The first place we went to was the Charleston Aquarium, and she was so very happy there! When one walks in, one first sees a little marble display (even before the main entrance), and you spent about twenty minutes there:
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| Julia playing with the marbling- there is water flowing down |
Thankfully, you also really enjoyed the fish (or maybe a combination of the fish and looking at your reflection in the tanks!). You know you're beautiful, and I hope you never forget it!
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| look at me...errr, the fish |
Our next mother-daughter outing was to the Angel Oak Tree, "one of the oldest living things in the country" (http://angeloaktree.com/), estimated to be between 400-500 years old. For this reason, it's huge and makes for some good climbing (do you sense a theme?). Here you are just enjoying the leaves, which were at least as fun for you as the tree. You wanted to clear them all out of the way and spent a lot of time "sweeping" them:
You are also really interested in letters and words right now, and you pointed out every single letter on the sign requesting us to respect the tree. Here you are pointing to one of the signs! I'm hoping this means you learn to read early.
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| You say "dooh, dooh, dooh" while you point and count |
To get a sense of how enormous this tree is, a tourist was kind enough to take a picture of the two of us, one of the few that I have (a downside to mother-daughter days).
So that's two trips down. If I were a more conscientious blogger, I wouldn't put more than that into a blog, but please grab a glass of wine (if you're over 21) or a cup of coffee (if you're really my daughter), or come back to this if/when the spirit hits you. Although your naptimes are widely disparate, you sometimes get the chance to play with your neighbor and friend, Ellie. Ellie's parents have a trampoline, and you LOVE it. Here are the two of you playing:
...but your very favorite playmate is Puck. You chase him around, play with him, and give him sweet kisses. Both of you stick your tongues out. Can't figure out if it's cute or unhygienic, so I'm going with the former:
Mommy also took you to the children's museum, where I was too busy corraling you to get any decent pictures, but I did get this one of you playing with a sweet little boy:
And then sometimes we get to go to the playground with Daddy, another of your favorite playmates. You have learned to sign "Da-da" and do it vociferously (if one can sign vociferously):
So now it's late June and I'll probably take you to James Island County park and take pictures of you splashing around this week. Next week, Daddy and I are headed to a wedding in Asheville, and you get to stay with Grammy and Papa again! Last time, when I went to a conference in Morgantown, you stayed with them, and Grammy took you to the nature center:
She also fed you lots of good food like Spaghetti, which I'm too obsessive compulsive to often give you.
That's the good thing about having a lot of parent figures like Grammy, Papa, and Nagyi: you will learn such different things from them, and every one of those things will make you a more well-rounded, adventuresome, thoughtful person. Grammy is so adventuresome, and Daddy often tells stories of the little excursions she would take them on--here you are with her:
And Papa really nourishes that musical side of you, singing to you (one of your favorite activities) and really spending time talking to you. Nagyi does those things too, and she is so good about making sure you practice your therapies. You really do have some awesome grandparents, Jules! I can't wait to see what you learn (and get into) during the next week. But first, James Island County Park. I will, at least over the summer, try and update this blog more often.
