Lately...Forgive me it's long!

We didn't have much of a chance to get away this summer for a family vacation so we decided last minute to take the kids for the weekend to New Orleans. They had never been to the zoo or aquarium and it was the perfect time for a get away. We went to the zoo first and unfortunately it poured rain. We sat under this hut for what seemed like hours watching the zebras. It was pretty cool how unaffected they were by the rain when I wanted to cry. It finally stopped and we finished the zoo with much cooler weather because of the rain. The kids absolutely loved it!!! Emma was so excited to see the elephants, alligators, and giraffes. Other than that she was busy thinking about the gift shop we promised her at the end. :) Here are a few pics from the zoo. It's rather hard to get a 1 year old to stay still long enough. Especially this crazy monkey we got. ;)

Actually a good one!

Only when we ask her to smile does she make this face. The elephants she LOVED!!!

Waiting for the monkeys to swing down.

Almost got a good one.

Watching the monkeys swing.

Only Emma would say "Look daddy they match my dress."

Porter was finally over the whole zoo thing.

We stayed at the Hilton which is the perfect location. We did have to take cabs to places but Emma LOVED doing that. She kept asking "can we ride with the other people?" We went to eat at Margaritaville and Emma danced all night long with some little girl she met. As shy as Emma can be, she never meets a stranger when it comes to kids her age. I think that's a good thing though. We went to the aquarium on Saturday, which was a lot of fun too. It was a little difficult with the double stroller but other than that we had a blast!!



Dancing makes Emma light up!! It's amazing!

At the aquarium...

Trying to crack a smile until the flash got him.



Emma was so excited to see Emma the Otter.



Last week, Emma started pre-k3. I was a complete mess of course and Emma couldn't figure out why I was sad. She did very very well. It helps that Scott's Aunt Dottie works there and Emma loves her. Also, her cousin Holly goes to school there and they get to hang out in the morning while parents are dropping off the kids. That morning she woke up excited and ready to go to school.

Emma was so excited!!

When I tell Emma I want to take a picture of her, this is her immediate pose always.

She was so proud of her book bag!

I think Scott was more sad then I was but he never showed it.

Scott and I both took her to school. We tried to keep her excited the whole while hiding our sadness. Our little girl is growing up so fast on us. We pulled up to a sea of uniforms and Emma got a little nervous because she starts mumbling "I want mommy" over and over. We got out and went to her class and Emma got very nervous! Take a look:





We went back outside to wait for Holly to pull up. Finally she came. Thank goodness.

She walked with us to Emma's classroom and then things starting getting better. She was letting us take pictures of her and all. Mrs. Kim asked Emma to be her special helper for the day so she got to pass out puzzles. Thank goodness Emma knows both of her teachers from Scott's mom taking Emma up to Nativity all the time. It makes things so much easier. :) She had a wonderful first day and she has had a smiley face in her folder everyday!! She loves loves school. YAY!!! A funny story about Emma's first week. Mrs. Jackie was going over Spanish and they were learning uno for one. Mrs. Jackie held up the #1 and said "Now class who can say this in Spanish." Emma raised her hand proudly and said "this in Spanish". :) The whole class then chorally without hesitation said "this in Spanish!" HOW FUNNY!!!

Emma being the class helper.

Finally, she felt comfortable.

Some of Emma's class.