The Dooligans 4: My 30th Birthday Trip to Tampa!

SO! as usual, I took too many pictures, selected some favorites, and uploaded them in some random order.The kids colored this Dr. Seuss crown at the Aquarium. They wore them around and looked so cute.

Anna is 4!

Jonathan was just thrilled to have some time to color. He had gone about 24 hours without any drawing or anything, and I think he needed it. Instead of a toy, he picked this little fat book of photos of oceans, beaches and animals around the world, and he looked at it most of the way home.

Me at lunch with Jonathan. See his eye? That is from where he fell out of bed and hit his eye on the bedside table. I didn't even look at it until the next morning. I just figured he was scared from falling out of bed, not hurt, and I got him back to sleep fast. So when I saw it, I said, WHAT HAPPENED TO YOUR EYE? And he said, Um, I fell out of bed, remember???? Oh.

Evasive maneuvers.

There were a lot of interesting things to see at the aquarium. But the kids were both fascinated with this cart full of different types of shells. They listened intently to the educational volunteer. I think, especially with Anna, it came down to that they were allowed to touch these things... so they were automatically cooler and more intriguing than all the stuff behind glass.

Jonathan and me.

This great horned owl was amazing. I've never seen one up close. When it blinked and turned its head, I swear it looked like some kind of Jim Henson Muppet. It didn't even look real. It had the most incredible eyes.

This was Jonathan in front of a HUGE fish! I think it said it was some kind of grouper. It meaning the sign, not the fish. If the fish had actually said it was a grouper, I would never question that.

The kids were really into the pictures! I kept saying, this is Mama's birthday trip! Look at the camera! I felt sort of bad until I heard another mother telling her 3 year old: No ice cream unless you stop giving me that dumb cheesy smile! Give me your REAL smile! (She was adorable and I could see nothing cheesy or dumb about her smile. UGH!)
Me and the kids checking something (was it fish? I'm thinking it was probably fish!) out at the Florida Aquarium. Which I highly recommend. If you are the marine-life loving sort of gal I am.

Jonathan is a pretty strong swimmer now. But he still likes to be given rides around the pool. He pretends I am Buttercup (the horse) and tells me giddy up and whoa and kicks my sides a little and even pulls on my "reins (my hair)" to get me to turn. I think it is far more fun for him than me... But I am just happy that he still lets me hold him in the water and play with him. I wonder how many more summers before he gets too cool for that. :)

Anna signed I Love You to me during the penguin show at the aquarium. She kept tricking me into raising my hand during the question/answer session. She thought that was just hysterical. Jonathan was sitting down on the floor with all the other kids, and he raised his hand to ask a question about the penguins. Most of the kids would raise their hands, get called on, and forget what they were going to ask in the first place. OR, they would ask something completely off the wall or something that had already been covered. But Jonathan asked, Do these penguins come from Antarctica? I was so proud of him that he was able to articulate his question so well, that it was a thoughtful question, and that he had the courage to raise his hand and ask it in such a room packed full of people. Way to go, buddy! (The penguins actually came from South Africa.)

We took an hour long detour on our way to Tampa to see downtown Lakeland. I wanted to eat at a local place, and we found this little place. Because it was right in front of the ONLY available parking spot anywhere. I had an agenda to eat some good Cuban sandwiches and black beans while on this trip. We all ate, and the bill came to a whopping 14 dollars... But they didn't accept credit cards!!! Jonathan immediately said to his Daddy, I TOLD you that you would need to use REAL MONEY someday! He was right. We had to go next door to an ATM and get some REAL MONEY.

View from hotel room.

Dave's PT Cruiser crossed over to the 100,000 mile mark on this trip.

Anna enjoying a Shirley Temple at the outdoor water playground at Florida Aquarium. Anna got the idea that people only spoke Spanish in Tampa, and so she was practicing all of her Spanish words she knows. When a hotel waiter walked by her and said, Hola! she beamed up at him and said, HOLA! She was so thrilled that she got to use one of her words.

What a goofball! He had so much fun. He was just off running around the water playground and I had to lure him up to the shade to drink his Shirley Temple. I was worried about them getting dehydrated. It was so hot and we were outside so much.

Irony: After being thrilled that Dave reserved a feather-free hotel room (because I dislike birds so much and am freaked out by feathers {I used to think I had an allergy, now I realize it is more like a psychological aversion}, I spent a great deal of time at the Aquarium trying to get pictures of various birds. They had an amazing exhibit of birds. (I guess they were all water birds native to Florida, which is how they worked their way into an aquarium?)

Anna checking out the view. The kids LOVED the hotel. The view was amazing. There was so much going on in the harbor and down on the third-floor rooftop pool. We were 17 floors up and the elevator was so speedy it made our ears pop.

Jonathan and Anna not quite getting the point of the hermit crab photo opp.

More views from the hotel room.

Anna did her own hair. :) She is so pretty...

And I think she knows it.

This is the pool we swam in. I kept saying we were 17 floors up from the pool, and Dave kept reminding me that we were only 14 floors up since the pool was on the third floor. I was quite impressed with this pool. There were palm trees in huge planters in the water... but Jonathan said it was not a big deal. He was also unimpressed with the towering palm trees inside the hotel lobby. He kept shrugging his shoulders and saying, Seen that before. HOWEVER, a certain display case in the hotel gift shop caught his eye. "WOW! Look at all those giant pencils!!! How do they even sharpen those??!! (We were in Tampa... they were cigars. Even the cashier was laughing when she overheard him say that.)

After the pool and before dinner, we walked along the riverwalk. We saw a woman driving her boat with one hand and texting on her Blackberry with another. It was sort of funny, since it was a relatively busy waterway, and she was precariously near some VERY nice yachts. Also, with the way she was dressed, she looked like she was a business commuter. Maybe that was her commute home from work and she was tying up loose ends at the office before her weekend began. It was just humorous to us.

Jonathan at the aquarium.

Me laughing with Jonathan, saying how we could take these spiny lobsters home to Papa Larry for dinner.

Anna being silly by the hotel pool. She put my flip flops on her hands and Jon's Crocs on her feet.

Awww! Aren't we so cute!

Me in front of the hotel (the tall Marriott in the background).

Forcing a photo with the kids before they ran for the pool. It was enough of a hassle that we made them get all that stinking sunblock on before they could get in!