...to New Orleans!

I am so glad we got to stop in this very interesting and totally unique city. New Orleans has a culture unlike any that I have ever experienced before. The architecture is Gothic but the intricate iron work is so cool to look at. We stayed outside the french quarter near St.Charles street in a little bed and breakfast. We did arrive late, after the Naval museum, and the boys were quite delirious by the time we arrived.

Here is Landon rolling around in the Lobby upon arrival to the B&B.

How cute is my boy?

The outside of the bed and breakfast that we stayed in. Love the gate!

Bourbon Street. I find it hard to believe that it looks like this every morning and they have to clean the whole street  everyday as if it was new years day. Pretty nasty!

We liked the horse parking statues.  

We had to get some beignets while in the French Quarter. Do you think they enjoyed them? hehe Love this face. Landon definitely has my hair...do you see the static?! 

Another awesome face! yummo!

Sitting at the edge of the Mississippi River.

The mighty Mississippi and Mighty Maddox! 

The fortune tellers and palm readers set up in a local park. 

Didn't get to ride on the trolley but we did get to see them. 

On our way to a Po' Boy Festival! 

The festival took place along one street that was closed off and was about a  half mile long with every kind of  Po' Boy you could ever think of. 

Harold enjoying a crawfish and sausage Po' Boy. It was yum!

Heading out with my boys. We are ready for Texas! Yehaw! 

Back in the car. Just one of his favorite things to avoid boredom.  Those feet are still quite edible. 

OFF TO TEXAS!

...and visit the National Naval museum

While passing through Pensacola we decided to stop by the National Naval Museum. They had a nice little kids play area, plenty of floor space for exploring, and airplanes to climb into. A perfect pit stop along our journey.

We started by checking out all of the carriers. Maddox was intrigued by all the little men they had set up on the ships. The detail was quite amazing. 

Pilot in his future perhaps?

We love the Blue Angels and have been lucky enough to see them on multiple occasions. 

The boys favorite for obvious reasons. 

I'm sure there aren't too many babies that can say they have been in the back of a  jet engine.

Marine 1

Maybe this is where Landon's airplane obsession started. Landon hears every airplane  that flies over our apartment and makes his adorable little airplane noise and hand motion. He does the same thing any time he sees a picture of an airplane. The nights Maddox wears his airplane pajamas Landon will follow him around pointing at each airplane. I love this age! 

The boys got a Blue Angel souvenir. Landon carries this plane around every day. I will have to take a picture of him with it to share. He is too cute!    

...Day one on the road to Texas

I must start by saying this was one great road trip. We went on the road knowing we were going to stop often and decided to take in as much as we could. Our first new city was Port St.Joe. We did arrive late but did enjoy the ride there and spent some time exploring the town that morning. We found there wasn't much to explore but it was still beautiful.  

Here is Maddy with the map I made him before leaving on our trip. The map was used so often it was wrinkled and almost unrecognizable by the end of our trip. He loved asking every couple hours where we were and moving the Journey (our car) to where he wished we were at that point in time. 

Window clings were fun for a while although they did end up ripped and lost all over the back seat. 

The eye spy activity was a hit. I simply put  colored rice inside a container and added little nick knacks to them. Both Landon and Maddy loved  looking to see what they could find. 

This was outside a Walmart we stopped by. We let the boys explore the toy aisles to get some energy out. We probably spent about 45 minutes in there and it actually worked out really well. As you can see it got a little chilly in North Florida. The boys are going to be in shock when we arrive in NY in a couple weeks. 

This picture was taken in Port St.Joe. The fishing piers  were fun for the boys to run on and were really beautiful in the early morning sunshine.  

Fishing pier in Port St.Joe. 

Love this wooden swing near the dock. 

On our way to the Naval museum. Landon is one silly boy! 

...to the Homestead Air Show

This past weekend we spent part of the day Saturday and Sunday at the Homestead air show. We have been to air shows in New York before but this one was different in that they had airplanes on the tarmac that you could look at and even go inside. The boys both enjoyed it so much. Landon notices everything in the sky lately and thus was amazed by all the flying planes but never scared or startled even. Maddox loved being able to go into the helicopters and planes and he loved the frozen lemonade too!

Inside one of the cargo planes. 

Maddox being rescued

He looks like a pilot doesn't he?

Landon wouldn't take his eyes off the plane. 

Day #2 in the back of a helicopter.

Sky jumper!

Love the expression on his face!

One of the few pics of me and the boys. I guess that is what happens when you are the main picture taker. This was about 5 minutes before we left on the second day. Thus the tired looks on each of our faces. Maybe one day we will even get a picture of all of us! 

...and Garden

In the month of October we studied gardening in our coop preschool. Each week we broke it down into topics we wanted to teach them about. A couple of the topics were fruits, seeds, flowers, roots, stems, and leaves, pests and pollinators, and soil and compost. 

This was during the roots, stems, and leaves lesson. We first had them examine some of the differences in each of these groups. They cut and ripped them up and also tried some when they felt the urge. Then we gave them toothpicks and they made their own people from all of the parts!  

This was a beehive at a local garden. We were lucky enough to have one of the workers come show the kids the beehive and explain some interesting facts to them. Landon pointing as usual. 

Here is our group with their little bee wings and antennae. 

One of the moms in our group filled little cups with juice and placed them around the butterfly garden area. Then she gave each of the children a straw which they used to drink up the "nectar" they found. 

Here is Lu in his bee wings that I made from a hanger and black stockings and some glitter glue. I love this little face! 

This is from our soil lesson. They places sediment in a bottle filled with water and watched it settle to see the different layers of things in the soil. Landon is in the "put it in" phase so this was a great activity for him. 

They also made mud pies using rock sprinkles as a topping. 

This picture is from our compost lesson. We set up an obstacle course for our little worms to crawl through while collecting pieces of fruits and veggies to bring to the compost pile in their worm hole.

We are having lots of fun with our themes and Maddox is learning so much. The things that he recites surprise me on a daily basis. We have a letter we concentrate on each week and he is picking them up pretty well. Maddox knows how to spell his name but has yet to really write it. He doesn't do too much writing yet he will randomly write individual letters on paper or his chalkboard. This is most likely due to the fact that he is not into activities which require sitting down for more then a couple seconds. It is going to be interesting when he goes to school that is for sure. I can hear the poor teacher now. "Maddox sit, Maddox sit, Maddox sit" all day. I love the energy he has and how much fun he has every day.