What a Weekend

I had many intentions of blogging late last week, but that, clearly, didn't happen. Oh well.

For those eager to know how Eli's been doing potty training: I'd say he's doing great!

Can you tell he's proud of his first completed chart?

After that first day, he's only had 3 accidents since. He is pretty much day trained at this point...he even did fine on his road trip this weekend (more on this later...) We have been braving public a lot with underwear, and only 1 of the accidents was while we were out and about. You better believe that we are thrilled and extremely proud of the little dude. (And I have to say that toddlers in boxer briefs is my new favorite thing! TOO CUTE!....no picture of it just yet...you'll have to stay tuned!)

Ever since Eli and I got back from our trip to Denver, we have been trying to come up with a fun weekend/day trip for the WHOLE family. I had been told about a park in Albany, Georgia called Chehaw that was a MUST if you have a child who loves trains. Eli loves a lot of things, and trains are indeed right on up there. The park includes a zoo, a playground, lots of trails, and a train ride around the park. It sure sounded like fun and we had an open day, so off we went to Albany. Of course, with a potty training toddler in the back, the 1 and a half hour car ride quickly turned into 2 hours with several stops for, "I have to go!" breaks. We tried the whole-- You're a boy. You can pee on the side of the road--thing with not a lot of success. Eli seems to get a little stage fright and was unsure how to pee standing up. After a couple of unsuccessful stops on the way there and back, he finally got the hang of it on the drive home. The backroads between here and there are not very populated and there are few places to stop. We learned our lesson....travel with potty!

So, we pull into the park and we are just too excited about the day ahead when we see the little sign posted in the window of the booth where you pay your entrance fee: TRAIN DOWN FOR REPAIRS. Are you kidding me? We drove all this way because of the train and you don't have a train!?! We tried desperately to hide our disappointment and to stay excited for Eli. Afterall, we had driven all this way, Eli was excited for the animals too, and we might as well check it all out.

We checked out the stinky farm animals first

Looks like Eli has the same "span" as a Peregrine Falcon!
See, he was still having fun. Mommy and Daddy just needed to get over the NO train factor.

After walking through the reptile house and seeing the farm animals, I was not feeling much better. We see this stuff at the Jr. Museum in Tallahassee...why did we drive all this way for NO TRAIN? Can you tell I was bitter? And then we walked out to see NO red wolf (we have those at the Jr. Museum, so nothing lost...) and on to the Alligator Outpost. We soon see a decent size alligator sunning itself as we walk out. Pretty cool. Then we spot a HUGE gator to our left, and as Eli and Daddy are walking out farther to find the other couple dozen gators, I pause to capture a few of these guys with my camera.

All of a sudden, SNAP! The big gator (we later learned is named, "Charlie") snapped his jaws shut and slapped his head against the water, making me jump. Nearly simultaneously the alligator hanging out directly below us underneath the boardwalk 1-2 feet over the water starts growling loudly enough to vibrate the boardwalk. We honestly thought there was a motorboat approaching it was so loud and low. "Charlie," the big one, starts growling back. OK, I pretty much wanted to pee my pants at this point. My toes are literally curled up on top of my shoes and I won't take another step further; in fact, I'm walking backwards away from the swamp. Amidst my whimpers, I beg Matt to bring Eli back and tell him we shouldn't be out here. And all of the other alligators are swimming (one even jumped) around while these two growled it out. I was freaking! And just as quickly as it began, all was calm again. My anxious heart and mind decided it was safe and that we should go out and see more.

And I'm so glad we did! As Matt said best, It made the entire trip worth it. There were about 26 alligators that we saw swimming around. Oh yeah, Eli loved it too. We could have stayed out there longer, but decided to head on in to see the rest of the zoo...though already quite satisfied with the trip.

It really was a great zoo. We saw all kinds of animals:

rhinos, zebras, ostriches, monkeys, cheetahs, tortoises, bears, and more.

Overall it was a small zoo, but very fun animals to see.

By this time, we were getting hungry, and we didn't plan ahead very well with a packed lunch. We honestly didn't know what the set up would be and if food was allowed (it was...). Oh well. Eli was losing interest and tiring out about the same time our hunger hit, so we hit the road. Glad we went, but we will definitely find out if the train is running the next time BEFORE we make the drive.

Sunday was also full of fun. Eli had been bugging asking Daddy about planting a garden the past week. Daddy told Eli that he would have to ask Mommy if it was ok. "Is it ok if we plant a garden, Mommy?" How can you say no to that perfect little question and his adorable little face? Of course! Off they went to pick out some summer fruits and veggies that will hopefully not shrivel up in Florida's late summer heat. Even if they do....they had fun getting dirty, digging, and planting together!

the proud gardners

And here is what they planted:

tomatoes, cucumbers, and 2 kinds of watermelon

Eli thinks we'll have things to eat today...time for a lesson on patience and growth. We also made attempts to keep the bunnies and deer out by putting a wire fence around it...we haven't had luck growing things in our yard before...flowers, veggies, herbs, even trees because all of our friendly neighborhood critters like to come and nibble them. That's ok...the boys had a really fun time making it, and I've always wanted a vegetable garden. Now I've got one!

As I'm typing, my family that lives in Denver is landing at the Tallahassee airport. My dad is picking them up and heading straight to St. George Island for the week. Eli and I are almost all packed and will pick up Aunt Kristi after she gets off of work and head down. The rest of the family, including Matt, will join us later in the week after putting some hours in at their jobs. (Love being a teacher in the summer!!!) We will all be together! Very exciting and rare these days. It is baby Asher's first trip to the beach (and his first trip on an airplane!) I'll not be blogging while we're gone...but I'm sure to have lots of pictures after a week filled with family and fun in the sun at heavenly St. George. Until then....
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