New baby, gorilla poo, etc

Once again, I let the entire week slip by before updating this blog! We've been crazy busy these past couple of weeks getting ready for the holidays, and I'm good at remembering to take pictures- uploading them, on the other hand, often escapes me...

I have a few pictures and a few videos. I still have more Charleston videos to upload, but I should be able to fully catch up over the holidays, as I am off work from the 24th- January 2!

We visited Brian, Missy, Lila and new baby Josie last weekend. She is only two weeks old and very wee and very cute. Sadie is obsessed with the playgrounds at Chick-Fil-A (yes, my dream of having offspring who only eat sprouts and wheatberries has been dashed), so we took the kids for some time in the tubes and slides there.

Tiny little Josie... She looks very much like her sister....

Sadie, preparing to bounce off the walls.

Lila, trying to work up the nerve to climb all the way up...
Here are the kids on the slide...



On Sunday, we took Sadie to the zoo. It was freeeeezing cold. We bundled ourselves up and braved the cold winds. There were more animals there than people. Having lived in Montana, I don't mind the cold weather at all, and I enjoyed the peace and quiet.

Here is a mountain lion enjoying a nap....
Sadie enjoyed resting during the long walks between Africa and North America in this nice cart.
Watching the feeding of the sea lions..
I really love the new playground in North America...

Sadie loves the leaf slide...
Riding a squash....
Little Sadie Spider...
Whee!
A resting otter...
Mama and baby elephant...

This cardinal looked so pretty against the berry bush...
Here's where things started to get very..um... different. Sadie and the gorilla in question stared at each other... The gorilla looked so... wise... so.. dignified...
Then, the gorilla reached behind her, pooped in her hand, and shoved the product in question right in her mouth! Here she is, just chewing away...

And here is Sadie's reaction... She's still talking about it!

Here's Sadie, doing the hokey pokey in her new lion costume...

Charleston videos....

A few quick videos from the Charleston trip... More to come soon...

Here's Sadie at Ft. Moultrie in her "revolutionary-era bonnet" addressing all the cannons, one by one.



Sadie, flying a model airplane at the USS Yorktown at Patriots Point.



Sadie decided to steer this "ship" with great gusto at the Charleston Aquarium. I am reasonably sure that, had I been a passenger on this ship, I'd have serious seasickness!



Check out this REALLY creepy eel at the Charleston Aquarium. I have the urge to pipe in Bing Crosby's version of "White Christmas" to match the mouth motions...



Cool Barn Owls at the Charleston Aquarium.

Charleston, Santa train, etc

I'm now finally uploading all of our Charleston pictures. Our trip was a lot of fun for everyone. Sadie has been begging almost every day to go back to Charleston. We stayed in a fairly roomy suite with a separate bedroom and a fold-out bed in the living room, so Mom, Redmond, Sadie and I never felt particularly cramped. The weather was great the first day, but we had rain, on and off, the rest of the weekend. Unfortunately, we arrived to the Birds of Prey Center to find it closed, due to inclement weather. The rest of the trip went smoothly, however. We had a wonderful Thanksgiving dinner at the Middleton Plantation and spent some time touring the plantation afterwards. We moved on to Patriot's Point, where Sadie enjoyed running around the submarine and aircraft carrier.

The following day, we visited the aquarium. Sadie's nap schedule always tends to limit our activities, though. When she finally gives up napping, I will miss having the chance to relax or take care of things for a couple of hours during the day, but I'll also welcome the chance to plan more sustained day activities without worrying about how to work around the 1:00 witching hour.

I threw in a few pictures from the ride on the Santa train at the Museum of Life and Science in Durham last week. Unfortunately, the lighting was not particularly good, so few of the pictures came out. Sadie rode the train with her friends Malcolm and Richie, and met Santa at the "North Pole".

I'll try to post the films later this week.

Last week, Sadie couldn't decide on a "lovey" for school, so she attempted to drag a stuffed rat, a snake and a pteradactyl to school. Note that only MY child would have animals such as these as her "lovey". I'm guessing that the average little three year old girl would probably favor a little bunny rabbit or a baby doll.


The following set of pictures are from Middleton Plantation in Charleston, SC., Thanksgiving day.




We took a horse and carriage ride after dinner. These were our "guides".


This was a cabin where freed slaves lived.


On the horse and carriage ride... Getting sleepy eyed...
And passing out...
The house in the distance is Middleton Plantation- the main residence.
My sleeping angel.


This alligator was just hanging out in the pond.

A cormorant, drying out his wings.
Beautiful manicured gardens.





Here is the aircraft carrier at Patriot's Point, off in the distance...

Sadie "flies" a plane.


You will see many pictures of airplanes to follow. Don't ask me to tell you what they are. Redmond can tell you, "Hey- this is a J-3.14", but to me, they are just "planes".

Sadie walked up to the any hole in any plane she saw and yelled "Hello in there!"



Our suites were at the base of this bridge, that connects Charleston with Mt. Pleasant. We could have walked the pedestrian lane of the bridge...but... we didn't.


Sadie is my co-pilot...
Here is Ft. Moultrie on Sullivan's Island. Totally amazing place to walk around. This fort was built before the Revolutionary War, and was Charleston's main sea defense area until Ft. Sumter was built. There were probably miles of tunnels and mazes in this old structure.

Sadie picked out this Revolutionary era bonnet and doll in the gift shop.
The Charleston Aquarium... Sadie rides a turtle...
A pair of Barn Owls...
Sadie touches a horseshoe crab...
Sadie and Mom by the "campfire" inside the camping exhibit...

Here are the few pictures from the Santa train that actually came out.... Here is Santa, having a meet and greet with Malcolm... Malcolm and Sadie, by the way, spent much of the evening holding hands...

Santa asks Sadie what she wants for Christmas. She replies that she wants to have Halloween again. He kind of "ho ho hos" his way away from us fairly quickly... ;-)