In my last blog, I mentioned our trip to Ohio with the promise (threat) of more details. I won’t go into too many, but I wanted to share one of my favorite things from time there. As luck would have it, Tony and I were away down south while two of my nephews were on spring break from school. My sister didn’t have to work one day, so my mom threw together a trip to the Newport Aquarium.
There’s just something special about multi-generational gatherings. All the kids got to spend some quality time with an aunt (or two in Addi’s case), a mom (except Addi – who we borrowed from my brother for the day) and a grandma. Either we’re teaching them something constructive about women working together, or we’re teaching them that girls have more fun. Either way, I’m proud of our efforts 😉
The last time I went to this aquarium was when I was teaching high school science in Kentucky. Another teacher and I arranged a field trip there, which wouldn’t have been particularly memorable to me except for sitting on a bus chock full of freshmen who we had packed up immediately following lunch and then got trapped in the chaos of a bad interstate wreck. We sat in traffic (which I know is better than the fate of those involved in the crash 😦 ) for about six hours. With freshmen. Who had just eaten/drank and couldn’t exit the bus. !
This time the aquarium was just good fun with no traffic mishaps to mar the day. Like watching an animated film, trips to the aquarium or zoo are just better with little ones. They are brimming with wonder and silliness, and you can’t help but get pulled into their mindset. Don’t believe me? Check out our good times. (And in case you don’t read to the bottom, thanks Mom and Steph for a terrific day! Love you both tons!)
If you just want to see some of the cool things we admired, here’s another set. I warn you, though, they are not nearly as cute as those above 😉
Adventures in Michigan's Up North 
Fun, fun, fun. Seeing the world through the eyes of the very young is such a treat.
They are amazing, when they aren’t rotten. And even then they’re pretty good 🙂 It’s important to see the world with such wonder, at least from time to time.
Add goggle eyed wonder to a healthy chunk of mayhem and everybody had a good time. Yay 😀 Thanks for the share.
Thanks for joining vicariously. They are growing into such sweet people. It’s fun to enjoy them from time to time…and then give them back to their parents for the hard work 🙂
Soooo cute! 🙂
They are, though I can’t take credit for it 😉
Finally getting back in the groove…sort of! At least I’m back to reading my favourites if not writing 😉
I totally agree with you by the way…multi-generational gatherings have a flavour all their own! When our Clan gathers, raucous would be a great word to describe them 😉 We are loud, brimming with love and hilarity and completely unashamed to flaunt our emotions! It takes a while to get over one I can tell you 😉 But I wouldn’t miss them for the world!
Needless to say…the children are adorable 🙂 And I’m glad there were no accidents to ruin things (y) How’s the weather over there now? Has Spring finally arrived? Temperatures up? Ice thawing and the green sprouting? I do hope…coz I can see the next post is ‘The Myth of Spring’…sounds ominous
Off now to read it…
I’ve struggled to find a groove lately, so when the urge struck to write last night, I let it. We’ll see how it goes. I’m afraid I’m strongly influenced by what’s going on outside and when nature isn’t being cooperative, I clam up too.
I get the impression that your family is bigger than mine. I would love to be a fly on the wall at one of your gatherings. Having said that, a Great Aunt organizes a large gathering of family each year at her home in Ohio. That’s a huge multi-generational extravaganza that is absolutely chock full of silliness love and memories. Really looking forward to going this year since we missed it last year.
Guess you’ve read the post about the weather and saw that Carol called MN bitchy 😉 She’s right. We’re hoping to go on a short hike in a bit. The forecast says no rain till 9pm, but the radar says rain’s imminent. We shall see!
Oh, and do you have another blog I should be reading?! I thought I saw a link the other day to something about you reading…but then I didn’t click because I was in a hurry, and now I can’t find it. Or it’s easier just to ask you than search 😉 Yes. That!
My Gran comes from a family of 14 siblings and my Dad is one among 11!!!! So you can imagine the brood that exists even though we’ve shrunk considerably over the years 😉 But numbers seem to make no difference to noise and silliness levels do they? 😛
I do have two more blogs which I rarely update…one was a Photography one which I had started way back when (now abandoned)…and the other is The Reading Habit…which I began to review books that I read…but since my reading this year has taken a definite second seat to Photography (imagine that!!), I haven’t reviewed much at all. It’s just a phase I go through every now and again…writing needs to flow….and when it doesn’t I can’t be bothered with making much effort and frankly I lack the discipline 😛
Here are the links to both if you feel so inclined 🙂
http://crazygoangirlreads.wordpress.com
http://crazygoangirlpics.wordpress.com
Holy fazole! That’s a big family 🙂 Neither of my parents came from large families, but I think my mom’s dad was one of many. (He passed when I was 6 and I just can’t keep things straight even though it’s his family we reunite with each year!) I’ll have to click through to your other blogs when I’m not supposed to be working
Holy fazole indeed 😄😄👍👍 LOVE the expression…what would I do without you to expand my vocabulary 😉
Why, you’d make up your own words, like fantabulous 😉