Wednesday & Thursday in Tampa

Not too many pictures from these days, unfortunately.  On Wednesday, we headed out to the 'burbs to see brand-new baby Callie.  Danielle's sister Candace gave birth on Sunday (the day we arrived) so we got to see the newest member of the family!  She is teeny-tiny (at least compared to our big bruiser boys) and super cute with tons of dark hair.  We were too busy talking and catching up with Danielle and Candace and their mom, Renee, to take any pictures.  Sorry!

Then we headed over to Danielle's mom's house for a quick dip in her pool.  I thought Dan would be way more excited about swimming than he actually was, so our fun day in the pool turned into a not-so-fun 30 minutes of trying to coax him into the water.  Oh, well--Ben splashed around with me and seemed to enjoy himself.

After naps, we headed back to Kate Jackson Park but the water fountains were being repaired so we had to settle for the playground.  The boys were very tuckered out that night and went to bed without a peep.

On Thursday, we tried to go to the library but it wasn't open until noon, so we just played on the playground for awhile.  I love the playgrounds in Tampa--most have a giant canvas shade stretched over the top so this sun-phobic mom didn't have to worry for once!  I wish the playgrounds around here had that feature!

After lunch, we headed to the airport.  No delays this time, so our travel experience was much smoother on the return trip.  We had a great time on our 4-day getaway.  A big thank you to Lauren and Jesse for hosting us and to Danielle for giving us lots of great activity suggestions.  Can't wait for the next trip!

Here are a few pictures (from Tuesday judging by Ben's outfit) since I know that most people just want to see pictures of the pals:

Is it just me or is the basketball the same shape as his head?

Tuesday in Tampa

We had another action-packed day on Tuesday in Tampa.  In the morning, we headed to a local shopping mall so I could hit a few stores with Ben while Lauren entertained Dan in the kids' play area.  I think I set a new world record--three purchases in three stores in about 15 minutes.  Good thing I'm an efficient shopper!  With that mission completed, Dan and I took a quick ride on the carousel.  Sorry, no pictures--Lauren and the iPhone don't really get along.  (:

After lunch and naps, we headed to the Glazer Children's Museum for some playtime.  Danielle and Connor met us there and we all had a great time watching Dan.  He loved the water play area, especially the beach with the rubber "sand." And we could hardly tear him away from the fire truck area (big surprise there).  Once I removed him from the fire truck, kicking and screaming (literally), he loved the climbing area with different platforms and ropes.  I think it was supposed to simulate a droplet of water from the clouds to the ground and back into the air through evaporation, but that part was a little bit above Dan's level, so he just enjoyed the climbing.  If you're ever in the Tampa area, I highly recommend this museum!

Future Supreme Court Justices?

When Danielle and I tried to get a good picture of Dan and Ben and Connor, we quickly realized that it was going to be next to impossible to get all three of them looking at the camera at the same time.  Dan was more interested in looking right at Connor's face while Ben just grinned to himself off to the side.  I was reminded of every picture of the Supreme Court justices that I've ever seen--they are never looking at the same camera at the same time.  These men and women are pretty smart and accomplished, so maybe there is hope for our boys.  Even if they can't take a decent picture, they're still cuter than these guys:

Sotomayor and Scalia are the only ones looking at the camera.  Everyone else is looking right or left.  Alito appears to be looking at the ceiling.  Who are these clowns?

For comparison, here are the cutest boys around:

Yoo hoo! Over here, boys!

Okay, Dan and Ben, look a little to your right.  Connor, sit up straight.

You've got it, Dan! Now we just need to work on Ben and Connor.

No, don't look at Connor! Nice smile, Ben, but you're still not looking at the camera.

Get out of his face, Dan! Ben, where did your smile go?

Connor and Dan look great!  Ben, get with the program.

Oh, forget it!

It's a good thing you guys are cute, because you sure don't take direction well.

Monday in Tampa

Since Zach is out of town for about two and a half weeks, the boys and I decided that we needed to hit the road too!  Why should Daddy have all the fun?  So we packed up and headed to the airport on Sunday for  a quick four-day trip to Tampa to see Aunt Lauren and Uncle Jesse (and Danielle and her family, including new baby Connor).

Wilmington has a non-stop one-hour flight to Orlando on Sundays and Thursdays, so I thought that would be a good way to figure out how best to travel by myself with two little ones.  And it would have been an easy travel day--if the flight hadn't been delayed 2 1/2 hours.  So Dan covered every square inch of the (very small) airport while I chased him around, carrying Ben and our stuff the whole time.  Not exactly my idea of a good time, but we survived the wait and the flight and made it to Florida safe and sound and exhausted.

On Monday morning, we hung out at Lauren's apartment.  She and Jesse moved to Tampa in November and really like it so far.  Their nice, quiet apartment was soon overrun with toys and books and boys playing.

After an attempt at a nap (successful for Ben, not so much for Dan), we headed to Kate Jackson Park in Danielle's neighborhood.  What an awesome place to play for Dan!  He loved both the water fountain area and the playground.  I think Lauren and Jesse should definitely move to the Hyde Park area so they will be closer to this park next time we visit!

Lauren dubbed this the "easy chair swing."

I'm still sore from this maneuver.

Lay off the protein powder, Connor!  Eleven weeks and sooooo squeezable!

Apparently, that shirt was way too constricting.

Fun in the mud

We had torrential rains yesterday morning, along with a tornado watch, but the rest of the day was gorgeous!  I think spring might be here to stay, finally.  For Dan, the best part of a rainy morning is a muddy afternoon.  So I put on his galoshes and hat and he grabbed his wagon for a little fun in the mud.  I'm very glad that our laundry room is right off the garage so I can just strip him down as soon as we come in the house!

Instagram fun

Thanks to one of my favorite websites, Pioneer Woman, I downloaded an awesome app for my iPhone called Instagram.  It's free and it does cool things to pictures.  Check out the pics (some old, some new) that I played around with today:

What a good helper!

As I was cleaning up after dinner last night, Dan decided that Ben needed a few more bites of squash.  So he picked up the spoon and fed his brother!  (Pay no attention to the fact that Dan is sans pants; that's just how we roll around here sometimes.)