the Park and a Monkey Suit

Before you get to see the photos, you have to read a story. Eli is learning new words right and left. FINALLY! :-) And the day before yesterday we had another break through. I asked Eli if he wanted to take a nap with Momma. (I was really tired.) Well, he said no, of course. I was doing something for the baby and noticed it got really quiet. It only gets quiet in two circumstances around here--first, Eli is asleep. Second, he's getting into something and is elated enough to be quiet. (Or wants to avoid attracting mom's attention so he gets stopped.) I was pretty worried it was the latter.

When I walked the downstairs and couldn't find him, I decided he must be in his room. So, I put the baby down (making sure her room was clear) and then went to his room. Not there, and still totally quiet. Then I checked the last remaining place--my room. There he was, curled up on my bed, under the covers on Whit's side with his tiny hand lying on my pillow. He had taken me up on the nap, even sleeping on the right side. This is more impressive if you have seen my bed. It's HUGE--I mean, it's impressive he can even get up on it. It's a Cali King, 4 poster bed that's at least 4 feet off the ground! I have to hop to get into it!

A good mom would have run downstairs to get the camera to document his cuteness. I was SO tired (I am sick) that I just lay down next to him and went to sleep. I woke up an hour later to someone tiny saying, "Boo!" with animated glee. Ha. What a cutie.

Now on with the photos. Here's one I took of a cariacature we got done in Sea World. I love to get these done--it's a particular weakness I have. I loved this one, except the guy took some creative license with my chest! O.o Just avert your eyes! He did great with Dora and Eli, though!



We went to the park yesterday, before Eli got sick. Dora and Eli had a ball!




It is PERFECT weather here!

He is such a big boy!

Now every time we drive anywhere, he insists on sitting in the car for like an hour after we get home. To keep him from crying when I pry his little paws away from the car (he sits in the driver seat!) I have to distract him. Who would have thought that suggesting dress up in the Halloween costume for this year would work so well. He wore it all day! Cute, huh?

Devious

Eli hates to have his diaper changed. As a mom, you are always on the look out, or shall I say smell out, for poops. I have a cold right now, so it takes me a bit longer to notice that one of them is dirty. This morning I had just changed the baby, and I smelled something suspicious.

I look at Eli who is standing in his diaper (I haven't gotten him dressed yet.) I say, "Eli did you make poops?"

To which he responds, "No." This is pretty normal for him, even if he did. Then he looks at me and says, "Baby" and points at Dora.

I ask, "The baby made poops?"

"Wah."

She was totally clean. Mr. Eli has learned the power of deflection/accusations. That little twit!

A few videos--Eli is a Dancing Pro!

So, my new calling is to work with the young ladies in primary (8-11) on "activity days". In anticipation of the upcoming Ward Party, we have been learning the new Hannah Montana dance from her movie. I have absolutely no dancing ability, but luckily I am related to Emma. She agreed to learn and then teach it to the girls. We have had a great time, but perhaps the happiest person in this whole setup is Eli. Watch the video and you can see his moves!

Here's another few videos (because he loves to watch them, mostly.) First another dancing one, and then a few bonuses--Whit teaching Eli to juggle--isn't Eli amazing!? Maybe I am just biased because I am a mom, though. And finally, Eli and Whitney playing in our newest toy acquisition. My mom and I found it at a garage sale and silly me--I thought it was for Dora. Eli loves his "garden."

Eager Birds and the Orlando Airport

Well, this is my last blog from the trip--I am caught up!! Finally!

Eli was playing out on the back patio at our resort and Whit went to check on him. Whaddya know? He had some bird friends gathering. Whit helped Eli lure them over with some Nilla Wafers and voila! Eli was delighted to have so many stork friends!

There were four of them in all.

Pretty neat! There were also alligators in the ponds around the golf courses--golfers beware! My mom teaches Eli all kinds of silly things, too. Now when he sees an alligator, he pinches his cheek, to show they bite! HA.

The Orlando Airport is AWESOME. It's so big! And there's a neat fountain in it, too. Eli LOVED the fountain, which was good because we had to sit there for a while.

Dora stands in her stroller now! Wow! I am so proud of you, you little cutie! She also crawls great--but still only in reverse! Whoops.

Feeding the Dolphins

One of the coolest things we did at Sea World was feed the dolphins. I had to do one last post that would include some shots from some of our end of the week pool trips and our trip to feed the dolphins. Eli got pretty proficient in the pool during the week and could basically float on his own for short periods of time by the end (with his vest on, of course.) The baby loved to be in floaties, too.

Here I am with the kids; ignore the disembodied hand holding up Dora!


I thought what Whit did was was so funny it deserved TWO photos. Look at how he picked up Eli!

Eli and Nana!

Here are all the ladies and kiddies on the last day of fun at Sea World.

And now, the moment you have all be waiting for--the DOLPHINS! It was SO neat to touch them and feed them. I am taking my mom and Emma's word for how fun feeding them was. Eli figured out the gig really fast and one by one (like lightning) threw the fish to the dolphins. I didn't get to throw any, but I did get to touch them.

See?

One of them sort of decided we were an easy mark after Eli threw him 10 fish all in a row and set up camp in front of us.

I warned my mom and Emma so they wouldn't let him near their fish stack.

Dora enjoying one last Shamu show.

Oooh, pretty!

Wow!

One last grinning imp.

Busch Gardens

Eli loves animals so Busch Gardens was AMAZING. Isadora was tired, tired of being at hot amusement parks so my mom stayed home with her while we took Eli to Busch Gardens. HE LOVED IT almost as much as I did! :-) WARNING: There are a lot of photos. This blog is not for the faint of heart. I took 750+ photos of our trip, so I really did pare this down a lot!

Here's a cool shot I took from the skybox. It's this great box that really books it over the whole safari zone and you can see all the animals from above. It goes so fast, there is a really nice breeze. NO, it's not running in fear. It's being chased by another gazelle, or whatever this thing is... I am not quite sure!


My favorite part of the whole day was how we got within LITERALLY an inch of the lions! The male lion was REALLY friendly and kept rubbing his head on the glass!

Check this out! Eli had NO fear at all.

Apparently they rotate the prides (they have five) so the lions are eager to be in the little display area and get some attention. BEST ZOO EVER!

They had the setup focused on two safari jeeps they built into the display. Eli loved those jeeps!

Emma and Eli with Aslan! ha.

The ring tailed lemurs were NEAT! So playful and fun.

Eli thought they were a crackup and he totally knew they were from Madagascar. He did his "I like to move it move it" dance.

He really liked this bird with a "hat".

Okay this is kind of sad. I like posing with statues, so I saw this one and told Whit to put Eli on. Right now, his word for "hot" and "seat" sound the same. "Ott" and "eet" are about how they come out. We totally thought he was saying Seat or Sit, and it turns out he was saying "HOT" because the back of the gorilla where we put him was hot. Whoops.

This ape TOTALLY ate a kiwi right in front of us--turns out Apes peel them, too! Very carefully, I might add.

Another statue shot.

I think this photo should go on a commercial for deoderant. Can you tell which sleeping gorilla is sure? Which one is un-sure!? Haha.

Eli rests his head on Dad's head when he gets tired. It's cute! We're in line here for the sky box.

Whit decided to wake him up by playing "Where's Eli?" He turns his head to whichever side Eli's head isn't on. To get his attention Eli grabs his nose. This is a game I never play for obvious reasons!

Eli loves it though--see?

Here's my handsome hubby in the sky box.

And here are the sisters.

Eli liked the tigers, especially the white ones.

I know no one really wants to see shots of just animals, but I loved this one. I kind of think I could put it on a postcard! haha.

This is what our life would look like if Eli had been a twin. AHHHHHH!

That lion is sleeping on the box people can peek their heads up in. I am telling you, you can get closer to the animals at Busch Gardens than anywhere else on Earth. Have I made you want to go yet!?

Grrrr.

We will DEFINITELY go again the next time we go to Florida!