Atlanta Zoo/Aquarium

Paula & Sophie on carousel at zoo

Sophie in tunnel at aquarium playground

our family at the aquarium

After going to the zoo on Saturday morning, we came back and took naps that afternoon. Then, we took the subway out to the Ikea store to look around. Sophie had been on the subway in DC, but she was a baby and didn't remember it. She was really excited about it this time. Anyway, after going to Ikea, we headed over to Atlantic Station (an area with lots of stores and restaurants) and we had dinner. Then, we headed back to the hotel. Since we took the subway to Ikea, it reall limited what we could take home with us.

On Sunday morning, we visited the aquarium. It was really nice, but it got really crowded around 11:00. They have some huge whales and sharks there and lots of other fish and sea creatures. Sophie went right up to the glass and would say, "hi, fish". She wanted to know what the otters and other animals names were. One of the workers at the aquarium asked Sophie what her name was. Sophie said "Sophie. My Mommy has a baby girl in her tummy but I not know her name." The lady didn't hear what Sophie said so she asked Matt. Matt explained and they got a laugh out of that. =) For lunch, we were able to see Sophie's great-uncle Bobby's house and go to lunch with him. Then, we headed back to Nash Vegas. We were all totally exhausted that night but we had a wonderful trip!

Weekend Getaway

While in Atlanta, we went to the zoo. This family of apes and the panda bear exhibit were the highlights of our visit.

Zoo Atlanta has a giant panda exhibit. This picture shows the 14-month old Baby Panda "Mei Lan", which in Chinese means "Lazy" and the Mama Panda "Lun Lun" which means "Too Lazy to move Bamboo off belly"

baby panda-14 months old and about 65 lbs

Sophie pats the gorilla statue

Sophie hanging out

This past weekend, we decided to take a last minute trip to Atlanta. We figured that it might be our last chance to get away just for a fun trip before our baby comes in January. We had a great trip! We drove down on Friday afternoon and stayed in a nice hotel downtown. It had a really cool glass elevator that Sophie loved where you could see out over the whole hotel atrium as you rode it (it was a very large, fancy hotel) which Matt booked on Priceline. =) Every time Sophie talked about riding the elevator it sounded like she was asking to go on the alligator.

Anyways, on Saturday, we woke up to a cold morning in Atlanta and headed to the zoo. We were excited to beat the crowds to the panda bears there so that we could really watch them. They have a mom, dad, and baby panda. The baby was fun to watch because she had slid down a rocky hill and then she had to figure out how to climb back up. Seeing the panda bears made the whole morning worthwhile for us. We also got to see tons of other animals. Sophie enjoyed seeing the gorillas. They had some babies too. Sophie went up to the statue of a mom and baby gorilla and said, "it's OK" just like she does with her dolls at home. Sophie surprised us by willingly touching many of the animals in the petting zoo. Usually she is very skittish when she's up close to animals, but she didn't mind petting some of the animals this time.

Sophie also enjoyed riding the carousel at the zoo and jumping in a big pumpkin jump castle they had for Halloween. I'll include a picture from the carousel in the next post.

Play Date with Ella

Sophie eating breakfast. She might have gotten this smile from her friend, Camden. =)

Ella & Sophie

Ella & Sophie

This week Matt has been travelling and it has rained so much. I've felt like we were on the ark with Noah because it has rained so little in the last few months until now. Everyone around here had forgotten how to drive in the rain it seemed! Yesterday, Sophie was cracking me up at breakfast because she wanted a banana. Then, she got upset when it fell off because she likes to keep the banana with it's peel. So, then she keeps sticking that part of the banana on to the rest of the banana. Kids are too funny sometimes. Then, we were talking about how much it was raining outside. I said, "I wonder how much rain we've gotten Sophie." Sophie looks out the window and says, "1,2,3,4,5,6". Uh, huh. Right. That answered it for me Sophie. Let's just look out and count the raindrops. =)

Anyways, today, Laura, an old friend of mine from college, came over with her little girl, Ella. Sophie & Ella had a good time working puzzles together, playing ball, playing with stickers, and eating lunch. They looked very cute sitting together at Sophie's table. Let's hope that Ella rubs off on Sophie because she is potty-trained. We've been trying but no success.

Miss Sophie

Sophie and some of her "babies"

Sophie's "babies" taking their naps

This week hasn't been all that eventful for us. Earlier in the week, we kind of took it easy because Paula has had allergies and wasn't feeling that great. One of Sophie's latest things to do is play school. She pretends that she is "Miss Katy" (her teacher at Mother's Day Out). Sophie has a new little table at home and she had Paula sit down to have her hands painted over and over. She gave Paula proper instructions, etc and marked her hands with a marker. It was really cute the first few times and then it got a little boring. At Sophie's Mother's Day Out, they have nap time and they lay down on mats. Well, Sophie not only has a couple of baby dolls that she likes but she also has various stuffed and plastic animals that she carries around. She calls them by the names of the kids in her class. Anyways, one morning Matt found Sophie in her room putting books down for each of her "babies" to lay down on and take their naps. So precious!!

By the way, the pumpkins that you saw on a recent post didn't make it until Halloween. Sadly enough, we found them kind of rotted out a couple of days ago. So, we went and bought a couple more pumpkins today and hopefully, they will make it until Halloween. The moral of this story is, "Don't carve or punch holes in your pumpkins too early." =)

Sophie is probably going to be really worn out after today because she is going to two birthday parties. We are finally having some nice fall-like weather. I hope it stays around for a while!

Baking Cookies

Sophie & Martha placing cookies on cookie sheet

Aunt Martha (Paula's sister) showed Sophie how to make cookies. They were the pre-cut Halloween shaped sugar cookies and they weren't bad. Sophie liked eating some of the cookie dough. Aunt Martha is teaching in Wilson County this year and so she has had a long fall break since they do the year-round schedule. She and Sophie got to spend some time together on Thursday and on Friday, we met Aunt Martha and Uncle Phil (Paula's brother) at the park. Uncle Phil surprised Sophie with a cute little Minnie Mouse doll and a Minnie Mouse mouseketeer hat (sp?). She was excited! She carries a Mickey Mouse doll around and usually calls him "Minnie". He brought them back from Disneyland for her. I'll try to get a decent picture of her with her Disney paraphenalia soon. Tonight she was pulling Minnie Mouse around in her little wagon and calling her "sweetheart". It was too precious!!

The weather has been much nicer this week and it has actually felt fall. The downside to that is we've all been struggling with allergies. Sophie was coughing really bad for a few days due to allergies but now she's feeling better. Today, we got to see Sophie's cousin, Luke, and his parents since they were in town for the weekend from KY.

Decorating Pumpkins

Sophie supervises as Daddy punches holes in the pumpkins

Sophie with her pumpkins-a "diva" and a pirate

One of the surprises that Paw-paw Tom & Mimi brought Sophie were some "Potato Head" style decorating kits for pumpkins-a "diva" and a pirate kit. So, on Sunday afternoon, among other household projects, we decorated pumpkins. Actually, Matt did all of the work while the rest of us girls mostly supervised. It was a very non-messy way to decorate a pumpkin. When it gets a little closer to time, maybe we'll have to show Sophie the way we grew up carving pumpkins. =) Sophie loves her Potato Head stuff so she liked helping her daddy decorate the pumpkins. We were also glad to get several projects completed around our house thanks to Matt's parents. Thank you so much for your help!!

Down at Gentry Farm

Paula, Sophie & Matt by the truck at Gentry Farm

Sophie playing with corn

On Friday afternoon, Paw-paw Tom & Mimi arrived from Virginia for a visit. It was really nice to spend the weekend with them. Saturday morning, we headed to Gentry Farm for our first visit. Sophie enjoyed seeing the farm animals, going on a hayride, playing in the kiddie area (they had a kiddie maze, slides, corn in troughs they could play with, etc), and picking out pumpkins. I just wish it had about 10-15 degrees cooler but it's a beautiful farm. As you can see, it has definitely become obvious that I'm pregnant (I'm about 24 weeks now).

Name that Tune!!!

For the answer, click here.

Did you guess this?

Zoo trip

Sophie running and jumping in one of the kids' play areas.

Matt and Sophie with an elephant

After a couple of months of being in Nashville, we followed up on our promise to take Sophie to the zoo. Nana was able to go along with us. The weather was great and we had a nice time. There was a big crowd there but it wasn't too bad. We bought an annual pass so we didn't feel pressured to try and see everything. Sophie has always loved seeing giraffes and she also got to see some farm animals. She said that her favorite thing though was the Gibbon monkeys that are really loud and were swinging around up in the trees. Sophie also had a blast in the kids play area.