What fun!

We had a great weekend in Dallas despite a few small setbacks (i.e. moving to 3 different rooms before getting it right and Alex threw up at 1 a.m.). We drove up Saturday morning and made it in under 3 hours with no pitstops (that's amazing for Emma!). Our first stop was the Dallas World Aquarium. It had a huge open rain forest section with birds flying around and monkeys jumping in the trees. One of Benjamin's favorites was, once again, the otter. He loved watching it swim right past him. Lots of giggles and smiles. Sean and my favorite were the crocodiles. They had 2 enormous crocodiles. Check out the picture! Another cool thing was the shark tunnel. The shark pool had a big tunnel through the bottom where you could sit and the sharks would swim over your head and right behind you. That was pretty amazing. We also saw penguins, flamingos, the coolest ever seahorses called leafy sea dragons that looked like swimming weeds, a manatee, huge catfish, sting rays, lots of birds, and coral. It was very busy in there, but we managed to see everything we wanted to see. After that, it was on to the hotel and dinner. Yahoo Maps failed us for dinner. We thought we were heading out for dinner at Olive Garden, but it was no where to be found so we ended up at Wendy's. Oh well, that's the way it goes sometimes.

Then it was show time. Wow, what a show! If Blast! is ever in your area, we HIGHLY recommend it. The show is absolutely amazing. Very high energy with fabulous musicians and performers. Alex and Emma thoroughly enjoyed it. During the drum battle between 2 snare drummers, Alex was smiling and laughing hysterically. His dimples were popping out and he had a look of pure joy on his face. It was worth every penny. Emma thought it was great when some of the musicians came out into the aisles. A trombone player sat in an empty seat across the aisle and she kept pointing at him like she couldn't believe it. Afterwards, all the cast members stood out in the lobby, so Alex and Emma got busy getting autographs. Alex got one from one of the top drummers and Emma got 2 from the visual ensemble (dancers/flag performers). In total, they got 12 autographs. Alex was very pleased and held his program up saying it was very valuable to him. What fun!!!

Sunday morning was Benjamin's debut at the swimming pool. He was slightly hesitant at first, but warmed up to the idea very quickly. Sean sat on the side with him while they kicked their feet and splashed. Then he got in the pool with Daddy. He seemed to enjoy himself and didn't mind getting splashed a little. His first pool adventure was a success. Yeah, Benjamin! Lots more pool adventures to come this summer.

Funny Benjamin story from last week...One day, I was doing something in the kitchen and thought Benjamin was out of earshot. I dropped something and said, "Damn it." Well, apparently, Benjamin managed to overhear me. The next day, we were getting the oil changed and were sitting in the waiting area. Benjamin was punching the buttons on the soda machine and got frustrated with them. Then, clear as a bell, he said, "Damn it." Then, just in case, someone wasn't clear on what he said, he repeated himself twice. Of course, the waiting room was totally quiet at this point. Then we all started laughing. Fortunately, there was another mom there with an 18 month old who said her daughter has started saying interesting things as well. Apparently, the habit is going to take some doing to break. He has been sprinkling damn its in at various times all during the weekend. He seems to know exactly how the phrase should be used. Sheesh!

Tonight, Alex has a choir performance. They haven't performed since the end of December, so it should be interesting to see how they have improved.