Ferrara Family Vacation~ And we are off!

Well the long awaited Ferrara Family vacation has come and is sadly gone leaving us with wonderful memories. We had a great time and loved every minute of being together. We even enjoyed our hours and hours in the car!

We left on Sunday morning at 4:00am. Mike and I planned to get up super early, shower and then throw our, “sleeping beauty” in the car where she would sleep until it was breakfast time.

That didn't happen! I woke up at 3:00am as heard, “Mom…are we leaving?” I don't know how long she was awake but at the speed she came out of her room and into my arms I would say that she was laying there awake for awhile.

Instead of sleeping, Sophia followed us around the house until it was time to leave. I will never forget the excitement that was on her face when we I opened the door and told her we were leaving. It was priceless. Needless to say by 5:45 she fell back to sleep and slept on and off the whole way to our first adventure.

Our first stop on our vacation was, "Adventure Aquarium" in Camden New Jersey.

For an aquarium it was a lot of fun.

There were a lot of hands on activities and touch tanks throughout the exhibits.

Sophia wouldn't touch the sharks or the stingrays but she loved touching te jellyfish.

Of course I couldn’t get enough of all the touch tanks. Mike even took part in the touch tanks….if you know Mike then you know that is a big deal!

We enjoyed our lunch outdoors. The aquarium overlooked the Delaware River and the "Battleship New Jersey" so it was nice to sit outside and take in the scenery.

Our favorite part of the entire aquarium, and where we spent most of our time, was at the hippo tank visiting Button and Genny, two massive Nile hippos.

Since last Christmas Sophia will sing the song, “I Want A Hippopotamus For Christmas” but never knew what it was…until now. And now I think she really DOES want one.

The hippos were playing with each other and pressing their faces against the window at her and she loved it!

Along with the hippos and touch tanks we enjoyed a lot of the other exhibits and the amazing shark tunnel.

After our visit there we headed to the hotel. Checking into the hotel and getting settled in was even an exciting part of the trip. Sophia loved wearing her backpack and pulling her suitcase through the lobby. She loved pushing the buttons on the elevator and using the “credit card” key to get into our room.

Once we were settled in Sophia and Mike took a dip in the hotel pool. Later we had dinner in the hotel restaurant. Since the hotel catered to the young kids visiting, “Sesame Street” they had a big screen television in a little room off the restaurant. Mike and I were really able to enjoy each other's company because they had “Sleeping Beauty” playing during dinner.