Week 20: Wilmington, NC

Flat Stanley was so happy to arrive and be part of our family for a week. Tony (our almost six month old) and M.Q. Patton, (our 1 1/2 year-old apricot standard poodle) were excited to have an extra sibling for the week.   Flat Stanley was hoping we could get to doing fun things right away, but even though I'm on maternity leave, I still have to teach one class and keep my research going. Flat Stanley understood, and offered to proof-read a research article I'm working on.

 After he finished that he went out to help Evan rake the pine needles in the yard, but ended up just playing with the pine cones under the trees and smelling our flowers.

 When he came back in, he thought it would be fun to play with Tony on his activity gym.

 

 Then he helped me hang out Tony's cloth diapers to dry. He was such a big help :)

Patton was really excited to meet Flat Stanley, but when Tony was cuddling with him on his chair, Patton got a little too playful, and Flat Stanley got scared.

So he decided maybe rocking with Tony in his swing would be a better low key activity...

 But then Tony got a little too curious for Flat Stanley's liking ....

And I had to take Flat Stanley away. Tony was very sorry to see him go, but took his nap in his swing without him.

And When Tony woke up, Flat Tony was ready to go on an adventure

So we decided to go to Wilmington's historical district, I was very impressed how interested Flat Stanley is in our nation's history. He insisted on reading all the historical signs.

 

Tony wasn't quite as interested, so Flat Stanley offered to go find something else to do.

 

 So we went down to the waterfront ...

 Flat Stanley was so excited to see the Battle Ship, and insisted we take his picture by it

 Then he wanted to go for some Pumpkin Spice lattes. He took the seat by the window immediately.

 Tony was jealous that Flat Stanley got to have a latte and he didn't (He doesn't even get to try solid food for another week.) So Flat Stanley went over to comfort him, but it's hard to reason with a baby.

 And Flat Stanley ended up on the floor :(






But Tony seemed like he was in a much better mood afterward :)





So, we decided to go shopping on the pier, Evan and Tony hung out outside while Stanley and I went in to look at the earrings. He helped me pick out a pair to match a new dress I bought for work.

When we got home, it was evening, and Flat Stanley asked if we could go sit on the porch.

 So we did until it was time for dinner.

Flat Stanley didn't want to get too close to Tony, but still wanted to sit on the swing with us.

Before bed, Flat Stanley started to get nervous about his future trips, so we read "Oh, The Places You'll Go" before we went to sleep.

 During the night, Flat Stanley decided he wanted to crawl into bed with Tony to make sure he'd get a good night sleep. The next morning, he was off to visit Rachel :)