The weekend after our trip to the mountains, we headed to Tatie Kat’s house to visit with Tatie Kat and Mimi. One of Brianna’s birthday memory gifts was a trip to the Virginia Beach Zoo, so we headed over there on Sunday to “deliver” the gift. She had a great time, but generally would not allow me to take any pictures. Between the three cameras, we did manage to get a few.
One of her favorite exhibits was the orangutan exhibit. I think we saw it at least 3 times! Of course, we had to pretend to be orangutans…
Another favorite was the otter exhibit (though they did not swim nearly long enough to satisfy her!).
We concluded our zoo trip with a ride on the train (driven by a highly entertaining conductor). I have to post both of these pics because in one Brianna looks good, and in the other Mimi and Tatie Kat look good. Use your imagination and merge them…
Our trip was very short, but we had lots of fun!
At the beginning of August we headed to the mountains to surprise Poppa for his birthday. We had a lovely weekend hanging out and relaxing in the beautiful mountain home Nana found. On Saturday we all headed to the local pool to play and to show off Brianna’s new pool skills. She still doesn’t really want to put her face in the water, but she is quite comfortable paddling around on her own with her little swim ring.
And she has gotten quite good at floating on her back!
Of course, what is pool time without some diver attacks (think Finding Nemo…)!
While Brianna and Poppa napped that afternoon, the rest of us got everything ready for his surprise party – complete with most of his family driving up to the mountains to join us. Now that was a real surprise to him! Just like with her Daddy, Brianna had to help Poppa open his presents.
Hanging out with her Tia…
The next day we headed out for some putt-putt.
That was nice, but I think she really preferred the playground off to the side of the putt-putt area…
It was a long trip, but we had a wonderful time!!
I know it has been a while, but it has been a very busy few weeks! After the beach trip, Tatie Kat and Great Grandma came to visit us for the weekend before Great Grandma moved back to Michigan to move into her new home. It took a few takes to get a good picture (Brianna has gotten quite camera shy lately), but we eventually at least got a cheesy smile out of her:
The following weekend, we celebrated Jason’s birthday just the way he wanted – by basically doing nothing and just relaxing. On Saturday, we all went to the movies for Brianna’s first theater experience to see Winnie the Pooh – I know it is hard to tell in this picture, but she was VERY excited (here she is engrossed with the local band playing at the mall, and can’t be bothered with my desired to take a picture). 
Sunday we went out to brunch and dinner to the places Jason chose, and then enjoyed some yummy cake (Brianna had to help blow out all those candles!).
All in all, it was a wonderful way to end the month.
