Bug Zoo

Today we visited the local botanical gardens to check out the bug zoo, complete with hissing cockroaches, tarantulas, millipedes, and more pleasant things like ladybugs and butterflies!  Although you can hold most of them, we opted to leave most of them in their cage.

Her favorites were the hermit crabs.

We then walked around the gardens, where Emily enjoyed looking at the water, climbing on the rocks, and spinning the Tibetan Prayer Wheel.

Time Outside

Warmer, longer days mean more time outside playing.  This week we opened up the sandbox for the first time this spring, and Emily was delighted to dig in and start playing.

But the wind wasn't cooperating, so she added a hat (her souvenir from her swim with the dolphins) and went back to the business of playing.

Colors

This gem of a photo was sent to me by another preschool mom who was there celebrating her kids' birthdays.  Emily was pretty excited to come home with the homemade crown, bubbles, and a balloon all in purple.

"Emily, is purple your favorite color?" I asked.
"Yes.  And blue, and green, and red, and pink," she replied.

Worn out!

When I picked Emily up at preschool last Friday, she told me her toes were bleeding.  These are her "bike shoes" and one look at them and you can see that she not only wore through the toes of the shoes, but the layers of duct tape put on and over the first set of holes!

We were off to the dentist in Twin Falls that day anyway (clean report, no cavities!), so after picking out the playdough I bribed her with she earned at the dentist, it was off to the shoe store to pick out some new scoot bike shoes.

On Saturday we made another trip to the zoo while Dad competed in Nampa in a monthly shoot.  It was a cold, cold day!  And even though bulbs showed up in the mail this week, I'm looking at snow falling from the sky.

Emily has also started another session at Mindful Movements, her "dance" class up in Ketchum, but I'm also making progress with getting her into horseback riding therapy... at least I have the paperwork in my hands!  She's very excited to go riding, but I'm not sure she'll qualify for the program.  We'll wait and see!

A Day in Castaway Cay

Castaway Cay is the Disney private island in the Bahamas, and where we spent our third day.  

We were in port fairly early in the morning and our day started with a glass bottom boat ride.

 As part of the excursion, everyone got to feed the fish some oatmeal, which gave us all a good look at the fish.  The highlight was a bright green moray eel (that I didn't manage to get a picture of!).

We spent the rest of the morning playing in the white sand and swimming in the ocean.

And here is the water slide that Emily did all by herself... and it scared the heck out of her unfortunately!  The aquaduck on board had a 42" requirement, and on it you rode in a raft with someone and landed in a very shallow pool at the end.  This one had a 32" inch requirement, children wore a life vest, and you landed in about 6 foot ocean water.  The twist?  Emily had to go by herself.  We thought we had a good game plan: Aaron went first and would catch her.  I stayed at the top and sent her off, going shortly after her.  When she left me, she was all smiles and ready to go.  But as she tells the story, she couldn't stay on her bottom and it was scary!  She plopped off the slide and went under, which scared Aaron (I couldn't see, but with a life vest on, I'm sure it was a short time even though Aaron felt like it was an eternity!)  It wasn't the best way to end the day on shore, but I will say that she recovered nicely and will even tell the story with a smile now!  Phew!  But at the end of her story, she'll say, let's just stick to the slide at the Y, okay?!

That evening we set sail for Port Canaveral, and when we woke up Sunday morning we were already there.  By 8 AM we were off the ship, back on the bus and heading toward the airport.  We landed in Boise, grabbed our suitcases, picked up our car and headed home.  We had a really great time (and a certain someone may have already put the deposit down for an upcoming cruise)!  That gives us all something to look forward to!
 

Pirate Party

At the end of the second day was a Pirate Party.  There was a show on the pool deck and after our late dinner seating, were fireworks off the boat.  Another late night, and Emily could hardly keep her eyes opened, but she managed to stay awake for it all!

Day 2 in Nassau, Bahamas

Around 9 AM on Friday we arrived at our first destination in the Bahamas.

Our plan for the day was a shallow water dolphin excursion at the Atlantis resort, which walking around the outside appears to be a pretty amazing place!

In our small group, we were with a dolphin named Sheree, rescued from an aquarium in Mississippi after Katrina.  After her tank was destroyed by the hurricane, she was attacked at sea by a shark and survived.  Everyone got a turn to kiss the dolphin and pose for pictures before the trainers and dolphins showed off some tricks.

We had a little time to play in the sand while we waited for our turn with the dolphins.  And it took an extremely long time to view and order the pictures (I think the employees were on island time!).  We grabbed lunch at the resort and looked around a little, but by that time it was time to head back to the ship.  

the aquarium at the resort

In this photo, although hard to see, was a 14 foot manta ray!

Day 1 Castaway Party

When it was time to set sail on March 28th, we gathered on the deck for a Castaway Party!