Marine Science Center

We visited the Ponce Inlet Marine Science Center on Saturday. This place is awesome! They mainly focus on sea turtle and seabird rehabilitation, but they also have an education center that the public can visit. Besides having some cool aquariums containing flounders, sea horses, and lobsters, they have a touch pool where you can touch animals that live in the local waters. They had sting ray, a shark, horseshoe crabs, sea urchins, hermit crabs, and several types of fish. I thought Harper would be all over this. But, she was pretty hesitant until one of the women that work there came over to her and gave her some confidence.

Pure Unadulterated Joy

The Mad Tea Party ride at Disney World:

Sweet Dreams

While Harper and I were away last week, Rob set to work on a special surprise. By the time we got home, he converted Harper's crib in to a bed! Harper loved her crib. She never tried to climb out of it or into it. So, we weren't in any hurry to dismantle it. And, I was a little afraid of the prospect of her being able to pop in and out of her bed at any time (read - at 3am and come into our room, climb into our bed, and scare me half to death). But, that hasn't been the case at all! Since she has been in her new bed, she has stayed in it all night (except once to use the potty)! Awesome! This bed can be further converted into a full bed. I'm thinking we can do that as a part of her birthday in a couple months (can you believe she's going to be 3 in February???). Until then, enjoy this video of the first time she saw her new bed.

Super-Sized Travel Post

Last week, Harper and I loaded up the car and headed to South Carolina to visit our friends, Heather, Matt, and their little boy, Evan. 

Heather and I worked together in Cincinnati. Now, she's doing some really exciting research on heart regeneration (Click here to read a recent news article about all the cool things she's doing. She's kind of a big deal.) at Winthrop University. When she invited me to give a seminar at her school, I jumped at the chance to mix business and pleasure. 

The kids were just babies the last time they saw each other. 

Once we got all of the science stuff out of the way, we packed a lot of fun into the next few days. We started off by going to an awesome children's museum.  These next few pictures represent the ten seconds that the kids were still enough to snap a picture in the three hours that we were there. 

Fireman Evan - by far his favorite exhibit

Who knew water could be so fun...

There were cars that needed fixing...

And cars that go real fast...

And a grocery store... 

The kids practiced their skills at the bank drive through.

 Harper exploring a sunken pirate ship. 

The next day, the kids got up early and wanted to play. Evan was a gentleman and shared all of his trains and trucks. Harper also came prepared. She packed an extra tutu just in case Evan wanted to wear one while they danced. What? You didn't know that we always travel with at least one tutu? Well, we do! And it came in handy. 

After the dace party, we took a train into downtown Charlotte. It was awesome! What a great public transportation system. 

Once in Charlotte, we headed to the children's library. 

It was a very cool library - lots of interactive reading stations. 

What a fantastic time we had. It was so awesome to hang out with Heather. She always has a way of inspiring me to do better science and just be a better person in general. I miss working with her every day. But we (and the kids) had so much fun on our visit that I'm sure we'll do it again soon.

Harper on the drive home

Until Next Year

Is anybody else glad that today is not Halloween? I am. I'm over it. We celebrated for a good three days straight. It was fun, but I'm glad it's over.

Harper feels differently. The first thing out of her mouth this morning was "trick-or-treat". 

We did a little trick-or-treating last night. We hit about ten houses on our street, then headed home to give out candy. Harper said that she wanted to give all the kids candy and shake their hands. Future politician? I sure hope not.

These Boots Were Made For Walkin'

Well, I guess Nashville really is rubbing off on us. Last night our family was outfitted with real, genuine, cowboy boots (or as Harper likes to call her boots cowboy girl boots). Shoe shopping is not really my thing, but I have to say that I had a great time trying on all the boots.

Here's a picture of Harper trying on her boots. As my friend Ryan would say, it's a bad photograph but it's a good picture.

This is what we ended up with. 

Sage is counting her lucky stars that we didn't come home with a pair for her.

I'm happy. 

90

Today is my grandma's 90th birthday. 90. I can't even imagine it.

This was taken on the 4th of July this year. When's the last time you were on the back of a 4-wheeler?

My grandma is an awesome lady. You can read more about her here. I'm so glad I got some of her genes.