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Our last morning in Gatlinburg a few of us headed to Ripley's Aquarium of the Smokies. It was literally down the hill from our lodge, so we decided to check it out. Molly and this fish appear to be seeing eye to eye.

Emmie and Leah enjoyed watching the seahorses.

This aquarium had a long tunnel with a slow moving walkway that allowed you to go under the sea. The tunnel was small enough that you really felt like you were right next to the animals.

Molly and Leah wanted nothing to do with these guys, but Emmie was up for petting this horseshoe crab.

The aquarium was full of little tunnels you could crawl in to get up close and personal with the undersea life.

Our last stop was to see the penguins, up close and personal.

Molly's preschool had a Back to School picnic at Hammond Park for all the kids and their families. As soon as we got there, Leah was ready to take a spin on the playground (Molly too).

Leah loved going down this big slide, and after several runs she managed to build up enough static electricity to create this hairstyle.

There were also organized games, including this sponge race. It was a relay in which players would fill a sponge with water, then race down to another bucket to fill. Molly loved it.

Leah joined in the fun as well.

Why play on the playground when you can have fun in the water fountain?

I don't think they're here to quench their thirst.

Tuesday was beautiful day for a beach trip. Sandy Point State Park, which is on the Chesapeake Bay, is only about 45 minutes from our house. And Chad had a break in his work schedule, so he was able to join us too!

This was Leah's first trip to the beach, and she was not a fan of the sand (she's often not a fan of getting dirty). So, she refused to leave the blanket without being carried. She did, however, want to play a bit with the sand. So, she decided it was ok to reach for the sand with the shovel as long as she did not enter the sand herself.

Molly, on the other hand, loves the sand. She borrowed this shovel and kept digging with it almost the entire time we were there.

You shovel 16 tons...Ok, maybe not quite that much.

We did not go to the beach alone. Hannah and Emma and their moms came along as well.

Leah wanted nothing to do with the water, but she was willing to be carried somewhat near it to be closer to the other girls.

The beach was pretty empty, the weather was great, and the Bay Bridge made a nice backdrop for the view, just far enough away so we couldn't hear the cars on it.

All three girls had a blast playing together. Who needs swords when you've got shakers.

G'Mom and Grampa found this little swing and set it up on their sun porch. Of course, they all constantly wanted to swing.

Everyone loves a good book.

We visited the children's hospital in Memphis, where Grampa works.

And then headed to the Peabody Hotel to see the ducks. It was the fastest march of ducks ever! One minute the elevator door opened and 15 seconds later the duck were in the pool! The other girls eventually tired of the ducks, but Molly couldn't get enough.

The girls had lots of fun with balloons, and Leah was determined that she could blow up this one.

Cookie baking with G'mom. A little on the sheet, a little in the mouth...

And just to prove that we were all indeed there.

Both Molly and (especially) Leah like to watch Bubble Guppies on Nick Jr. When we started talking about flying to see G'mom and Grampa in Memphis the "Gup, Gup and Away" episode became an instant hit. We sang, "Yeah, we're gonna fly. Fly, fly, fly, fly, fly. fly" many, many times during our traveling. Molly was super excited when she was given her own set of Delta wings!

Michelle, Jeremy and Emmie drove up from Birmingham to visit too. We took the girls to the Children's Museum of Memphis, which was packed with fun activities. Here's Leah doing some indoor fishing on the Mississippi River.

The fishing pole was a bit hard to handle, so switching to a net which was much easier for Emmie.

Molly is ready to fight some fires.

Molly's absolute favorite part was launching paper airplanes. She got very good at shooting them and even managed to get it in the target a good bit of the time.

Leah gave us a puppet show.

The museum also had a couple green screens for the kids to have fun with. Who knows where they saw themselves on the monitor, but Chad had some editing fun.

More to come tomorrow...

Molly and I had a great time with her class visiting the Maryland Zoo in Baltimore last month, but Jen and Leah missed out. So, when we tried to think of some family fun to do for Jen's birthday (which is actually today), the zoo was an easy choice. We're fortunate to have two great zoos within driving distance, so this time we went to the National Zoo down in Washington. It's a great zoo and, since it's part of the Smithsonian, admission is free (though you do have to pay for parking).

One of the highlights was the Giant Pacific Octopus. We made it to the Invertebrate Exhibit in time to see them feed it, and it was very cool. We lingered there for some time. I eventually started asking Molly if she was ready to move on, but every time I asked her, she said no. Eventually, we had to just tell her it was time to go, as Leah had been patient enough.

While Molly and Leah weren't really into the reptile house, they did enjoy these tortoises. The little turtles around weren't interesting to them, but the giant ones were lots of fun.

Of course, a zoo visit isn't complete without a morning snack break.

Undoubtedly, Leah's favorite animal was the elephant. We got to see this one up close. Also, note the people in the background looking down toward this elephant. A few minutes later, we ended up at the top of the hill and got to see the elephants from a different angle.

Leah kept pointing and saying "el-phant" over and over. She was not happy when it was time to move on from the elephants.

Molly's favorite animal was the panda. We didn't get to see one in the outdoor habitat, as they were hiding themselves well, but this one had come inside to cool off. I think it has the right idea.

Molly really enjoyed the trip. After several hours of walking around, she was still smiling. It's a big zoo. We moved pretty quickly and still didn't get to see everything.

We told Molly she could either get a toy or a treat at the end of our visit. She said she had a lot of toys, so she'd go for a treat. She selected some Dippin' Dots. Leah ate hers much more quickly than Molly, then of course wanted some more. Here's Molly being a very sweet big sister and sharing hers with Leah.

One interesting attribute of the National Zoo is that you can enter at lots of points throughout the campus. There's no gate to go through (which only works because it's free). We entered at the bottom (there's more than 14 stories of elevation change from one end to the other), and found this to be an excellent plan. It meant that when it was time to leave, we weren't trudging uphill the entire way.

It was a great trip and we'd definitely do it again. The zoo is really well done. They seem to try very hard to ensure that you can get close to the animals to observe them, which really improves the experience. I commented to Jen at the prairie dog exhibit that we could easily have reached down and picked one up.

Oh, and Happy Birthday Jen!