Happy Fourth!

Yesterday, the 4th, we decided that enough was enough and we were going to get out of the house and go somewhere, other than the mall and Wal-Mart, and have some fun as a family. Thus began the dreaded 'what do you want to do', 'where do you want to go' conversation. We eventually looked outside at yet another rainy day and decided to go downtown to the aquarium and then see fireworks at the Plano campus of my employer. Below are pictures from our day.
















Caleb was particularly silly this morning. I think he knew he was in store for some fine family entertainment! After all the rain and being cooped up in the house, the prospect of going anywhere other then Wal-Mart was exciting for him.

After getting the aquarium, and getting over the sticker shock of the entrance fee, Caleb promptly peed all over Jes and we had to change him right in the middle of the place. Luckily, I thought to pack some pull ups and we just slid it on and whisked his diaper off in one fail swoop. Here are father and son trying to locate the MIA otters. We think they were off having fun torturing birds or something!

The cutest picture of Caleb, but my precious husband just couldn't keep his tongue in his mouth for most of the pictures. I'm so proud. Sigh...

Caleb with the penguins. Ever since that Happy Feet movie came out and he saw the penguins everywhere, he has been able to acurately identify them as such and not just a bird or duck. I'm not sure if we confused him with these penguins, as they were not the same type as in the movie, but he did call them penguins.

I have been trying to make more of an effort to be on the other side of the camera as there are plenty of pictures of Caleb and Jes, but most of the time anyone would look through our photo albums and assume Caleb is motherless. Anyway, here we are on our way out of the aquarium to search for some decent food.

We managed to trudge down to the West End between rain showers, all the while wading through the puddles and the water in the air. Seriously, we were all wet when we made it the few blocks to the restaraunt, but it wasn't sweat. It was so humid! Jes decided that he wanted to eat at the Spaghetti Warehouse. Now, I've lived in the Metroplex my whole life, with the exception of the few years in East Texas for the necessary time called college and graduate school, so this place is just not as big of a deal for me as it is for Jes, not a native. I guess it is a landmark of Dallas as my mom tells me stories of going here when she was in high school and I grew up eating here. Jes loved it and said it was more than he expected. I guess we'll be going back!

We were full of carbs and decided that we wanted gum. I guess I had to have a picture of this so I'll share with you too. I get a little camera crazy at times!

After lunch, and about 232 million carbs, we decided that we should take advantage of the sunlight peaking out between 2 large black clouds and take a walk around downtown. We showed Caleb all the major monuments in the area and treked back to the car.

We killed a little time between leaving downtown and going to Plano by store hopping. When we did arrive in Plano to claim our spot for the fireworks show, Caleb had had a nap and we were exhausted but excited. The last time we saw fireworks were 3 years ago, the same day we got pregnant with our Caleb.

We brought our bubble blower to the festivities to give Caleb something to do and fill some time. As you can see it drew in other kiddos as well.

Caleb and Jes during the fireworks.

I finally got a smiling picture of Jes...

Caleb and I watching the show.

Caleb and I. We had a great time and made it out of the parking lot alive, no small feat. It's amazing how mean people get when they are trying to leave an event.

Anyway, we hope you all had a great 4th and can't wait for next year!