery school the teachers sing the "Peanut Butter Song". I started singing it with her at home and it's quickly become one of her favorite songs. We sing it everywhere--at the doctor's office, at the grocery store, etc. I took a short video of her singing it. You can't understand the first half because she gets camera shy but you can make out the second half.

The lyrics are:

"A peanut sat on a railroad track.

It's heart was all a flutter.

Around the bend came Number 10.

Toot-Toot! Peanut Butter, Squish!"

Sea World!

We started the morning with breakfast at the hotel restaurant. We ate outside near a fish pond that Sydney watched intently searching for signs of fish. We all enjoyed our meals and I realized this was the first day I didn't feel morning sickness after eating. I was going to have a great vacation! Afterwards we arrived at the park. It was not crowded and the park let everyone in about 20 minutes early. We had the best 

time from start to finish! All of the animals and fish were so active and busy. The polar bear exhibit had polar bears wrestling, diving and swimming all through the water. I didn't know they were such agile swimmers or that they could stay under for so long. Andrew took Sydney through a "polar bear cave" that she thought was great until she heard a loud bear growling over the speaker. She wasn't sure it was such a good idea to walk through the cave, but she got over it.

When we were back outside deciding where to go next we saw about ten

flamingoes standing around on a grassy area without any fence separating them from a crowd of people. We went over to see them and I was just in awe. They didn't wander off and they

 let people get right up to them. When Andrew sat down on the curb a flamingo came over and starting pecking at his hair! It was so funny. Then the sea world staff rounded the birds up and walked them like a class of students through the park back to their "flamingo cove". It was

 so fun to see.

Lunch was the highlight of the day. We got to have it with Shamu! We sat at a table next to Shamu's pool and watched him swim and do tricks. It was such a treat. The food was excellent and served buffet style. The first trick Shamu did was to come up right at our table and pose for a few seconds. Sydney's eyes became wide and she exclaimed "I see a whale!" After our lunch we saw the Shamu show "Believe". By then Sydney was pretty tired and fell asleep in my arms right at the show began and missed the whole thing. Oh well. She did get to see the dolphin show earlier in the day and really enjoy that. I was worried the Orcas would get us wet (we were the last row up in the "soak zone") but we escaped the splash. Lots of other people didn't though! It was amazing to see how far the whales could splash!

We ended the day at the Sesame Place Bay of Play. It's a mini Sesame Place in the park. While Sydney was playing at the matted playground I spotted Elmo and Zoe out posing for pictures. I scooped up Sydney as fast as I could (she was not happy to leave) put on her shoes and took her over for a picture. She got a little shy but she went over with Elmo and Zoe and posed for a picture. She is getting out of the Elmo stage a bit but I had to get this photo...I me

an how often do you get to meet Elmo!

We also saw a 3-D Sesame Street movie. I tried to get Sydney to keep her glasses on but she wasn't interested in wearing them. This show had special effects and at different points in the movie water would spray from the ceiling or from the back of the chairs to go along with the movie (rain, etc). Sydney didn't mind it the first time but the second and third time she was not happy and started to cry. I don't think anyone liked getting wet.

We stayed until the park closed at 5:00 then went out for mexican for dinner. A balloon man came over and I had flashbacks to the scary balloon man on stilts at the Margaritaville restaurant at the Mohegan Sun. Sydney was very freaked out by the strange looking man. This time she did ok, but she didn't want to wear the hat. The man made a poodle sitting on a hat, or "a dog gone hat" as he called it. Haha, I know. 

When we got back to the hotel I gave Sydney a bath and we all

 went straight to bed. Sydney again shared my pillow and we all got a peaceful night of sleep.

Visiting Grandma and Grandpa

Today we left for the west coast to visit Andrew's parents for a long weekend. They live in Arizona, but instead of flying to their place, we met up in San Diego to take Sydney to Sea World. Our flight left this afternoon with a stop in Michigan. We landed in San Diego at 9:30 pm, or 12:30 am EST. Sydney flew without a car seat for the first time and I have to say she did a super job. I was really proud of her. Andrew and I brought lots of snacks, toys, DVD's, her favorite blanket and pillow to keep her comfortable. The toughest part was when she fell asleep around 10 pm and would wake up off and on upset she couldn't roll to her stomach. I put her on my lap and she slept until we landed. Her sleeping on my lap turned out to be the best thing because when we finally got to our hotel room all she wanted to do was share my pillow and she said "hug me mama". When we got to the airport Grandma and Grandpa were there with big smiles to meet us. There were videos of Sea World playing on screens around the airport and Sydney would get excited saying "Sea World!" We are all really excited for the big day ahead!