Around Here

Reagan performed in her year end gymnastics show last Friday night.

She did a great job.  All of her hard work has really paid off, especially on bars.  Her favorite event is floor, and that seems to be her strength right now.  She struggled with bars for a while, but she worked and worked and worked at it, and now she is doing really well!  I am SO impressed with her determination and dedication to this sport.  Here is a video of her on the bars:

On Saturday morning, Collin, Reagan, Kate and I woke up early and drove to Mystic, Connecticut to meet up with Auntie Karen and Uncle Mark at the Mystic Aquarium.

We all enjoyed the aquarium.  Kate squealed with excitement when she saw the Beluga whales.

It was very cute.

The girls both enjoyed the touch tanks, and Reagan fed a stingray.

Just like last year, we spent some time in the bird house feeding the birds.

We had our first trip to Grandpa's pool this week.  I'm hoping to go at least once a week.  Kate held on to me most of the time; I'm hoping that she will be a bit more independent in the pool by the end of the summer!

Mystic Aquarium

We went to the Mystic Aquarium in Mystic, Connecticut this morning.  As we always do when we go to family fun places, we arrived right around opening time and enjoyed the aquarium before the crowds arrived.

There were a few neat touch tanks.

Kate enjoyed looking at the fish.

We found Nemo

Lunch time for the whales

We watched a Sea Lion Show - Kate wasn't in the mood, so Dad and Kate missed this.  It was a fun show; Collin, Reagan, and I really enjoyed it.

The coolest part of our trip to the aquarium was the Birds of the Outback exhibit.

When we walked in, we were each given a stick with bird seed on it for us to feed the birds.  The first bird that landed on my arm quickly flew off because I was so startled that I shook my arm.

Tom had lots of birds around him; he's a natural!

That is my hand with the two birds in the above picture.  It was a little difficult to manage since I was holding Kate in my other arm and she really wanted to touch the birds!  It was neat though.

Tom and Collin stayed for a while after Kate, Reagan, and I left the bird exhibit.  They had great interaction with the birds during this time, and Tom said that a bird attached itself to Collin's shirt and it was quite funny.  Tom couldn't get pictures or video of it because he was covered with birds at the time.  I wish I saw it! 

We had fun at the aquarium and then went for pizza, followed by frozen lemonades for the kids.  It was a great day!