Squirrel Class - 254/365

Today we skipped Gymnastics so we could go to Nature Hour at the Ford Nature Center. We just love that little program, so we couldn't pass it up. Especially, since it was about squirrels, once of our families favorite animals. 

We got there and Reagan was happy to see her little friend, Lydia. They always play together and love to hold hands. 

Ms. Julie read a story and then they did an adorable craft. They made a Fall tree out of a paper towel roll. There was a little hole where they glued a picture of a squirrel for his house. After they finished their craft. Miss Julie took them outside where she had drawn a huge Oak Tree out of chalk. She scattered acorns all around the branches. The kids then took the tree they made and "climbed" the tree in search of nuts as if they were a squirrel. They LOVED it! It was a total success!

After that, we went out in the yard looking for holes where the squirrels may have buried their nuts. We found a few and found a few shaved off pine cones where they had a little snack. 

It was a fun time! 

The first picture is Reagan and her tree. 

 Next, Reagan collecting her nuts from the chalk tree.

 Reagan and Miss Julie checking out a half eaten nut.

 Finally, Reagan and Lydia running through the yard. 

Crawfish Class - 219/365

Today was Nature Hour at Mill Creek Park.

It was being held at Birch Hill Cabin today, so we could be close to the creek! Today we were going to be learning about Crawfish!

We started with a story and craft. They painted sections of egg cartons to make the pieces of crawfish. After they got it all painted, we headed down to the creek. We brought our special water shoes from Myrtle to wear in the creek.

We had luck right away! Nana picked up a rock and sure enough there was one there. They suggest, you hold your cup behind them, because when they are scurrying they go backwards!

We had such a blast and ended up catching three or four! Yay us!  

It was an awesome class! We are so fortunate that they have these programs!

Working on her crawfish

 We got one!

 Nana and Reagan

 Me and my girl!

 With her finished project!

 

Nature Hour, Garden Day, Tim McGraw - 157/365

Today started with Reagan's, Children's Nature Hour Class at the Ford Nature Center. 

The topic today was "under a log." They were going to learn about all the creepy crawly stuff that lives under logs. They sang their song and read their book We then went into the woods, to look under logs, to see what we could find! They loved it and even Reagan, who is a little skittish around bugs, was into it. They found potato bugs, spiders, slugs, and even a salamander it was so cool! They all just loved the little salamander!  

 When we were done with that, we went back up to the Nature Center to make our craft. They were making a little salamander out of pipe cleaners. It was too, too cute! Reagan carried him everywhere the rest of the day. 

After Nature Hour we headed over to Fellows for Family Garden Friday. They had a lot going on! They had big buckets with bubble solution, limbo, a parachute to sing around. They also got to plant a cucumber to bring home and learned about each part of a plant. It was a great time! Reagan had a ball! 

This evening, Jim and I were off to see Tim McGraw at First Niagara in Pittsburgh! We stopped for dinner at the Shale on the was down. We just love that little place and it's an awesome stopping place on the way to Burgettstown, since their isn't much down there. 

We got to the concert a bit early, so we had some drinks in this patio area. Finally, it was time for Tim! We had AWESOME seats right down by the catwalk. It was great. He was standing RIGHT there the WHOLE time! 

He put on a fabulous show, although he was a bit grumpy about his IFB. He kept ripping it out and putting it back in. Eventually, he ripped it so hard that the plastic tip that sits in your ear, went flying! Yikes! 

A funny thing that happened was, during Indian Outlaw, a young girl dressed head to toe in an Indian costume, hopped right up on stage behind him. He was singing at his stationary microphone and NEVER even saw her before the security guard took her off the stage. It was too funny! 

The best thing that happened was, Tim was bending down, shaking people's hands while he was singing on song. There were people on both sides of the catwalk, so he had his back to us. There was a kid right up at the catwalk, on our side, waving his beer around and actually spilled a little bit on Tim. Tim turned around, gently took the beer off the kid and then tossed the whole thing in his face. They kid was SOAKED and was in total shock! It was HILARIOUS!!! 

It was quite the eventful show. Awesome, too! We had a blast! 

Reagan was going to spend the night with Nana and Papa. They ended up having dinner at Johnny's, then went to Yumberries for dessert! Reagan was thrilled! 

Great day for everyone!  

First Reagan and her salamander...

Next, her and her friend Lydia planting their cucumbers.

Next, Tim McGraw

Finally, Papa and Reagan enjoying their Yumberries

Rob Thomas & Sharon Birthday - 94-365

Busy day for everyone today! 

Jim and Reagan started their day at Children's Nature Hour at the Ford Nature Center. The theme was frogs. The kids were excited because they got to see live frogs! Miss Julie even set up giant lily pads for the kids to hop on like frogs do! 

After Nature Hour, they went down to OH Wow to play for awhile! Reagan just loves playing in the water table! 

This evening, they were attending a surprise party at the Lake Club for Sharon! Papa met them there, too! They had a great time and Sharon was so surprised! Ron got her a tiara and a sash to wear. She looked so cute! Reagan and Parker had a great time dancing and playing at the water wall. Jim said they had a great time and the food was excellent!

Meanwhile in Vegas, we pounded the pavement. We started with a gondola ride in the Venetian. Our "captain" Berto was awesome and even broke into some Rob Thomas, Smooth. It was great! 

Next we toured the Mirage, Ceasars, Bellagio, and Paris. We stopped for some drinks at Margaritaville and checked out the Linq to get our tickets for the show later that night. 

 After that, MJ, Pam and Jenny went back to the room and Nana and I hit fashion show mall to pick up an Ariel costume for Reagan. She has been asking for one and they were sold out on line. I called that store since it was across the street and they happened to have one! YAY! That will be her souvenir! LOL! 

We hit Zeffrino for dinner in the Venetian. It was excellent! 

Now, we were finally off to the Rob Thomas concert. We got all dressed in our Rob Thomas gear that Jenny got us. We had t-shirts, music note beads, and glasses. It was so fun! 

At the show, we had fourth and fifth row seats. It was AWESOME! He played for two hours, it was so FUN! It was acoustic, so he talked a lot about the songs. It was so neat hearing some of the stories about the songs. 

Rob's show was over at 10, so we grabbed a quick cab and booked it back over to the Linq to catch Rascal Flatts, who were supposed to start at 10:30. We made it in plenty of time! Their show was awesome, too! They played about an hour and forty-five minutes. We were having a ball! 

There were some characters at that show though. It was general admission, so you just had to stand wherever you found a spot. There was a couple in front of us, who were pretty much going at it. The girl had a strapless dress on, that popped down and we got a boob shot. WHOA! The dude had a multi-colored mohawk to boot. 

There was also a 300 pound girl who pushed her way in front of us. I turned and made a face at Jenny and she burst out laughing. The big girl, whipped around, cigarette hanging out of her mouth and just stared me down, blowing smoke. I swear she wanted to beat my ass. LOL! She finally went away which was good! We had a super fun day! Reagan and Jim had a super fun day, too! 

 The photo of the day is us girls ready for the show!  

Next, us ready for Rascal Flatts...

Reagan at Nature hour...

Finally, Reagan and Sharon at Sharon's party! Happy Birthday, Sharon!

 

Nature Hour and Legacy - 66/365

Now that Reagan is three, she can participate in Children's Nature Hour at Mill Creek Park. It's essentially the same thing as Tales for Tots, just for the 3-5 year olds. They were having class at Birch Hill Cabin today and the topic was whales. 

They did a super cool activity for the kids. The instructors made a huge grid in the parking lot, gave each kid a square and a picture of what to draw in their square. When the kids were done drawing and you took a step back. You could see they had drawn a whale to scale. It was awesome and they loved seeing how big they actually are. 

After that, we did story time and the craft. The craft was adorable! They had little plastic Dixie cups they painted blue. Then, glued tails and eyes on it and used white curled pipe cleaners as the "spout." It was so, so cute! Reagan was proud of hers! 

After whale class, Nana, Reagan and I ran up to Legacy Village to do a little Spring shopping for Reagan. One of our favorite stores had gotten a bunch of Spring lines in, so we wanted to check it out. We had lunch at Brio, another one of our favorites! Reagan loves eating there because they have that paper over the tablecloths that you can draw on. She practiced her name and did GREAT! 

After lunch, we had some frozen yogurt at a Menchies like place. Reagan was thrilled! 

On the way home, Reagan was playing with Nana's phone, watching old videos of herself. She then asked me to turn around, so she could take my picture. After that, we just heard the shutter going and going. She was taking pictures of everything, it was a hoot! She even took her very first "selfie!" We were howling! 

The photo of the day is Reagan's first "selfie."

Next, Reagan at Nature Hour with her little whale craft.

Finally, Reagan and her name at Brio.

 

Nassau Day & Hibernation Class - 341/365

Today it was Nana's Birthday AND we were arriving in Nassau! 

 Nana, the party animal she is, was up at 6:00am after going to bed after 2am. Jennifer and I, both tried to sleep a little bit longer - we are not early birds. 

When we were finally up and about, we just hung out on the balcony as we came into port. I forgot how absolutely BEAUTIFUL the water in the Bahamas is. It's just the most beautiful turquoise blue. I think I even spotted good ole' Sandals, from our Honeymoon. 

 Before, we got off the ship, we went up to have some breakfast on the lido deck. We got a table right by the window overlooking the water and we could see Atlantis off in the distance. While we were enjoying all the beauty, the cruise director came on to make an announcement. He went on to say, the U.S. Embassy had issued a travel alert, because of the increasing violence against tourists in the Bahamas. He suggested you leave your valuables on the ship and stay together. And, DO NOT rent scooters. After all that cheerful news, he continued on to say, "But have a WONDERFUL day on the island!" Yea, that will be easy to do! 

Finally, it was time to head off to our excursion. We got on this tiny little bus, that was more like a van. I was the co-pilot, Nana was right behind me and poor Jenny, had to go all the way in the back. Our driver was crazy and we probably made it to the Atlantis in 8 minutes! 

When we unloaded, we were led to the beach where we had some chairs reserved. We were ready for a little quiet, relaxation time after all the music on the ship. The beach was just gorgeous! We settled in our chairs and just took it all in. It wasn't that quiet though, because every two minutes people were coming up to you asking you to buy something. There was one guy that was selling Pina Coladas out of a big plastic bin. First of all, no thanks. I don't know what you have in there. Secondly, it's 85 degrees and you have a milk-like substance with no ice. YUCK! We opted for some Bahama Mamas from the actual Atlantis bar. 

After we lounged for quite awhile, we decided to go check out The Dig. It's a huge underwater aquarium, where you can explore the fallen city of Atlantis. It's really cool to walk through. 

After that, we decided to use our vouchers to get our lunch before heading back to the ship. They gave us a TON of food! We had pizza, burgers, fries, popcorn and nachos. OH MY!

We were early for the first bus back, so we thought we'd take a taxi. We hopped in, then realized he wanted to fill the WHOLE van, before heading back. We could have just waited for the regular ship shuttle. Oh well. The ride was interesting, because he took some back roads. Whoa, a little scary! 

 When we got back to the dock, we headed over to the Hard Rock Cafe, to use some WiFi to check in at home. It was nice to see some pictures of Reagan and text with Jim. I was missing them SO MUCH! 

We rushed back onto the ship to catch our Goo Goo Dolls concert at 5:00. Even John Rzeznik said, "This is really effing early for a concert!" The show was fabulous and it was just amazing being that close. John Rzeznik, almost stepped on our fingers and cameras a couple times! LOL! Jennifer got some guitar picks, too! He ended the show with Holly Jolly Christmas. He even said, "I can't believe I'm even going to sing this song!" It was great and everyone loved it!

After the Goos show, we went over to have our dinner. I ran down to the room for something. When I got in the elevator, I noticed this sad little guy all by himself. At the airport, I was searching #MBGOOSCRUISE on Twitter, when I saw a tweet from a Brian Millar. He said he was on his way there, from Denver. We were laughing at the airport, saying "what if we see Brian Miller?" Here, I ran into him in the elevator. It was a HOOT! He was a really nice guy. You could tell he was really shy. We felt bad he was all by himself! 

After that, we went to see if we could peek at Group B's songwriters session. The doors were open, so Jennifer and I peeked in. The very LAST row was empty, so we just plopped on down. Nana was shopping in the store right next to there, so she came looking for us and plopped on down, too! We are such rebels! We held our hands over our wrist bands the whole time. We were so afraid of getting kicked out! The songwriters session was great to see again, since they talked about different stuff! We loved it! 

We now decided to head over to this room where the band would hang out. They had the doors covered with paper, so you couldn't really see in, but the cracks between the doors were large enough, you could make out who was in there. We saw that Rob was in there, so we decided to stand around to see if he would come out. It was just Nana, two other girls and I. All of a sudden, here he came! He said, "I'm sorry guys, I don't have time to sign or take pictures, I have to get ready for the show. I'll get you later." I blurted out, "Rob, can you at least say 'happy birthday' to that grandma over there." He looked around because my mom was practically HIDING. She looked at him and said, "It really is my birthday." He said, "Well then, Happy Birthday" and went over and gave her the BIGGEST HUG!" It was so awesome! She was SO EXCITED!! 

Finally, it was time for MB20's lido deck show. We got up pretty close and were chatting with some really cool people. There was a ship docked right next to us, that had to be twice the size. There were people on the top deck of that ship looking over the edge. They were probably thinking, what the heck!? 

Matchbox Twenty totally rocked the concert! It was awesome! There was a guy a few people up, holding what looked like a letter. Our little group, kept kidding and saying, "What is that, an essay!?" I said, "Geez, if we give him an "A" will he put it down." We all got a big kick out of him. We still don't know what it was! 

After the lido deck show, we decided to check out Joe Bachman in the Xanu Lounge. He was actually putting on a pretty awesome show. He was doing upbeat covers and everyone was having a blast dancing. Jenny and I were bouncing fools! We were having a great time! All of a sudden, he pulled the same thing he did at Sister Hazel, that turned everyone off. He told this 10 minute story about an experience with the troops, then played a song about the troops. Don't get me wrong. I LOVE and support the troops and appreciate everything they do for our country. BUT, this guy put such a spin on the story to almost make it like HE was the hero and made it all about HIM! HE never served our country. About 1/2 of the people that were previously having a blast, just turned around and left. It's a Matchbox Twenty party boat, at 2:00am, that is not the time or place to tout your heroism, sir. It worked out though, because after we left, we ended up talking to a bassist from the Goo Goo Dolls, who had also left the Joe Bachman concert. I ended up showing him a couple pictures I took of him, at the concert earlier in the evening, and he asked if he could use them on his Facebook page. I was so honored! 

Soon enough, here comes Paul Doucette and Randall (one of their buddies who helped them with stuff on the cruise). We got to talk with Paul and get a picture. I, after SEVERAL "Real Worlds" patted Paul on the head and said, "You are just the cutest little thing." He is pretty short, but I can't believe I said that right to him. I'm surprised he didn't kick me off the ship! LOL! 

By this time, we were just giggling and getting pretty pooped. We headed back to the room, walked in, and there was Rob Thomas singing away in the room. We started howling saying we were "overstimulated" from all the concerts, meet and greets, just everything really. We were laughing, that we just HAD to turn the TV off for a little bit. We needed a little bit of quiet. The first night we didn't even turn the TV off while we slept! It was just ROB all day and night! We were totally immersed in the music. What a fabulous time we were having! We eventually did fall asleep in silence. 

 Meanwhile at home, Jim and Reagan went to Children's Nature Hour at Mill Creek Park. Today they were learning about hibernation. They had a great time. Reagan made an awesome craft of a bear sleeping in a cave. She was so proud! 

 This evening, we got some snow, so they played outside and shoveled the driveway! Reagan just loves the snow!

The photo of the day is, Nana and I with Paul Doucette.

Next, Nana getting her birthday hug!

Finally, Nana, Jenn and I enjoying the beautiful beach

Reagan and Jim - Reagan enjoying hibernation class

Eppie Adventure - sitting on the shelf.