A Museum For You, A Museum For Me

We decided to have a Double Museum Day.

First, a museum for Mommy and Grandma - R.ockwood Mans.ion.

We did let the boys get their energy out before going inside:

We left with a semi-personal connection, a Maguire had lived here!

(The family's only son had an Irish nanny named Sarah Maguire and her picture was featured prominently in the boy's room... we do, however, highly doubt that she is a direct relative)

We finished our tour by exploring the meandering garden paths:

Second, a museum for the boys - Pl.ease Tou.ch.

Brayton, despite my insistence on a smock, still ended up soaking himself:

Having seen one at Rockw.ood, we had to try out the Victorian ViewFin.der:

We spent most of our trip shopping and putting away:

We actually stayed until closing and then headed into Cent.er City for dinner at Buddaca.n:

McColley stuck with water, but I drank Pure (green) and Grandma drank Guilt (pink).

It was a cool restaurant and also the fastest food service any of us have ever had!

Thinking Inside The Box

The rain was horrible again today, so we had to figure out things to do INSIDE.

First, we headed to C.huck E. Chee.se:

After eating our pizza, McColley used Grandma Assistance to ride the horse:

Brayton spent some time playing his favorite game - 'Put The Coin In The Slot':

McColley got some Pinball Tips from Grandma (who ended up only a million points away from winning any tickets):

He wanted a more equal partnership for the next game, so he chose Police Emergency!

Don't worry... they caught the bad guy.

Brayton wasn't interested in video games, so he decided to go with a classic:

With their last few tokens, the boys gave up on ticket-earning games and just enjoyed a ride:

We ran out of tokens just when we had to head home so I could go to the dentist (no cavities!)

I got back, changed Brady's pizza stained clothes, and we headed out again.

Any guess where we went?

Brayton's bowling technique involved wanting to use everyone else's balls:

And Police McColley's technique was to order his ball down the alley:

Either way, their technique was better than mine!

Yeah, I got totally smoked by a toddler and a preschooler.  TOTALLY.

MallBrats

Last night the boys and I drove through quite the rainstorm to pick up Grandma.

Since it was still raining today (although no where near as badly), we kept it simple and went to the mall.

The boys got to be hot dog vendors:

We then headed into the movie theater for a 3-D EXPERIENCE:

Much to McColley's delight, we saw 'How To Train Your Dr.agon' and he LOVED it.

Brayton loved screaming as loudly and highly as he could... so Brayton and I missed the last ten minutes of the movie.  Luckily Grandma and McColley were willing to tell us what happened.

Creepin' And A-Crawlin'

This morning was a bit crazy.  Brayton woke me up at 6:45, I changed his diaper and then went to make my coffee.  Apparently, while I was preparing my caffeine fix, Brayton decided to go colonial.

He went and grabbed the largest shirt that McColley owns and brought it out to me.  He ended up doing the shirt/dress thing:

McColley woke up about 8am and quickly decided that he was going to make his own breakfast.  So, with my help, he sifted a cup of flower, mixed it with a cup of water and added a cup of mixed-berry yogurt.

I then baked it at 350 degrees for 15 minutes.

It was, in fact, edible (although a bit bland):

We managed to leave the house at noon so we could go and see snails...

worms...

cockroaches...

and crabs.

Can you tell it was 'Wo.rms, Bugs and S.lugs' Day at the Nat.ural History Museum?  We also got to see a puppet show about recycling and do a few crafts.

Considering we'd learned so much about soil and how bugs help the earth, we decided to go enjoy the fruits of their labor.

We headed over to L.ongwood and I decided to do a little outside walking before heading into the Cons.ervatory... despite the fact that the temperature has dropped 30 degrees in the last week.

At the half-way point of our outdoor walk, we climbed a tree house:

We finished our outdoor tour by strolling down the flower walk... which basically has no flowers right now.  But, we did spot a few:

At this point I handed McColley the camera and told him to take a picture if he saw another flower.

He did!  (Can you find it?)

We did eventually make our way inside.  Luckily for me, even though they love two different things in the children's garden, the activities are next to each other and both boys got to do what they wanted.

We even had a Rom.eo + J.uliet moment:

Our visit ended with the boys chasing water up and down an inclined fountain:

I may have let them do that until I noticed a strong decrease in their speed... ::whistles non-chalantly::

Working Outing

Tonight we got invited to join my work buddies and celebrate a birthday.

We met at a local restaurant and just after ordering drinks McColley told me he needed to go potty.

Luckily there are several grandmas in the group, so I left Brayton with them.

He was a bit concerned, but entertained despite himself:

Later the Birthday Woman was the first to get her food and she generously shared with McColley:

All-in-all, the food was good and the boys were even better... although we did skip-out before the dessert course!

You (Almost) Spin Me Right 'Round, Baby

Nearly as soon as we walked through the door of playgroup, Brayton zeroed in on the sit 'n spin toys.

McColley saw his brother's interest and decided to show him how it was done.

Brayton was still confused:

I helped him sit on it the right way and he did get it to spin...

but he refused to 'release the brake' and pick his foot up:

He quickly decided this really wasn't his thing and tried to get off.

But there was trouble with that too:

Despite Brayton's issues, McColley is practically professional and asked me to take his picture as he was picking up speed:

At this point the camera beeped at me.  My memory card was full (what?! ... It's been two months since I deleted anything.)

So imagine pictures of us playing at the park and McColley cracking Brayton up by pushing him in a swing.

Then imagine us going home and me putting together a beautiful platter of indoor picnic food while hooking the camera and hard drive up to the computer so that I can hopefully take a cute picture of the boys eating nicely together while watching a movie.

Now imagine the boys finishing and Brayton deciding that it is hysterical to 'toss' the remnants of the meal.

That is when I finally got the camera cleaned off and staged a picture to give you an idea of our perfect little moment:

Brayton refused to be staged and instead laughed about his destructive creativity:

Later in the evening his devious brain showed its boundless ambition... he used a stool to get up onto the chair so that he could 'wash' the pots just like McColley:

*****

We did manage to get out of the house this afternoon because McColley's glasses came in!

Same frames, new lenses... but apparently he has to get used to the feeling again because he keeps telling me they're itchy.  However, I know he can see much better!

PuZoo

A few months ago I signed us up for a series of classes at the zoo.  In an attempt to maintain normalcy, we went ahead and attended today.

Upon arrival, McColley decided that he was a Police Pet Lion who had to stay in his Police Barn:

After class we headed into the zoo and Brayton's Condor friend was waiting for him:

We stopped at the gift shop on our way out and bought a floor puzzle.  When we got home, we tried to put it together...

but Brayton wanted to throw it instead:

Eventually Brayton let us finish the puzzle:

And then McColley had to pick out his favorite horse:

Turns out his favorite is the black one... and the brown one... and the white one.

Going

May the road rise to meet you, 

May the wind be always at your back, 

May the sun shine warm upon your face, 

May the rains fall soft upon your fields, 

And, until we meet again, 

May God hold you in the hollow of His hand.