Ahoy, Wilmington!

So, last week, I took the little princess up to Wilmington, NC. We stayed with my Dad while Micah was at his conference in Orlando.

Unfortunately, there was a huge tropical storm remnant stuck over coastal NC from Monday onward, so we had to come up with some more interesting things to do than go play at the beach. Though, we did get to play at the beach on Monday morning before the clouds rolled in and Natalie had a blast. She didn't quite get the point of my sand castles and wasn't at all impressed by my magical pail-mold skills, but she thought that it was fun to knock down my towers after I made them. And she wanted to go in the water, so like an idiot I thought I would just let her wade. It took about 3 waves before she managed to soak herself head to foot.

One of the best days we enjoyed was at the children's museum. We were there for 5 hours and Natalie still had to dragged away and rushed through the last few exhibits.

Here, at the pretend dentist's office, she brushes a dinosaur's teeth.

They had a teddy bear doctor's office, a tree house jungle gym, blocks, puzzles, puppets and other toddler toys. Then, downstairs was a science exhibit. I expected it to be above her, but she LOVED it.

Next time we're having trouble passing time, I will have to pull out a bulb syringe! At this station, she LOVED squeezing the colored water and mixing it in her little dish.

We stayed there so long, I had to entertain myself and mix some colors.

Here, Natalie remains oblivious to the magnets that she is supposed to move around into pictures from the cards and instead has a blast shuffling through all of the cards

They had a wonderful arts and crafts area. Natalie got to paint and use a glue stick for the first time. Both the painting and collage were very messy and difficult and it was hard to restrain myself from grabbing away her supplies and doing it for her. I eased my control anxiety by instead making a painting and collage of my own.

Ahoy, Wilmington!

In addition to the children's museum, we went to the aquarium. We loved it, though Natalie was very unhappy because about 3/4 through, I couldn't carry her anymore. I wanted her to walk from tank to tank and then I would pick her up and show her the tank. But she didn't want to walk and she melted into the floor and kicked and screamed. So our trip was shortened a bit.

We did enjoy just hanging around the house. Natalie was very excited for the change of scenery. She loved pumpkin and anabeth (dogs) and all of the new toys and avenues for destruction. We had both Sammy and Nick, so it was a little crazy. Sammy behaved very poorly, but Nick was sweet as always, though pumpkin awakened within him amorous longings of which I didn't think him capable.

Here, Natalie picks the strawberries out of Grandma's Special K

Playing dress up with a box of princess stuff.

It was a great trip and we are excited to go back for Thanksgiving. Natalie loved Grandma and Grandpa and Gabby. I was happy that she took so well to them so quickly, since she can sometimes be shy and clam up. I guess it helped that Grandpa had a cookie jar.

Micah's conference was a huge success. It's too bad; I was rooting for a colossal failure so that Dr. Gaylord could see that he really gave Micah too much to do. Now, he can feel validated and load Micah up with too much work in the future without concern. Grr.