Our Marvelous Muserium*

We are very lucky to be in the same town as, and be members of, the Museum of Life and Science.  It has been around since I was a little kid, I worked there as a young adult, and now I love taking the kids there. You've seen some pictures of it on the blog before but this summer, Hayden got to go to dinosaur camp there for a whole week. That meant we were there everyday, and it's a tough spot to just drop someone off at so Eliza, Molly and I spent a lot of time at the museum as well. It was so wonderful to just be there to play, rather than to rush around trying to see and do EVERYTHING. Some days we played in the under 6 area, one day we checked out the dinosaur trail and mist garden, and other times we explored the other exhibits. We had a blast and I even took some pictures. Come play with us some time, we'll show you all the best spots!

They have this neat exhibit that is basically a dance floor that has different patterns of light on it, that are constantly moving and changing. The kids loved jumping over the lines, or hopping from bubble to bubble.

bubble hopscotch.  Molly and Eliza (and me) loved this exhibit -  I hope it stays!

a nearby exhibit is another big expanse of floor  with motion sensors that trigger different noises as you run around in the space. a pictures doesn't really show how cool it is.

In the Under-6 area, there is a pint sized climbing all. Eliza has mastered it, Molly is working on it.

big lego board on the wall. such a great idea! wonder if we can do this at home?

another Under-6 area is an animal area where you can pretend to be animal keepers, just like at the museum.

a favorite new exhibit is the Mist Garden. what is more fun than running over small hills through the mist to keep cool?!

where is that mist coming from ?

emerging through the fog

mommaaaaaa, hand..... UUUUUUUUPPPPPP

the mist bowl is brand new this summer

another museum favorite is the dinosaur trail, complete with climbable dinosaur

hold on!

our attempt at a posed photo, too much distraction

she made it to the head!

*muserium is how Hayden used to say museum. I think she knows how to say it right now, but sometimes we still call it the muserium for fun. we also now refer to the playground as the p-ground thanks to Molly. :)

Summer Stuff

In an effort to sneak some last remnants of summer in before we officially, officially turn to fall in October (yes, I know it's already officially fall but October is REALLY fall, even in NC!), here are a few odds and ends about our more low-key summer activities.

First, even though in some ways it didn't feel like it, we really did spend some time at home. And somehow we managed to find things to do, besides just celebrating birthdays!

"rabby" ears and upside down shutter shades = cool

everybody plays dress up!

ahhhh, funny face!

daddy snuggles

Of course, we also got out of the house, and not just on big trips to faraway places. We also hit the pool (more in another entry), the local science museum (again more later), parks, playgrounds, berry patches and more.

attempt at a baseball game with the Harrisons in town

game got rained out, but the cousins still had fun

visiting daddy's work for a lunch date

that one looks good....

mmm it was a good one!

nope, no berries in this mouth...

berries are everywhere, life is good

berry munchers senior and junior

Finally, in addition to all the birthday cakes that have been appearing on the blog lately, there were also other fun treats. Usually the frozen kind because summer is hot! Hope you all had a good summer! Now on to fall!

Popsicles!

stuff it in

boy that's cold

whoops! I thought I was eating faster than that!

Happy Summer!

Four and more

Eliza turned FOUR this past week and we spent almost the whole week celebrating her!

On her actual birthday (Tuesday), we went out for breakfast at Rise. It was delicious! Eliza thoroughly enjoyed her vegan lemon cake donut (also known as "the one with the pink frosting"), and I loved my pimento cheese and fried green tomato biscuit. Hayden made her chococlate chocolate cake donut disappear very quickly and Molly took bites of whatever we shared with her! We didn't do a big family birthday dinner because I had an early soccer game, but Eliza did get to open a present and had sherbert for dessert.

Donuts plus Eliza =  happy!

Happy Birthday donut girl!

On Wednesday, we had her family birthday dinner. Her selection was hot dogs, squash (sauteed summer squash), baked beans and cheetos; a big hit with everyone! For the cake, we made buttermilk cake with strawberries and whipped cream. It was delicious! I think I had given her too much choice about the cake and it took her a long time to decide what she wanted. First there was lemon, then lemon and strawberry, but we settled on this one a few days before. She ended up eating mostly the whipped cream and strawberries but that's okay. Present opening was fun. Everything excited her, especially the big box of clothes from her cousins. I think she tried on everything at least twice. The big jar of cheeseballs was also a hit - though it wasn't quite the cheese ball spewing volcano she had put on her birthday list!

carefully assembling the cake layers

decorative top

new dress up outfit from mom and dad

even H likes to document - looking thru her camera recently, it was pictures of animals and cakes!

make a wish!

to give you perspective on size! the cake was HUGE! Popop wondered if we were setting a bad precedent - 4 layers for the 4 year old!

Yesterday we had a butterfly fairy princess party for her. We had three families come, plus Grandma and Popop, to play and have dinner with us. We tried to keep it fairly low-key, just letting the kids play together. There were some planned activities - make your own buttefly/fairy wings, find the fairy and build a fairy house, and then we played some parachute games with E's new parachute (thanks grammy and granddad!). The kids enjoyed the pizza, cheeseballs and butterfly cakes. The finale of fireworks and butterfly favors dazzled everyone as we sent them off to bed!

butterfly favors

butterfly cakes (guarded by fairies)

fairy house! (the kids loved finding the fairies I had hidden around the yard)

our little butterfly

inside the tent we set up for the party (basically a sheet over a piece of rope)

big kids goofing off in the hammock

dinner!

the butterfly says "Cheese!"

are butterfly wishes better?

which would you choose, pink or blue butterfly?

it's hard to wait patiently for cake to be served

parachute games!

watching the fireworks

So now Eliza is four and getting more grown-up every day. She loves school, is great with Molly (she is often the one to get Molly's shoes on in the morning, with no prompting from me!) and continues to be a fun, goofy, smart little girl. She still has her drama moments, where her immediate response is to burst into tears, no matter what the situation, but she's getting better. Happy Birthday Eliza! We love you even more at FOUR!