Weekend With Grandma

This past weekend my mom was here with us to help out Friday and today while our daycare is closed for vacation.    The last time she did she didn't stay the whole weekend because she had some stuff to do at home, but this time I talked her in to staying all weekend. Mostly because she had surgery on her eye last month and I didn't want her driving back and forth, but also because J was out of town Friday and most of Saturday and I kind of wanted the help.

Saturday morning we got up and and after hanging out and eating breakfast we headed downtown to the aquarium.  We have a family membership, which gets in the parents and all kids under 18 in the family. I didn't think that my mom would be able to get in with it, but I was pleasantly surprised when she got in for free on our membership (Score!).  We stopped for the picture on the way in:

Probably should have taken Elliot's hat off so he wasn't just a big white blob.

I didn't realize that it was mermaid day when we decided to go, so it was probably the most crowded that I have ever seen it.  It was ok, though.  Andrew was a little hesitant with so many kids running around, but he eventually started getting a little more brave and exploring.  We decided to go out and look at the stingrays and this time we got the shrimp to feed them:

The fish ate all of his shrimp instead of the stingrays, but at least the birds didn't swoop down and steal them off of his stick.

He of course loved the big tank as usual:

We spent about two hours there and then headed out. We stopped for lunch on the way home (Juanita Greenberg's - kind of gross and I won't be going back) and then headed home.  J got home right before bedtime and brought some new toys for the boys:

Yesterday we decided to take advantage of the beautiful weather and headed out to the Strawberry Festival out at Boone Hall.  We went last year, but Andrew was a little too small to ride most of the rides and kind of freaked out about the merry go round.  This year he was big enough to ride quite a few rides, including the train:

The merry go round:

The elephants with me:

His first "roller coaster" with his daddy:

And the trucks by himself:

Elliot was happy to just hang out and watch:

He was even happier to hang out with his grandma after I very nervously nursed him in public without a cover:

We had a very nice two hours there before heading home to get him down for a nap.  My mom stayed in the house with Elliot while J and I worked on the garden (and Andrew played with worms).

They are home again with my mom today and I'm hoping the weather held out long enough for them to make a quick trip over to the playground.  I also hope that Elliot drank some milk (he only took one bottle on Friday and it stressed me out).  I know my mom is loving spending so much time with the boys (even if they do wear her out!).  She loves being a grandma  :)