The Ide Family Blog: September 2009

I had planned to take to the SC zoo this past weekend but the forecasts all said it would rain all weekend. So I looked for something indoors to do and ended up driving to Columbia SC (about 1hr 45m) to the Edventure Children's Museum with my mom and Zoe. It was an ok trip. She enjoyed most of it but was scared of the "big boy" which is a 40 foot tall statue that you can climb in and the big cow you could milk. It was a good hands on learning place that we will definitely have to visit again in a few years. And by the way, the weather was gorgeous, not a drop of rain. Ughhh. Weathermen!

Petting a bearded dragon

Shopping at the miniature grocery store

Really likes shopping

Playing with a boy at the shrimping boat

Driving the tractor

"Big boy"

Afraid of falling

Wondering when I will stop taking pictures

We always try to get Zoe up to PA during the summer while her cousins are out of school. This time Lar couldn't get the time off so I decided to brave it alone on the plane. The trip going there went rather well considering she didn't get to bed until 4 hours after her normal bedtime! She didn't like sitting in her seat with the seat belt on (but since she is over 2 we had to buy her own seat) so I just held her during take off and landing. On the way back, totally different story. We had some difficulty with the flight attendants. They said since she was a ticketed passenger, she had to sit in her own seat, not on my lap, and must have her seat belt on at all times. This did not sit well with me (or Zoe) and when I tried to state my case the lady just kept saying stuff about "precious cargo" and "what if something happened" and "I would rather hear her cry than see her get hurt". Blah. Blah. Blah. Zoe was very unhappy most of the trip and keeping her from crying was an exhausting feat. We really have to find some movies the child will watch. She watched the first 1-3 minutes of all 20 I brought with us probably about 10 times each before I gave up and put it away. While we don't really let her watch a ton of TV (she isn't interested in it either) I do wish she would relax and watch some every now and then especially in time like this.
So while we were there we went to Knoebels (an amusement park) with Grammie I, Aunt Shannon, Uncle Mike, and Cousins Sean and Ryan. The kids (and adults) all had a blast. Zoe was a big fan of the carousels and anything she got to "drive". I can't wait until she is big enough to go on some of my favorite rides. (I'm a big roller coaster/ thriller ride person and Lar is no fun on those). The rest of our visit to the great north, was just filled with hard play, long naps, and good food.

Coming home, after our stressful flight, Zoe decided to show her bold streak in the airport terminal. She laid down at the end of the moving walkway.....TWICE! So after TWO timeouts and much longer than necessary, we finally made it back to where Daddy was picking us up at. It was good to be home and we missed Daddy so.