Children's Museum

Yesterday the big boys and I hit up the new children's museum with Aunt Jess and Stella. We left Simon with my mom because he was sleepy, and we weren't sure what the museum had to offer for toddlers (answer: LOTS! He'll definitely come with us next time!).

The boys have been SO anxious to try out the giant Lite Brite since they saw it on the musuem's website. It was super cool! Hmmm, I wonder how we can make one for home?

The string art exhibit was totally neat and inspiring.

We started out learning about gravity, ramps and solar power, but this area was PACKED with toddlers trying to steal our balls, so we moved on pretty quickly to the art studio...

Stelly making mandalas with natural materials.

Painting on plexiglass is always loads of fun. I want one of these at home too!

We spent a long time in the re-creation station, making stuff from recyclables. Sutton made this "push pop" and then spent most of him time cutting tp tubes apart.

Another item that we neeeeed for home: colored masking tape and dispenser. It kept these guys entertained for ages!

Sawyer made two brightly taped tubes and turned them into a giant pair of "binoculars."

These tubes are filled with pressurized air - the kids insert scarves and lightweight balls into the chute, and then they get sucked through the tube maze and shot back out. SO much fun!

They spent a little time playing in the Asian market. Sawyer especially loved the cash register and money, and Sutton was enthralled with the giant hanging scale.

We saved the best for last...the water play area!

Building with PVC tubes - water flows into the tubes from a set of jets in the bottom of the pool.

 These guys were soaked when we left (luckily I brought a change of clothes!), but they had a lot of fun at the museum. We'll go back again, but next time we'll bring Simon and Mitch. There was a ton of stuff for the little guy to have fun with - there's even an area just for kiddos under 3! I think we'll wait for another half-price deal though...not sure it's worth the normal full admission price for a family of 5, but definitely worth it if you get a discount! :)

Puddle Jumpin'

Oh yeah, it's the day they've all been waiting for...

PUDDLE JUMPIN' DAY!

We headed outside and down to the nature trails since there are always great puddles to be found there after the rain storms. It's pretty much mandatory to collect a new "special" stick at the start of every nature walk, and today was no exception.

This guy was anxious to get to the splashin' and wasn't quite as interested in collecting sticks today.

Sawyer scored bonus points for finding an entire field full of ladybugs too!

I found a puddle! Hey guys, what about this one? Too small?

What about THIS one!?!

Yeah!!!

(Note: when you accidentally fall on your butt, just pretend that you totally meant to sit down in the middle of the water!)

Pure joy, right here.

Let's catch some air! This puddle jumping is awesome...

...but it's pretty chilly too! I'm cold!

"I really just want to go home and take a shower so I can be warm and free!" (warm and free? lol!)

One last detour for this "master puddle" seeker. You can always find the deepest and muddiest puddles off of the beaten path.

Headed home for a warm bath!

And one more, just because. The face only a mother could love ♥

A Break in the Rain

It's been raining non-stop for days, so when we finally got a little break between storms today we immediately headed outside to find some puddles and get a little fresh air.

I found a pair of brand new rainboots in the top of Simon's closet while I was on my Spring Cleaning purge the other day, and luckily they were exactly the size that he needed for right now. He was SO eager to put them on, but once he had them on it took him awhile to adjust to walking in boots.

Let's just pretend this is one of those awkward supermodel poses and not that he's having trouble walking, okay?

Puddles, puddles, everywhere.

This one looked exceptionally good for a taste test.

Sawyer hunted down the muddiest puddles he could find, naturally.

I walked around the yard and checked on the garden. It looks like Spring has sprung! Last year's strawberries are coming back, even though we thought we dug them all up. I'll have to save these and relocate them since we're planning on using this garden bed for other veggies this year. The strawberries are getting moved to a bigger bed to accommodate all of the little hands that are eager to pick berries and fill their tummies.

The new nectarine tree is in bloom, and the new leaves are starting to emerge. I never realized that nectarine blossoms were such a pretty color!

This is what the apricot tree looked like last week before the rain began. Now there are hardly any blossoms left, and the leaves are starting to bud.

Simon found more puddle bliss at the bottom of the slide.

These two spent their time getting all of their sillies out on the trampoline. They would have stayed outside all afternoon, but it started to sprinkle again, and they remembered how cold it was after they played outside in the rain the other day...

Sawyer couldn't have been any happier to be completely drenched, and Sutton was frozen and anxious to get into some warm, dry clothes!

A Few More Baseball Pics

My phone camera didn't really capture the far away shots too well, so here's a couple from the 3rd base line!

Sutton getting some pointers from Coach Jeremy before his first at bat attempt.

Look who's back on third base!

First T-Ball Game!

Today the boys had their very first t-ball game! Their team is the San Francisco Giants which is pretty awesome since that's our local team and who we cheer for in major league baseball. There are at least 15 teams in their league, so we totally lucked out in getting the coolest one (though Mitch would probably argue that the LA Dodgers is a totally great option as well!).

I wasn't sure how well Simon was going to do at the game since it was right in the middle of his usual naptime (he was great! He loved people watching and cheering for the kids!), so I didn't haul my big camera and lens with me today. I snapped a few iphone photos instead...but now I have to find the cord to get the pics on to my computer. I'll post a few of the mid-game shots later on once I figure that out.

Since all the kids are still learning the fundamentals of the game, there aren't really any outs in t-ball. For every inning the batting team allows all their players to take a turn at bat and advance one base, and then the final batter hits a home run and brings everyone in. Sutton was excited that he got to finish up two of the three innings, so he got to hit two "home runs." Since the Giants had 12 players and the Rays had 10, technically we would have won the game 36-30. The boys were thrilled once we calculated that out for them, even though no one was actually declared as the winner.

VERDICT: Sawyer loves baseball, and he's really having a lot of fun. He keeps his focus on the game (as much as can be expected at this age!) and is eager to go to bat and to field the ball. Sutton, on the other hand, is incredibly bored with baseball already. He spent most of the game dancing and spinning around in the outfield (sometimes with his glove laying on the grass next to him!), and he didn't pay much attention to what was even going on with the game. He would have been happy to quit and come home after the second inning, but he stuck it out, and in the end he was really proud of himself for playing the entire game.

We're going to keep encouraging Sutton to go to his games and practices to see if he develops more of an interest as he gets more skilled and has more knowledge of the game, but in the meantime I'm going to do a little more research on non-team sports that he might enjoy...we're thinking it might be time for him to go back to gymnastics! ;)

Numbers at 17.5 Months

Simon loves to count and sing his ABCs, so here's a little snippet of our counting conversation we had the other day:

Mom: Simon, one...
Simon: Two...
Mom: Three...
Simon: Fwee, fo, fibe...
Mom: Six...
Simon: Seben, Eight...
Mom: Nine...
Simon: DIEZ!

I think we might need to cut back a little on the Dora, eh?

So Long, Baby Curls...

Simon got his first haircut! I'll miss those sweet baby curls, but I certainly won't miss having to take all that extra time trying to detangle them every morning and after naptime! ♥

Happy Valentine's Day!

Digging for Worms

When did this guy get to be such a big kid? He's been running around helping me like crazy today since Simon and I are both sick with a nasty cold. I'm so lucky to have my sweet, snuggly Mr. Blue Eyes in my life. I love you, Sutton! ♥

This Kid Climbs Ev-ery-thing!

Oh yeah, he's going to scale Everest one day, just you watch.