Sea Life Aquarium

On Saturday, Tom had to be in Omaha for a friend's wedding.  Sarah and I decided it was the perfect opportunity to check out Kansas City's Sea Life Aquarium!

 

 

Our first stop was the shoaling room.  Sarah was mesmerized!

 

 

Eventually, we moved into the rest of the aquarium.  We started with freshwater lakes and streams, where Sarah and I discussed just how weird catfish look.

 

Next, we visited the shoreline area.  Sarah was fascinated by the lobster.  I did not tell her how delicious they taste!

 

 

From there, it was on to the touch pools!  At first, Sarah wasn't sure about sticking her hand into the water to touch starfish and anemones, but once I did it, she was willing to go along with it!

 

 

 Then we continued our journey through the larger ocean exhibits.

 

 

We stopped to admire the jellyfish for a while.  Sarah's comment was, "Mommy!  They change colors!" 

 

Then we went to check out some turtles.  Sarah had a great time playing with the eggs and "hatching" like a turtle!

The next exhibit was Sarah's favorite stop of the day!  There was a perfectly Sarah-sized tunnel through a large tank.  She's really into tunnels right now, so we spent a lot of time here!

 

 

Eventually we moved on to the stingray pool. 

 

 

After the stingrays we checked out some seahorses, and then we ended our visit with a trip to the Sea Life play area.  Sarah's getting braver about climbing and playing on the big playgrounds, and this was no exception!  She really had a blast, and I practically had to drag her out of there!

 

I think all in all, the aquarium was a hit.  I'm sure we'll be back soon!

 

Picnic at the Park

Friday night was beautiful!  The heat finally broke and it was downright enjoyable outside.  We celebrated by grabbing some dinner and having a picnic at Antioch Park!  Sarah, of course, only cared about the playground...

 

 

We stayed until it started to get dark (which is happening earlier and earlier these days!) and then headed home.  I'm so excited for the cool weather and all the outside activities of the fall!!

9606

My parents moved into 9606 when I was two years old.  They have lived there for 35 years.  In that time, we have made a million memories in that house.  On Sept. 11, however, we said good-bye to that house as my parents (finally) moved. 

 

We posed for one last family photo on the front steps.

 

 

I took pictures of the sweet gum tree, which has always been referred to as "my" tree.  Supposedly I picked it out when I was little.  I have no memory of that, but I certainly do love this tree!  Unfortunately, I think the next door neighbors HATE the tree (or at least the balls that it drops) and will pay the new owners handsomely to remove it.

 

 

Pa-Pa, who has always delighted in annoying the neighbors (who really aren't very nice people) with the gum balls, posed with a handful of the offensive things.

 

 

Sarah enjoyed running through the empty house and hiding in the closets.  She went for one last run through the backyard.

 

 

 

 

I documented the lovely kitchen tiles - just in case I ever need a recipe for salad dressing!

 

 

 

 

 

Then Grammie shared some dinner with Sarah on the steps before we said goodbye to 9606.

 

 

I will miss that house, but I will carry the memories that were made there with me forever.  I wish my mom and dad all the best in their new house, and I can't wait to start making new memories there!