A great museum day

Sydney and I have always loved venturing out to different museums. So we decided today to visit The Museum of History and the Museum of Natural History in downtown Raleigh. I love how Sydney is very inquisitive and loves to read all the signs to find out more information about each exhibit and asks lots and lots of questions. She enjoyed the Science museum much more than the History Museum because she enjoys the hands on activities.

Enjoying some of the activities in the hands on room in the History Museum about colonial times. They had games like the children played back in the colonial days and they also had books about George Washington that we read together and some pieces that they used to cook on.

This in the Sports Memorabilia exhibit room at the History Museum. We looked at the Nascar cars there because PaPa is a big race fan and even though Sydney does not care for it, she has been introduced to it because it invades her TV time when PaPa must have the TV to watch the race.

We love to see the dinosaurs at the Museum of Natural Science....but one of our favorite places at the Museum is the Butterfly house.

They had a discovery room for kids where they could touch and feel lots of shells from animals, had some stuffed animals and Sydney always finds a way to entertain herself no matter where we go, so this is her putting on a show with the animals she found.

When I look at this picture the first thing that comes to my mind is..."Oh my...you are getting so big now" because I am months behind on my blog so this picture is like 6months old and she seems so grown now compared to this picture....Makes me so sad! I miss my little baby but am so proud of where you are going now!

Swim Team Awards Banquet

This summer Sydney has been swimming on the Swim Team at Zebulon Country Club. This was her first time competing in a sport but she has always loved the water and I wanted her to stay active this summer, so what better than joining a swim team. I must say as the summer went on she became tired of the daily practices and her coaches did work her very hard but it was worth it because she learned some great swiming skills. She is able to freestyle across the pool, learned the backstroke, and the breaststroke which I think was her favorite. She also received her first award, a plaque that she can add plates to for each year that she swims. I am so very proud of how she did this summer, she improved at every meet....and I could not have been more proud to be the one cheering her on!

Zebulon Dolphins 2010

Getting called to pick up her plaque from Coach Melissa and Coach Josh

Coach Melissa and Coach Josh, I think Sydney enjoyed Ms. Melissa a little more because Mr. Josh really worked her....but he wanted her to succeed!

After the banquet we had a cookout and then all the players got to enjoy some time playing in the pool.

Sydney getting ready to get tossed in the swim cap....

Brother Fun at Wet-n-Wild

Sydney, Little Victor, and I went for our annual trip to Wet-n-Wild Water Park. It was our first time taking Vic with us but Sydney was in absolute heaven because she just loves her brother to pieces. I was excited to take Sydney since she had been swimming all summer I knew that she would love this even more because she would be able to come down the slide and I would feel much more at ease knowing that she could swim and be safe. She was still a little too short to do the large slides but there was one slide that she did so many times where Vic would take her float to the top of the ramp for her and then she would hop on and come down on the tube. We did the Lazy river, but that is one of Sydney's least favorites because she gets bored with just sitting on the tube and slowly going around. We also did the wave pool which she absolutely loved, and as the day went on I decided to let her get closer to the wall which was like a whirlpool effect when the wave would come. She wanted me to let her go so that she could spin around and around all by herself, she did have a life jacket on but her Mommy was just not ready for that quite yet. She also enjoyed swimming out to the pirate ship, climbing up and then jumping off into the deep water. All in all it was such a wonderful day and we both can't wait until next year when we get to go again!

You can't tell that she is in awe of having her brother with her for the day can you??

Getting ready to make the plunge

Playing briefly in the kiddie pool...I am loving the pink goggles....:)

Victor walking her up the walkway getting ready to do the slide again......

Doing a little swimming.....showing off her skills to us....

Taking a break to enjoy some REALLY GOOD Funnel Cake....Has to be chocolate with cherries and powdered sugar...the messier the better!

This was Sydney's favorite ride at the park....I bet she went up and down 6 or 7 times...of course she had her personal assistant to carry her tube....all she had to do was hop on and enjoy the ride, and boy did she ever enjoy it!

Put Your Hands UP.....Put Your Hands Up!!!!

Another memory made with the one that holds my heart......And seeing smiles like this one makes the drive, the sun, and everything worth it! I love you Baby Girl!