Maxwell Mini-Adventures

This year a beach vacation just wasn't in the cards for us at the Maxwell House, so we decided we do little trips...or "Mini-Adventures", as I've decided to call them, you know, just to make it sound a little jazzier! We took our first mini-adventure this past weekend. We got a hotel room in Erlanger for Saturday night and then went to the Newport Aquarium on Sunday. We had so much fun!! In true vacation fashion we let Bailey break all the rules and just have fun...we jumped on the bed when we got to our hotel room, we all took a nap together in the big King sized bed, she got to have more ice cream than normal for dessert and she got to stay up an hour past her bedtime :) We had dinner at Dewey's pizza, which I highly recommend, it was the best crust! Our hotel had an indoor pool and my little swimmer loved it! We would hold her stomach and she would kick her legs like she really knew what she was doing. I swear that child is scared of just about everything...except the pool. It was all we could do to keep her from just running and jumping in when we got there! Here are some pics of the trip.

Bailey with her new sunglasses, this is her Hollywood look.

Having a little pb & j on the way to our hotel, with her purse in her lap :) Mommy and daddy are excited!!

This picture is for Sarah and Ivy...they had belly dancers performing at the Levee, and I couldn't help but think of sweet Ivy and her talented little belly...sorry, they must have been on break here, no action pictures :)

Headed back to the hotel room after dinner.

At the aquarium. She packed Mr. Froggy Pants the whole time...it was a homecoming for him, that's where he came from!

Pointing to the big "feesh".

She kept grabbing her belly and laughing at the fish.

She would just sit down and then point and tell me "Momma here"...just a tad bossy :)

What a good little mommy, she wanted to make sure Froggy could see the jelly fish.

A cute sting ray.

On the way out.

All tuckered out on the way home :)

So, she was a little scared at first of all the fish, but then she realized they couldn't come out of the tank and she had a good time. However, there was one time that she had her face pressed up against a tank laughing and a huge fish swam by, stopped and turned and looked right at her and she about jumped out of her skin...it was so funny!!

This was a great first mini-adventure and I'm looking forward to many more this summer!!

**I do have one gripe. I had my heart set on seeing the Penguin Parade, which is something they do every morning right when they open. They bring 1 or 2 penguins outside and have a little "parade". The website said it happened at 10:15 every morning, so we got there at 10:00, only to find out that the aquarium now opens at 9:00 so they have it at 9:15. When the teen-age boy told me this I let him know (in maybe a not so nice tone) that they need to update their website because it still said they opened at 10:00, and people make plans based on that information. Nick told me I was being a "mean mom"...but I was upset, I had my heart set on that! Oh well, maybe next time!**