Staycation

March of 2014 was a wonderful time. I took an exam that I had been studying for since March of 2013 (yes, back when you were just a thought!) and Daddy and I decided that I was going to stay home with you until June. We had three months with nothing to do but play. And 3-6 months a great age for play time! Mommy really likes to travel, but since we had decided to live off of one income for the next three months, that was kind of out of the question (except for Disney World that one time, of course). We took advantage of all our beautiful city has to offer and pretended to be tourists in your home town!

On St. Patrick's Day, we visited the Georgia Aquarium with your Auntie Sara. It's the world's largest aquarium, and at first you seemed more excited about the atrium than the fish! I guess it's understandable. It's very bright and colorful...

...and, of course, you weren't even three months old! The day went about as expected: you slept a little, fussed a little, ate a little. Auntie Sara was happy to be doing something fun on a rainy day, but I wanted more. I wanted you to interact with the animals so badly! Look Ellie! Otters! Nothing. Look Ellie! Belugas! Still nothing. Then, we sat in front of the "Wow Window" at Ocean Voyager and you saw Tallulah the manta ray.

You were absolutely mesmerized. Awestruck. You sat there and watched her for a good 20 minutes. You just tracked her back and forth from the other side of the glass, smiling, talking to her, even reaching for her a couple of times. I didn't want to leave, but I didn't want us to get stuck in the World's Largest Traffic Jam (it is Atlanta, after all).

A couple of weeks later, we went to the Cyclorama for Daideo's birthday. He's a big history buff (as is Auntie Amanda, who was in town visiting), so even though Mommy would prefer a planetarium, we thought it would be a nice way to celebrate him. You got to see a locomotive, and lots of...artifacts? memorabilia?...stuff from the Civil War.

Then, we got to watch a movie about the Battle of Atlanta and see the Cyclorama, which was actually pretty cool! My favorite part was when it was really quiet and you sneezed really loudly. You're so cute.

Afterwards, we did a little driving tour and had lunch in Inman Park. You were so excited to spend so much time with Auntie Amanda and Daideo!

Springtime in Atlanta is really great. After a brutal winter, there are a couple of just gorgeous weeks before everything gets yellow and then hot. We decided to celebrate the beautiful weather at the Atlanta Botanical Gardens with Mommy's friend Melissa.

We saw lots of different types of flowers, which looked even more beautiful against a clear blue sky.

There were tons of tulips, which are Mommy's favorite flower. I wonder what your favorite flower will be!

Of course, you learned all about Chihuly.

But mostly, you were just concerned with staying comfortable and cool.

We have a lot more fun stuff to do during the rest of my maternity leave, especially now that baseball season has started!