Children's Museum

Last week we went to the Boston Children's Museum with Rachael and Nichole. I'd been wanting to go but wanted the kids to be old enough to enjoy it. They are the perfect age to start going! They absolutely loved it. We could have stayed from open to close.

The day started out at the Lynnfield Library where I had to take a photo for an article in the local paper so while I was there I took some pictures of the kids since it was the 17th. They are getting so much better about letting me take their picture. I'm loving it!

When you first walk into the museum there is a three story climbing structure held together with wire and surrounded by netting. Maddie and Jackson didn't go too far up into it because it was so cray with older kids. I think they got scared.

Once upstairs we stopped at the butterfly wall. It was a projection screen and if you stood still a butterfly would land on your head or shoulder. They loved it and so did I!

This was in the water room. They spent a lot of time in this room.

I'm sure you're not supposed to climb on chirp but I'm also sure he's not the first one to do it.

A big air/ball thingy. When you push the button it would blow a burst of air which would blow a ball out of the tube. They loved that too.

While we were there I was approached by an MIT student conducting research on cognitive learning. I love stuff like this and was glad to have Madison and Jackson participate. She took them to a little table where I stayed out of view. It was so cute to see them talk with her and listen and respond.

These bikes were another favorite. It was so cute because the harder you pedaled the more lights lit up on the board in front of you. Maddie was cheering him on saying "One light! Two lights!!" She was so excited for him :-)

We had lunch at the au bon pain that is right there then went to the golf ball room. Jackson was in heaven.

Then we went to the construction zone which was another big hit.

We wanted to try to leave there because getting home from Boston can be very traffic heavy. We got the kids downstairs and they all wanted to go in the climbing structure again. Nichole and Jackson went all the way to the top and came back down!! Madison made it to about my head height when a group of older boys pushed their way past her. They really didn't do anything wrong but she was petrified and screaming her head off. I tried telling her how to get out but she was just beside herself. Other kids in there felt bad for her and were trying to help her out but she was just reaching desperately for me through the ropes. After 5 minutes of trying to coax her out I had to go in. It wasn't pretty. It's small in there! Luckily I just had to get to the point where she could see my head and she came with me. She cried in my arms for a long time after that. Poor kiddo. I wanted to take more pictures of M&J so we went outside and this is what I got from Maddie...

I did manage to pep her up with the promise of milk.

Nichole is always an easy model.

I can't wait to go back!!

Cape Cod | August 2010

First, this is just a random picture of Madison being silly. I made this quilt when I was around 15 with the help of my mom.

I got home from Chicago on a Sunday. Even though the week before I left had been a particularly tough one with the kids I was very happy to see them when I got back. Chris's mother was in Falmouth visiting her mother for the week so I decided to pack up the kids Monday morning and drive down there. I think I just needed to be away from home for a while longer.

We had perfect weather and a great time. The kids were very good for the most part because Eileen told them there was no whining allowed at Nana Fitzy's house. I was shocked that it worked. Jackson was diaper free the three full days we were there.

Maddie had had braids in her hair before going down. It looked so cute when I took them out!

Sophia was there with Eileen and Courney came down later Monday night.

The kids slept on an air mattress on the floor. Except for sleeping in our bed with us and at our parents' houses this was the first time they slept together since they were 5 months old. They did much better than I thought. I thought Maddie would have a problem with him being so close to her but they did really well. The first night Maddie ended up with me in the twin bed and then I couldn't fall back to sleep so I went on the air mattress with Jackson. The other two nights they stayed in bed. The mornings were great because once the kids woke up Eileen took them down stairs and gave them breakfast so I could sleep for a little extra.

I have this picture as my facebook photo and a friend commented that I'm already teaching Maddie to hog the bed :-)

On Tuesday we went to the beach. It's never a bad time at the beach.

On Wednesday Eileen, Courtney and Sophia were going to go to the beach again but I was feeling adventurous. I looked up things to do in Falmouth and found out about a free aquarium in Woods Hole about 15 minutes away. After looking for a long time for parking I found a space. I hate hate hate when parking meters don't take your coin. Like you put it in and it doesn't register. They must make so much money from that because it happens to me every single time I use a meter. Anyway, we walked to the aquarium and got what we paid for. It was cute though and perfect for the kids. They did have seals out front that we got to see jump and swim around. Inside were basically normal size fish tanks with local fish in them. they weren't really anything special. Since that didn't take as long as I was thinking and our meter was running out I had to figure out what to do next.

So we hopped on a ferry and went to Martha's Vineyard. They've never been on such a big boat before. They absolutely loved it!

As soon as we got off the boat I needed to find something to pull Maddie's hair back with so we stopped in the first shop we saw. Since I'm so unhappy about what happened there I'm going to mention them by name (not that I expect it to make any impact whatsoever but...) We go into Imagine. It's a spiritual type gift shop with Buddha statues, windchimes, and jewlery. Of course the kids go to touch everything they can see. I stop them before grabbing anything and tell them not to touch anything. I was looking around to see if they had anything for Maddie's hair when they went in separate directions. I saw Jackson go for a ball that was on the floor. I knew he wouldn't hurt it but I went to stop him anyway. Meanwhile Maddie was around the corner picking up a piece of *GASP* soap! I then hear other customers say something to the effect of "I would be watching my kids like a hawk if they were here with me". Then I hear the worker respond, "Yeah, I would never bring my kids to a place like this." My blood was totally boiling that they would talk "about" me while I was right there (they couldn't see me because I was around the corner). I stepped out from the corner and said out loud "Well, I guess we'll just leave then." The kids cried as we left. I was SO angry!!

We walked around a little bit more after that and found a drug store that had elastics for Maddie. I wanted to take them to the Black Dog for lunch so we did that. Since Jackson wasn't in a diaper he kept telling me he had to poop and I couldn't ignore him so we went to the restroom FOUR times. He never pooped. It was the longest lunch in history. This place cracks me up because for it being such a famous place it's such a dive. You can't beat the view though and the food is delicious. It's actually a great atmosphere for kids.

Here they are posing for me in front of the sign.

The boat ride home had a major meltdown tantrum over something I can't even remember and some sort of accidental injury to Jackson which led to lots of loud tears. We even drove someone sitting near us away :-)

Jackson was so glad to be back and see Sophia.

Thursday morning we packed up and hung around the yard for a while before heading home.

I have no idea what this is but OOOOOO he's so cute!

Sophia is totally into books. She is a little spitfire and really doesn't sit still for anything but will listen to a book. My kids have NEVER been interested in books. For some reason Madison was LOVING Sophia's books. She loved to look at them herself and to have Nana read them to her.

Like I said Sophia does not like to sit still so getting a four generation shot with Sophia happy was NOT going to happen.

Since Chris wasn't there with us we couldn't do a four generation shot with our kids but I wanted to get pictures of them with Nana Fitzy. They just love her.

It was so nice to have a vacation and spend time with the girls (and Jackson).

Oh, within minutes of putting them on the potty when we got home (nothing happened) they both peed and pooped on the floor. Welcome home!