The Aquarium

Yesterday was gorgeous! The weather was really perfect - low in the 50's, high in the 70's, low humidity. I know it will get hot soon so we're really enjoying this lovely weather while it lasts. We drove up the coast a bit to check out the Aquarium of Western Australia, but stopped first when we saw an ice cream truck. The best part - they had dipped cones ala dairy queen!

Yum!! And check out his new (short!) haircut. A bit shorter than I would have liked but I think he looks pretty handsome.

It was a really well-done aquarium with great animals that are all over the western coast here. Just last week a humpback whale was hit by a ship (sad, I know, but it made the papers otherwise I wouldn't have had any idea. it must have been okay though) just a few miles off the beach in front of our house. I can't believe they're so close to us! I stare out the windows all day just hoping to get lucky enough to see one. This underwater walkway was terrific because we saw loggerhead turtles, several sharks, eels, tuna, and enormous rays.

The kids, however, saw a moving sidewalk which means moving playground! Alex was fascinated by the big rays when they glided overhead but was more interested in the challenge of walking on and off a moving surface.

One of the big sharks.

Their touch pool was fantastic and the kids felt everything within reach and even some things a little too deep. Ben was wet for a while!

Such fun!

Back home we enjoyed a beautiful sunset from our porch. It's setting late enough now that we can get the kids to bed and enjoy a nice, quiet moment before all the colors disappear.

My sweet ones waking up and watching Mickey in their little chairs. Notice each one has a play light...Ben loves when he and Alex are playing with the same toys and often gives his little brother a matching toy. I let Ben choose their wardrobe most days and he likes their shirts to match as well.

Alex loves to find the lemons in the backyard and drop them in random places around the house and car. I found one in our bathtub this morning with a big bite taken out of it. ewww. I'm not sure how to teach Alex that we don't eat produce with the peel because he'll grab anything at the grocery store and try to eat it, like oranges, eggplant, or zucchini. I guess I should be glad it's not candy yet.

Look at his beautiful eyes! Not as blue as they used to be, but still a pretty blue/brown hazel.

Our church has a fun little sing and dance class for the preschoolers and both boys absolutely love it. Here's Ben at the end of one of the cute little songs. Even Alex loves to dance along to a lot of the music and imitates the motions pretty well.

Speaking of imitation, Alex is picking up all kinds of things. Here is one of his early phone conversations.