Motes Aquarium
Craig and I finally got the opportunity to take Charlotte somewhere particularly interesting. Mote's Aquarium near Bradenton offered many exciting aspects for play. We got to watch dolphins do tricks, rescued sea birds get force-fed fish, look at the best preserved giant squid in North America, almost got splashed by a sting ray and viewed hundreds of species of Floridian marine life. Anybody that comes to visit us should prepare to visit this aquarium; however, make sure you bring a camera. I, of course, forgot mine at home and had to purchase a twenty dollar disposable. Ah, how we take things for granted! I was able to salvage only a couple photo's and they're not of the best quality. Charlotte had a blast, but I think Craig and I enjoyed it the most! My pictures are temporarily unavailable, but as soon as I figure out how to get PDF to let me do anything else with them, I'll have them all posted.
As Mother's Day past me by, I realized how fortunate I am to be the mother of a beautiful, flawless baby girl and the wife of an amazing, caring, devoted husband. Craig did everything in his power to make the day special for me, including cleaning out my car. He gave me a beautiful apron that we're going to have embroidered to mark the occasion as well as a glass water pitcher that we'll have etched (and I'll use at every tea party I host). Even though I have these two items to remember my first mother's day, they'll never out-do my memories. Craig took me to the beach where we enjoyed the waves crashing in around us and then to an amazing restaurant. The fish was so fresh and delicous and I ordered an orange creamsicle cake for dessert - which was so good! The next day Craig and I took Charlotte to the Highlands Hammock State Park where we hiked on two boardwalks and Craig saw some wild piglets! While on the boardwalk we were practically guaranteed to see at least one alligator, alas, there were none! It was still a lot of fun other than the Amazon-like mosquito's who made meals of us.
Moving
Craig and I have finally left the hotel! After a months stay we found a wonderful little rent house while our offer on a home is pending. We love this little house and are even considering staying here for our stay in Florida, just because it's perfect and our neighbors seem really nice. There are two small children who live across the street who love Charlotte and Shiner and they're pretty silly. The only problem with it is it's a little far away from the town we originally intended to move to. So it's a bit of a distance from the YMCA and the church we attend, as well as the friends we've so far made.
Walking?
Charlotte is getting to be quite the big girl. She's not quite crawling, not quite walking, but instead motors about in a half-stint of either. It's pretty adorable and not extremely effective, but when she's close enough to a table, she'll scoot from one end to the other. She doesn't have much patience for it, and neither do I when she starts screeching, but hopefully we'll both endure to the end and she'll become mobile. My sweet girl is also completely sleeping through the night, and I pray it's not just a temporary trend, from around 9:30p until 7:30 in the morning. She doesn't say any real words yet, except sometimes she'll scream for her daddy, but she babbles almost non-stop so pretty soon I imagine she'll come out with something truly amazing to hear.
I'm glad I finally got the opportunity to udate my blog. In the move and craziness, I haven't had much access to the internet and time to compose anything. Things aren't going to calm down over the next few weeks as we've got many big things coming up, including: Craig's birthday, my birthday, my cousin's birthday, Charlotte's cousin - Reagan's birthday, my Aunt Cathy's birthday, Father's Day and Memorial Day (not in this order!). There will be plenty of things to add to my next set of updates.
We are hoping everybody is well and knows we love them!
