I thought I would take a bulleted look back at our very eventful week in Tampa. Keep in mind that Mark was in training from about 8:30 to 5 each day.

1. Josiah got sick…fever, congestion, etc.
2. Josiah got his third tooth and is working on his fourth.
3. Zoe lost her first tooth.
4. We visited the zoo and used our Answers in Genesis Zoo Guide (great to help with the evolution facts).
5. It got extremely humid hot at the zoo so I led the kids to their water play area and they got soaked. Ace loved the water and was soaking wet. Zoe got very upset that she was wet. Liam loved it until he mimicked the other boys playing by sticking their head in the water. He tried it and got a mouthful of it. He was done after that.
6. We got to see manatees at the zoo. They were so cute and eating lettuce with their fins (once the camera’s fixed…see another bullet below…then I’ll show them to everyone). And, contrary, belief, it’s slightly impossible for an elephant and manatee to be related.
7. We went to the Museum of Science and Industry and while they had a ton of evolution stuff they had this really cool floor called Disasterville. It was all about natural disasters. They had houses set up to simulate different disasters. The first one we went to was a tornado and it was set up as a basement with flat screens for windows that showed the tornado. Zoe didn’t like that too much because the lights went out and the sound was loud. Ace loved it. The hurricane was okay. But the hit for the boys was the fire room. We walked in there (Zoe hid around the corner) and Liam announced to everyone, “fire…hot hot…no touch.” Also a big kid hit was the “Kids in Charge” with all hands on playthings.
8. I’m still not a big fan of taking my kids to museums because they run from one exhibit to the next just touching things. They ask about it and as I open my mouth they run to the next exhibit! But, when you buy a museum membership and your locked in a hotel room, it’s worth it. We bought a local museum membership and they were part of the same group so we got in free to this museum. We went to the museum twice and basically paid for our local membership.
9. We ate at LeeRoy Selmon’s…that’s for all you football fans!
10. We went to the Florida Aquarium and even though Josiah had been screaming the past two nights for several hours, that was our favorite trip. We spent the whole day there playing in their outdoor play area, watching dive shows, and seeing two penguins up close…very cool. Zoe was so amazed by everything. She even petted a sting ray and invertebrates. Not too much evolution preached and a great opportunity to talk about conservation and our need to take care of what God has given us!
11. We used disposable diapers while we were there since we didn’t have direct access to a washing machine. Disposables are much slimmer than our cloth diapers. I didn’t think about that and thought that Liam could actually go up to 2T and 24 mth cloths. He can in shirts. I know that now. Pants…still need to be 18 mths. He wore a pair of 24 mth jeans to the aquarium and subsequently spent the whole time playing and holding them up. He did good until we got in the elevator at the hotel and the pants dropped…with other people on the elevator. They got a kick out of it and helped him get them back up. Oops!
12. While Mark was finishing training on Friday, I took the kids back to the museum. We were trying to get lunch so we could go, Josiah was screaming, and I was trying to hurry. The digital camera had been strategically placed on the stroller awning. I bumped the stroller, down came the camera. I broke it. Mark’s on search now for a new camera. Any suggestions may be accepted, although I’m encouraging him to find it fast. 8 month olds start doing tricks without warning.
13. So we arrived back home safe and sound just before midnight on Friday. We were glad to be back. They all traveled well and had fun

I’ll post pics later this week!