Saturday Adventures...

I woke up this morning feeling like I've had very little quality time with my men lately. Patrick's been working a ton, and Yums and I have been on the run more than we've been home. Being that we only get morning and early afternoon with Patrick on Satudays due to the radio show (check him out on AM790 from 4-5...shameless plug, but it's my wifely duty!), I wanted to do something fun to make the most of our time. Since William is going through a fish obsession right now I thought about going down to Tampa to the aquarium. I really didn't want to spend that long in the car, though. So I hopped on my trusty computer and head to the Babyzone website for their suggestions of things to do around town (another shameless plug but hey, William's featured on the homepage!). Disney...Universal...numerous parks (it was 40 degrees at this point in the day...not an option!)...Orlando Science Center... PERFECT! I remember going there every year on field trips and Patrick and I even went there once when we were dating. I was dying to go back...and figured William might have fun as well! ;)

Boy, did he! The Kids Town there is awesome! They no longer have the Waterworks exhibit that I grew up loving (or that weird table made of pins that you press your hand into), but they did have an area with a waterfall and lagoon full of toy boats. As soon as we walked up to the kids area and he heard the water he was off! He was in absolute Heaven being ALLOWED to play in the water (as opposed to Tucker's water bowl). It took all we had to get him to check out the rest they had to offer...and this was just one of many exhibits.

Once he tired (or was it us?!) of the water, he enjoyed running around, climbing up into trees, playing inside the space shuttle, and maneuvering his way through the underground tunnels. Some of the way-too-big kids were a little much for him, taking his toys and bumping him as they ran past. My Mr. Tough Guy gets very shy and reserved when he's in new situations!

We took him out of the Kids Zone nearly an hour later kicking and screaming. Poor little guy didn't realize all the other cool things he hadn't yet seen. Right outside the door were lots and lots of animals...which successfully dried his tears. He made fishy noises at the turtles and alligators swimming in the pond and at the fish in the aquariums (see, I got him fishies after all!). He loved (a whole lot more than mommy) looking at all the snakes behind glass and the huge python that the man had wrapped around him. His favorite thing (outside of the water) was the dinosaur exhibit. We couldn't quite figure out how to explain to our 15 month old that the skeletons were the insides of the dinosaurs he's used to seeing, but he still seemed to like them! He LOVED using the paintbrushes to dust for fossils. (Paintbrushes are a common site in our house, as mommy never seems to be done painting!)

We all loved the Science Center so much we decide to upgrade our passes to a Annual Membership. I seriously see us going back at least once a month. It totally wore William out enough to sit through lunch and actually eat (although they brought him something entirely different than we ordered). On the way home from lunch Patrick grabbed my hand and said "We are so blessed." And we are...very much so. Sometimes (okay, a lot!) I find myself complaining about the time the radio show takes away from us, but I need to be more thankful for the time we do have with him on the weekends. But during the week I expect him to be gone....So...anyone up for going to the Science Center?!