Day 6 is so full of awesome that I'll need to split it in two. And even then the posts will be lengthy. You were warned.
First I have to say that Day 5 ended with Keith and I realizing that we made a big parenting mistake. Not monumental, but still, its not fun to realize. We switched to big boy beds, remember? And not a tear was shed about cribs leaving and there was much excitement about those big blue beds. Well, at this hotel we requested pack and plays for the boys to sleep in since they kept rolling off other beds, and we needed one uninterrupted night of sleep. I wasn't sure if they boys would be OK with this, so when the pack and plays were delivered to the room I asked, while Keith assembled the cribs, if they would like to sleep in a crib for the night. OH, the excitment! Their reaction to cribs was the same as mine to Keith suggesting we go shop at a TJMaxx. Yes, Please! PLEASE! They were so excited and so eagerly hopped around the cribs when we said it's naptime that we started to wonder if we didn't get rid of their cribs too soon. Oh well. It's a done deal and they sleep beautifully in the big boy beds. For now we'll use their excitement about cribs to make vacations easier.
And the full night of sleep I hoped for did not happen, Cole woke me up at 2:30am to tell me to recover him in his blanket. Yes, Your Highness, I will do that for you. But we all did sleep well and were in good spirits this morning.
We partook in the hotel breakfast where they had those mini boxes of sugary cereal, and oh, the delight we took in those. We took a few extra with us to use as snacks over the course of the day. Who knew apple jacks had such power?
Before we talk about the day, let me point out another mistake we made. Remember the Chicago trip I rave about? That trip was awesome. Let me show you a few pics again.
Now, I ask you this: what do all 5 pictures above have in common? Go ahead, look back. I'll give you a few seconds.
That's right. Strollers. We had a good time in Chicago because we had strollers. I mean, other factors were involved and let's face it, that city rocks, but a person sure can enjoy herself more when she doesn't have to carry a baby 6 hours while walking through a new city.
Now below notice the two pictures of us walking on day 6. See strollers? No.
Here you see Cole still content to be walking. Don't be too impressed, that brick building with the gray pillars was our hotel.
And then he and his brother remember that they must be carried and we start thinking of all sorts of tricks to distract them, all the while hoping they forget they don't want to walk. We raced for a few steps, then marched, and then I offered my coffee cup's lid as distraction, but here even that wasn't helping. Cole has gone to stage 3 begging for "picka me up, momma!". If you're wondering, Stage 1=polite request, Stage 2=less than polite demand, Stage 3=grabbing hands, Stage 4=grabbing leg, and finally, Stage 5 culminates in dropping to the ground and having a fit. Not mentioning names, but the kid in the red shirt does that the best.
So we caved and carried them the half mile to the National Aquarium. It probably wasn't that far, just felt like it.
Once we were inside there were plenty of things to distract these two. I loved this aquarium, it had the oldschool feel of Chicago's Shedd Aquarium, where the animals are the attraction and there's not a whole bunch of neon lights or fake scenery.
Since the boys were too short to see over the rail, we did relent and carry them here. I mean, it's only fair that they see the fish, too, right?
And then we realized our G-baby can almost see over the rails himself! I was both excited and sad to see that he's really becoming a big boy.
And we checked out the rays for a while, and the cool pictures nearby.
And fought our way to the front of the herd of people to see into the windows. We arrived only 30 minutes after the Aquarium opened, but it was already pretty crowded. And by the time we left, it was unbearable.
The Aquarium has these little ledges for kids to step up on so they could see into the windows. After going through one level of windows, Grady laid down on one of these ledges and declared that he was now tired and wanted to rest. "I rest". He said. And at least 3 old ladies glared at me like I was using him for child labor or something. I glared back. They probably couldn't even see my glare, it was dark in there and they had crazy thick glasses.
Anyways, I could see this kid skipping Stages 1-4 and going straight to Stage 5, so I scampered to a quiet area to find a "something" in the backpack. And then Grady said "let's go up", and because we all listen to The Boss, we did just that.
On the next level we found a few tables to use for snack time, and after having some snack Cole found a new toy to use as entertainment.
And off to see more shish.
Now the rain forest. This next picture is a little funny to me. We went up the escalator to the rain forest level, and when we exited off the escalator and went through the revolving door, we had to wait for a large (in size and quantity of people) family who were taking a picture right in the doorway.The boys stared at that family, then when the family moved, these two marched right to the same spot and looked at us like "are we doing it right?".
Perfect! We loved the waterfall here. "eesa waterfall!"
And then, on the upper level they met a two toed sloth. I'm not sure who was more amused, the boys, or the girl with the puppet.
On our way down to the lower level, someone had a Stage 4 moment on a steep set of stairs, and I worried about the other two getting antsy, but it turns out they were patiently waiting for us so we could all head to the dolphin show. To get to the show, we had to pass sharks and go through a looooong tunnel.
And eventually we found our seats for the big dolphin show. The show was 30 minutes and I had my reservations about the boys lasting that long while sitting down. We had already been in the Aquarium for 2 hours, so we knew we were pushing our luck. We opted for aisle seats on the far side of the theatre so we could get out quick if cookies and mini boxes of cereal didn't do the bribery trick.
We sat down 5 minutes before the show started, and these two were mesmerized. 4 dolphins were already swimming in the big pool, and I lost track of how many times Grady and Cole gasped, pointed and squealed.
And then the show started. Remember how I earlier said that the animals should speak for themselves and there needn't be a whole lot of extra distractions? Sadly someone who is in charge of spending a lot of money at the National Aquarium does not share my sentiment, because this show was over-produced. I do not want to sit and stare at two huge screens to learn about dolphins when I could just look at the dolphins right in front of me. Ridiculous. I realize that the distraction is to give the dolphins in the pool a break, but I'd rather hear a trainer talk about her job than hear a professional voice-over.
Having said all that, we did enjoy the performance. The dolphins', that is. The creepy guy wearing a toupee on the mike I could have done without.
Cole sat on my lap because Mr. Big Head sat in front of Cole, and little man sat just like this for 30 minutes. He was hooked.
Grady enjoyed it too, but he's our people person and kept checking on Dada to make sure Dada had a good time, too.
The show lasted just long enough.
I loved this part of the day. In part because I love all marine mammals, but also because it was the first time we have taken the boys to an event that requires sitting and paying attention. And they did great! Ahh, I see many fun events in our future. But for now we now only to enjoy 30 minute ones.
That's it for the morning. We planned on also seeing the Historic Ships, but spent much more time at the Aquarium than expected. So we grabbed some lunch and headed back to hotel for naps. We (heart) naps.
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