A Day at the Museum

Last weekend, as part of my Mother's Day I had wanted to do something as a family on Saturday since we were doing a cookout on Sunday. We were going to take my sister to a baseball game because that's something we'd all enjoy. Well, Grant's unpredictability sort of rained on our parade. I didn't want him to be up out that late with the chance of Husband and I getting no sleep that night (my sister always managed to sleep through Grant's sleepless nights). So instead I chose the Museum of Life and Science in Durham. We ended up having a really good time and hopefully if Shauna makes a visit next spring or summer we can do a baseball game then.


Grant put himself in charge of the map. He said
there wasn't much else he could do.



They pretty much encourage you to play with
everything. So Shauna and I took advantage of that.

 

And because Shauna and I kept running off to play,
Husband did a lot of the stroller pushing. He was a good sport.

There were some animals to see (Very well behaved animals. I may not be so forgiving if I had tiny children screaming in my ear all day...everyday).


 And then there was the...

They also had some wild animals.


There were also some wolves that I couldn't get a good picture of. A swamp area that had
turtles if you could spot them and oodles of tadpoles. They had lemurs too (not in the swamp).


Grant was really good that day and he seemed to have a pretty good time. And pretty much got picked up by Mommy any time he wanted (that always makes him happy).



Grant & Mommy



Since it was a warm day he spent a lot of time with his sippy cup.

 And there was also...


He wasn't really a fan. Mostly, I think, because we had to make him sit still.
That's not something he's good at these days. Shauna wasn't a fan either.
She described the ride as "The gayest thing" she's ever done. It was little silly.


We had a good day. Train ride aside. Honestly the best part was watching my sister publicly freak out in the building with all the bugs. I'm not saying bugs are my favorite...but she really freaked out. Especially when I pointed out the spiders - that were just hanging out in a tree. In the building. With no glass, netting, or protective anything around them.

There were also some exhibits inside the main building of the museum that I didn't take pictures of. Most of the stuff in there encouraged a lot of hands-on...well, let's face it. They wanted you to play with it so I sort of forgot about the camera. And by the time we left there it was time to go home. Grant was howling for a bottle shortly after we left but we still managed to pick up a pizza on the way. When we got home we ate until we were all in a food coma and were pretty much useless for the rest of the night. It was a good day :)

Snow Sculptures

Well, we have officially hit the time of the year where I begin to regret moving south. I have no one to blame but myself. I literally faint when if I get too hot (though that hasn't happened in a few years). The instant I left the house today I felt like I hadn't showered. Which sort of made me angry that I even bothered (to shower, that is...not leave the house). Days like today make me think of winter. And then I came across these pictures. I don't remember much about it but way back when the people of Potsdam, NY used to do snow sculptures in their front yards. I'm not talking snowmen here. They went all out. I wish we had more pictures because these are really just a tease compared to what they did. I think it was a contest, but I'm not sure. I don't know if they stopped doing it or we just stopped going but I remember it was something I looked forward to.

A snowy circus

Ok, I know I'm just an innocent kid putting my arms around the
leg of that "guy"...but please look where my hand is. Hahaha!

I probably should have put this picture second because
it's another view of the circus scene

Either it was a little warm that day or Shauna tore up that little
snow person. I'm guessing she wrecked it. She looks guilty.

Crazy, huh?

Somewhere I remember seeing a picture of one sculpture that was either Garfield or Odie and beneath it was Odie's bowl. One of us (or both of us?) was in the bowl and you could tell how huge the thing was. And I think one year the house that had the circus out front in these pictures did The Wizard of Oz and they had music from the movie playing. You can see why it was something we looked forward to. For as cold as it gets there in winter, we always had so much fun :)

Conversations Like This

Let me just start off by saying that I love my sister. And spending time - especially the last five days - with her makes me appreciate her insanities much more than I did when I lived at home with her.

When we were kids we all used to pick on my sister because it seemed like she had a hearing problem. We used to tease her that she was "deafer than a fence post". We thought it was pretty clever.  I think she still has that hearing problem. It is conversations like this that make me want to hug her roommates and co-workers just for having to deal with her everyday:

*As we're walking into Target yesterday*
Me: "OMG, I think I forgot to put on deodorant today."
Sis: "Are you serious?!" <--- I thought this reaction was a bit heavy for smelly pits.
Me: "Umm...I can't remember. I don't think I did."
Sis: "You can't tell?"
Me: "Well, judging from the way I'm sweating I don't think I did."
Sis: "No, you did. I saw you take some into the bathroom with you."
Me: "No I didn't. I never take that into the bathroom with me."
Sis: "Yes you did. You went in there to change and you had underwear with you."
Me: "Uh...yeah, but not deodorant."
Sis: "OMG, we're talking about deodorant? I thought you forgot to put on underwear."
Me: "I don't think I'd have to think to hard about that!"
Sis: "Well, yeah, I was gonna say..."

Just A Walk In The Park

My sister, Shauna, came for a visit to spend my first Mother's Day with me so I have lots to post about...just not a lot of time to do it. I do plan to do one about my Mother's Day I just haven't had time to get the pictures off the camera yet.

On Friday Shauna, Grant, and I decided to go for a walk at White Deer Park in Garner. I love taking Grant for walks there. And it connects to Lake Benson Park so we can take a longer walk when we have time. We didn't have time Friday so we just did White Deer Park.

It was a really nice walk and it had just rained so the park was desserted. Which means the two playgrounds were desserted. And since we are both over grown children we took advantage.

Grant at the "rustic" playground (that's what I call it)

Grant and Auntie Shauna

 

It looks like he's kissing her cheek, huh? He's trying to bite her face.

"Oh Tar! Can I take him down the slide?? Please?"

 

"Ok ready? Try to get a picture of him in the air!" It didn't work.

The "rustic" playground also has two teeter totters that are made of logs. One is pretty big and has quite a crazy angle. I had to sit on one end and it's so tall that my sis had to McGuyver shimmy up to the other side. When we were teetering it sort of felt like we were going to be shot up to space. So much fun! We were laughing so hard that we made Grant laugh (after he wiped that "OMG they're so retarded" look off his face while watching us try to get on it). There is also a more modern playground on the other side of the park. The teeter totter there is suspended from stretchy cables and it too was empty of children. So we hit that one before we left. I had been wanting to go on that one since the first time I brought Grant and husband won't play on the playgrounds with me. We had lots of fun!

First "Self Feeding"

Do all mothers assume that their child will be quick learners? I know I do, I admit it. I figured I would put the little cereal puffs in front of Grant and he would know to pick them up and put them in his mouth. Well, last weekend we tried it. The had doctor said we shouldn't help him. "He has to do it on his own. That's why it's called self feeding". Umm...yeah. He doesn't like self feeding. All he did was push the little bits around on the tray until I decided to put one in his mouth. I learned that he will open his mouth for me to put anything in there. He totally trusts me to put something yummy in his mouth. He was sorely disappointed. He gagged immediately. And then spit it out. At that point it was mushy like his normal food so I shoved it back in there. More gagging. Then a total melt down. Good times.

Checking things out

 

Hmmmm...



Just what do you expect me to do with those?

In it goes (I put it there)

 

Oh yuck Mama



Melt down.

 It is obviously a texture thing. And it has gone pretty much exactly like this every time I've tried to give them to him. I tried other flavors. I tried those freeze dried yogurt thingies. I know it's only been a week and he's got to figure it out eventually. I didn't think he'd figure out the sippy cup and he's doing great with that. So I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

P.S. They crunchy cereal thingies and the freeze dried yogurt thingies are pretty yummy.