Starting in May, Tatum and I did Mommy and Me Swim Classes for a few months (taking a break for summer because it's such a busy time for us) at the local aquatic center that's only five minutes away. They do Red Cross certified courses for $10 a month, twice a week! Can't beat that! Tatum can now hold her breathe and swim underwater, pull herself out of the pool, walk along the side of the pool with her hands, and jump off the side on the count of three and go under.
We live right around the corner from the Phillies minor league team, the Threshers, so we hit games there sometimes! Tuesdays they have Dollar Night, where it's only $1 to get in and they have a lot of food for $1. Tatum loves being outside and she seems to like all sports so we're getting her into it young!
The Tampa Bay Times has a page with weekly activities in the area and some include children's activities. For Mother's Day weekend, the Florida Aquarium had a deal where mothers got in for free with one paying adult, and Tatum was free so we only had to pay for Brian! I'm biased because the National Aquarium in Baltimore is what I'm used to and it's so much better, but the Florida Aquarium was fun for the deal. I think it was $35 for Brian and I don't think it was worth it to pay that per person, so I wouldn't go back if it wasn't another BOGO deal, but it was fun for something new to do. They had a splash pad (that I didn't know about and I didn't bring a swimsuit for Tatum so she got completely soaked) that Tatum absolutely adored and we spent half our time there at the end!
The week after Mother's Day we made our first trip to Utah of the summer. I say first because we went back in June also. Two weddings, both groomsmen in our wedding, and Brian was a groomsmen in both of theirs. Our week went something like this:
Tuesday: fly to Utah, spend day with family, see Avengers Infinity War with Randy and Sabra
Wednesday: Temple trip and lunch date at Even Stevens, catching up with friends, family hike
Thursday: Haircut by Tricia (gosh I missed this sooooooo much!!), boating with family and letting Brian wakeboard (Tatum LOVED watching him), and hanging out with two of Brian's friends from his mission
Friday: Brian left for Idaho for a mini bachelor night and the rehearsal dinner, and Sabra and I let Tatum and Zoey have a playdate.
Saturday: Adrienne and I left to drive up to Idaho together for Jacob and Steph's wedding and spent the rest of the day/night there. Brian and I had originally gotten a hotel room in Idaho Falls for the night but decided a few days before we would rather make the drive home with Tatum and have all day Sunday in Utah.
Sunday: Went to our old home ward for church, seeing a friend's new home, visiting grandparents, and driving Brian's Uncle Dwight's sweet new Corvette haha.
Monday: One last binge of In-N-Out and Fiiz before our flight home. I drank way too much Fiiz this trip. No regrets.
This trip was very needed for a few reasons. Brian and I hadn't been able to go to the temple and do a session TOGETHER since we moved to Florida the previous June. Because of the jetlag, Tatum was in bed most nights by 6:30 which gave Brian and I a lot of time for date nights (Thanks Lindy!!). We took a hike as a family one day and enjoyed the dry heat. I forgot how easy it is to have great hair and makeup in Utah!! NO HUMIDITY! Hallelujah. Although my pictures don't show it... I'm so unphotogenic lol
When we got home, Tatum had her 15 month checkup and again was doing great growth-wise. I'm more than grateful that we've had a very healthy baby thus far and continue to pray for this. I definitely pray more fervently than ever before now that I'm a mother! I feel like this is a shorter post than usual but I have a zillion pictures so I'll let them tell the story.
