A date with Hannah

Well we are at least winding down with the summer craziness, although we're not quite done yet. Dale returned from his 3rd week away on Friday and we were all ready for that! Hannah has begun to really feel and be affected by all the comings and goings of him and family over the past few weeks, not to mention still getting adjusted to her baby sister. We had some tough times last week, but we made it. I will say though, I think I would have absolutely gone nutso if it hadn't been for the Lord! I just don't know how you can do this thing called parenting without Him.

Anyway...... on a better note, I had a great opportunity today to take Hannah out for some one-on-one Mommy time and it was so much fun! She is such a fun little girl, when she's not being temperamental. So full of joy and spunk! The plan was to go to Opry Mills b/c I had an errand to run there anyway and then have some ice cream from Marble Slab. It was her first Marble Slab experience and I think she chose well. She had strawberry ice cream w/ chocolate chips mixed in. Really the only reason she chose strawberry is b/c it's pink! I had chocolate swiss w/ Butterfinger and hot caramel - OH YEAH!! A heavenly combo.

That was supposed to be the extent of our date, but she really wanted to ride the carousel that we passed that is a part of Stingray Reef. Then when she saw the sting rays she really wanted to go touch them. So, in my moment of weakness I paid for an all-day pass, just so we could go pet the sting rays for a minute and ride a 2-minute long carousel ride! She couldn't get enough of the sting rays, so we ended up spending about an hour in there and rode the carousel twice. I must admit it was quite fun having the sting rays come up to us and hearing her squeal with delight as she got to touch them. In the end I'm glad I did it. 2 passes to Stingray Reef plus ice cream - $$; enjoying a special treat w/ my 3-yr old daughter - priceless!