Jacksonville...

We decided to take advantage of being down near Florida and headed over to Jacksonville, FL for Matthew's fall break this last weekend.

First we did a full day at the Jacksonville Zoo. We were very impressed. Everything was great! And Graham loved every minute of it!

Lots of large birds

Out of Africa

The Elephants 

The sting rays 

Graham's arms were not quite long enough to touch them, but we tried.

The Giraffe feeding station 

It was so neat that they were so close and that we were at the same level as their heads.

Graham feeding the giraffe. 

 Turtle

Graham loved the alligator

Chomp, Chomp, Chomp!!!

Lots of reptiles and amphibians

Look in the tree!

Ooh, ooh, ahh, ahh, eeh, eeh!

Anteater

Look!

More birds and turtles

Look Dada!

The carousel 

 Petting the goats

 Down with the Penguins

Graham loved visiting with other kids at the zoo. 

 Kangaroos

So funny

 Beautiful Gardens

Graham took his nap during the garden portion.

 Koi pond

Train ride

Next we went to a sushi restaurant for dinner. 

Matthew and I shared The Love Boat, sushi for two.

Saturday we went to the Jacksonville Riverside Arts Market. This was a huge market. Usually there is a yoga group that meets here and does yoga. This weekend all the yoga groups in the region met to do yoga as a huge group. The color run was also this weekend in Jacksonville, so we saw some "colorful" folks. There was all kinds of homemade food and items and lots of vegetables. There was a tent with "Olive my Pickle" that had lots of different types of pickles, Matthew LOVED this! Other vendors had canned tomato bisque, barbecue sauce, cheese, beef jerky, peppered mushroom jerky, artisan breads, honey, palm reader, tie dyed clothing, pottery, paintings, children's clothing, etc. Also, different food vendors. I had a spinach, mushroom, tomato, and feta crepe from a French lady. Delicious! I always have a hard time deciding between a savory crepe or a sweet one with stawberries, bananas, and whip cream. I went with the savory for lunch time. There ALL different kinds of dogs, so Graham LOVED this! He loves dogs! 

Weenie dog balloon animal. Don't worry we were careful with the balloon, since it was a choking hazard. And yes, he did put it in his mouth, and yes it did pop, but I took it away from him. He loved it while it lasted. 

We also saw a man with two parrots at the market.

And a few ladies spinning yarn.

Picture from Sally Ann's website

This lady had handmade clothing in her little camper. So cute!

Next we stopped by the Jaxtoberfest. 

We watched the weenie dogs race!!!

Graham loved it. Yay dog!

I was hoping we would see some people in lederhosen dancing, but this lasted all weekend and we missed this. We did see some people wearing their lederhosen though. The lines were very long, so unfortunately, we didn't get Graham's face painted. 

We stopped by the REI store and Matthew tried the Moroccan Mint Tea from Starbucks new tea store Teavana. We swam in the outdoor heated pool at our hotel, ALoft. Graham is getting really good at swimming. He tried to blow bubbles, but didn't understand and only drank the water. He wouldn't lay completely on his back in the pool, but he would halfway lay back and kick his feet. So cute! He was very proud of himself. 

On our way home on Sunday, we stopped by my interior design friend's alma mater, Florida State University in Tallahassee and happened upon the Sweet Shop.

I had a spiced Chai frappe. So good! Matthew had a Mocha. Graham flirted with all the college girls. Then we drove around campus and headed home.

We had a GREAT weekend with great weather! Graham learned so much! It is amazing to see how much he learns. I look forward to this year with him becoming such a big boy, but I miss my little baby boy too!