Vacation...Day 4

Splashing at tahe Aquarium!
A ride on a shark!

Soaked!


Told you this child is not scared of water!

A little fun in the sand

An attempt at getting a picture with my babies, but as you can see they are not happy!

Yikes! Good thing there is glass there!

Wow, a stingray!

Telling me all about what he is seeing, I love this picture...it totally captures his personality!

Turtles

Man, that's a big fishy!

Taking it all in

Loving the aquarium

Stingrays!!!

We took the boys to the Aquarium in Tampa on Tuesday. I had researched it before we went and it was in the top 10 aquariums in the world, so we just had to check it out for ourselves. It really was an awesome aquarium. There were stingray tanks that where you could touch the stingrays, huge shark tanks with windows from floor to ceiling! They also had a huge sand area and spray park outside! Clayton loved that and spent most of his time out there playing. He is such a water baby and always has been. He would just run straight through these geysers of water, not missing a single one. People are always amazed at how much he loves water and doesn't mind being totally submersed in it face and all especially with him being so young! Hollis also enjoyed the view! He loves watching the fish in the tanks. It was a little crazy the day we went with field trips, but luckily the field trips weren't allowed to go outside to the water part, so we had that almost all to ourselves!!! It was a great day :)

Vacation...Day 5

I was so excited about this day. We headed for the beach. We stayed right on the water, but we were on the pier side, so it was about a 10 minute drive in the opposite direction to go to the beach. We gathered up all of our things, stopped in the store to buy some sand toys and we were off to the beach! I couldn't wait for Clayton to see the ocean up close for the first time, I wasn't sure if he would be scared of it or not...I should have know better. My child is a complete dare devil and 110% boy, he wasn't scared in the least...he ran right in. I had to keep him from going in too far! It was a little nerve racking for me! He also loved the sand and played and played in it. The beach in St. Pete is absolutely beautiful. I love the ocean and was so happy to share that experience with my boys. I must say that seeing everything brand new through their eyes is the best feeling in the whole world. They make everything so much more fun :) Hollis loves having his toes in the water and was very interested in the sand. I had to try to keep him from putting it in his mouth. He just looked around and took it all in. He also got a little nap in while we were there :) No naps for mommy, I am beginning to wonder what I did with all my time before having two little ones!

Vacation...Day 6

Clayton in his car float

Relaxing in the hotel room
Clayton is telling Mommy and Hollis a good story!

Having a snack poolside...it was chilly after being in that cold pool


Mommy and Clayton swimming



Hollis relaxing poolside

We used this day to relax a little since we had such a big day at the beach the day before. We hung out at the pool, walked around the shops and restaurants, and took Clayton to the park. Like I said before St. Pete was just a beautiful place, and everything was in walking distance.

Vacation...Day 7

Mommy and Clayton at the Pier Aquarium
There were horse drawn carriages near the restaurant we were eating at

Mommy and Hollis at the Pier


Me with my babies :)

Getting ready to walk up to the Pier

Cool dude!

Huge Pelican looking at Gi Gi and Clayton

We decided to head to the pier the last day we were there. There were shops, restaurants, and a little aquarium at the pier, not to mention the beautiful view and amazing boats! There were huge yachts and beautiful boats everywhere at the pier...I think I could handle living on one of those. There were tons of pelicans at the pier and they didn't mind if you got right up next to them. Clayton loved that! We also visited the small aquarium, it was really nice and the boys both enjoyed looking at the fish. We hung out, walked around, and just enjoyed the view. When Daddy got back from work, we headed out for a nice dinner at a delicious restaurant, stopped for ice cream, and took a walk at the park. It was beautiful weather everyday, we were so lucky!

Last Day :(

Headed Home...everyone is worn out!

We got up early Saturday morning and headed out for a delicious breakfast outside. The nice thing about Florida is sitting outside at the restaurants in the beautiful weather eating your meal! We then headed to the airport to make the trip home. The flight home was great. Clayton got to sit by the window, and we all got to sit together on the way home. He kept saying, "Mama airplane, clouds!" He loved it, however, his ears did hurt him on the way down :( Thankfully the decent doesn't take too terribly long. It was a successful trip!

Hollis is 6 months!!! Here's a look at month 5...

Look at my big boy sitting up!!!
Sweet Hollis

Hey Mommy!


Already up on all fours...he will be crawling in no time!

Here is what Hollis has been up to...

He had his 6 month well check with Dr. Cochran. He is a happy, and healthy baby and we couldn't be more blessed. Dr. Cochran commented on his beautiful smile and sweet perosnality. He is going through that stage where all eyes must be on Mommy and he isn't a fan of people he doesn't see often. He weighed in at 16lbs 2 1/2 ounces and 26 and 5/8ths inches long! He showed off how strong he is. I swear he has been standing with just his hands being held forever. I think he is trying to keep up with his brother! He had to have shots and he wasn't very happy about that, plus he was sleepy, so when we got home he slept for 3 hours...poor guy.

*Such a happy, easy going baby!

*Loves to eat and so far he has tried squash, sweet potatoes, pears, applesauce, peaches, and bananas and I have yet to find one he didn't like. We shall see what happens when the green beans are introduced ;)

*Full fleged thumb sucker, no more paci for this guy. He is just looks so sweet sucking that little thumb!

*Took his first plane ride, trip to the beach, and turned 6 months all while in Florida for the first time

*Can sit up all by himself already!!!!!

*Getting up on his knees and hands and rocking, I think this little guy is going to skip the army crawl! He even gets all the way up on his feet, but we have to watch him closely because he then falls on his face.

*Beginning to recognize strangers and/or people he isn't used to. As long as Mommy is holding him he will smile and coo at people, but boy if he can't see me and someone he doesn't recognize talks to him, that lip puckers up and he starts crying.

*He is so tender hearted, he gets his feelings hurt and scares easily

*He is a little cuddler

*Belly laughs and "talks" up a storm

*Since he has found his voice he likes to make all kinds of shrills and shreiks!

*Felt sand for the first time, and had his little feet in the ocean

*He is seriously the sweetest little thing!!!

*Will lay down awake and get himself to sleep now

*Takes two naps now

*Still loves the exersaucer and floor gym, but is highly entertained by his brother!

*VERY ticklish

*Grasps and holds onto toys

Love, love, love our sweet little Hollis...he is such a blessing!!! Looking forward to watching all of his milestones :)