For Mikayla’s 2nd birthday we opted to take a non-traditional route. Since we will be moving in July and can’t take very much with us we decided to give her a trip somewhere instead of a birthday gift to unwrap (thanks Lara for the idea). My spring break is this week so we had the perfect opportunity. On Monday, we packed the car and headed to Chattanooga, Tennessee for the evening.
Our first stop was the zoo. It wasn’t a very big zoo, but we had a blast anyway. Mikayla loved looking at the monkeys (really chimps, but she doesn’t know any better). At one point one of them was walking right by our viewing window and got either excited or scared. It let out a screech sound banged the window a few times while showing its teeth and then ran off. Mikayla was a little taken back until she realized the monkey was just saying hi! When it happened she actually threw her hands up and said "Whoa"! It was priceless.
Loving on the chimp!
Pretty jaguar pacing in front of the window.
This was just before the peacock got spooked and hit Mikayla in the head with its tail feathers!
Family portrait
The guy at the carousel was so nice, he let Mikayla ride an extra time for free!
A little playground action after our zoo trip.
What Kickert vacation would be complete without a few ice cream stops along the way?
And of course we had to go swimming so, as Mikayla called it, "put my head under water"! Doesn’t she look so grown up in this swim suit?
On Tuesday morning we got up and headed to the Creative Discovery Museum. We have taken Mikayla to several children’s museums, but this one was a hit for sure. It catered very well to toddler aged children where others are geared towards older kids. Mikayla loved the water station the best and kept asking to go back.
Water Station – her favorite station of the day!
She has become quite the "hoarder", hopefully we don’t see her on one of the hoarding reality TV shows in the future!
Camping out!
Hanging around in a kayak.
They had the coolest music exhibit with different instruments and recording devices throughout. It even had a recording studio!
Face painting…a beard just like daddy!
Trying to figure out the dinosaur dig…she wasn’t quite sure about the sand.
Being eaten by a T-Rex!
Hanging out at the top of the arch!
The kitchen area was her second favorite exhibit!
All tuckered out after some birthday fun! Happy second birthday sweet baby!
Tags: birthday, Growing up, Mikayla