Weekend Fun

The grandparents had given us a gift membership to the Museum of Life and Science in Durham, but we hadn't had a chance to use it yet. So Saturday morning I started trying to convince the girls we should go. It took until almost 10 before they reluctantly agreed.

We went once last year - at Labor Day. We went outside first and never even went inside.



This time the first outdoor entrance was closed, so we had to walk through the rest of the museum. The girls loved it. They liked playing in the space capsule, but Madeleine was afraid of the moon landing setup and astronauts. They had high school students doing face painting. Lily would have spent all day in their "Play and Learn" area if I would have let her. We had to DRAG them out so we could make our 11:30 train ride.

We also did a quick run through the butterfly house and the farmyard. The girls were getting worn out in the play area, so we were out a little after noon. Hopefully next time they'll believe us when we tell them that the museum is fun and we should get ready earlier :)

A tribute to Ms. Briana

I remember the first time I heard this song. I asked their teacher about it, and she told me it was something she just made up. It's two years later, and I finally heard it all the way through.

Make photo slide shows at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Ms. Briana left teaching for an office job this week. We will miss her greatly.

Pirate Day

The girls daycare teacher Miss Briana just wrapped up a two week unit on pirates. The culmination of the project was "Pirate Day" where they took the class to a church playground down the street to play on their pirate ship.

When she first talked about it, I asked if I could tag along for the trip. So on Friday I spent 10:30 to around 1 with the class. I tried to dress appropriately - with earrings and nail polish.

The kids had made a variety of paraphenalia - hats, bandanas, eye patches, hooks, swords, bracelets, earrings, etc. Briana had asked people to bring white shirts to class that she could make into pirate shirts.

The kids played on the equipment about 45 min before breaking for lunch. The boat was awesome. It had a climbing wall, a plank, two trapeezes, a slide, and a pole down the middle. The kids also liked the swingset next to it as well. I spent a lot of time pushing kids on swings.

She'd packed lunches for the kids, so we took a break. Then a little bit more playing before we headed back to school around noon. Madeleine was getting clingy and didn't want me to leave. I stuck around the classroom a bit while everyone did some pirate dancing with their parrots.

Miss Briana is leaving this week for a new job. We will miss her creativity and enthusiasm in our lives.

Ahoy mateys!

The girls are in full pirate mode these days. They're learning about pirates in day care, with the culmination being "Pirate Day" next Friday. They've been making swords, flags, eye patches, parrots, earrings, etc. in preparation. The plan is to take a picnic lunch down to the playground at a nearby church where they have a boat to play on.

Their teacher put a flyer about the family day they were having at the NC Museum of History on Saturday in conjunction with their Knights of the Black Flag exhibit. The newspaper article said the activities were geared toward school age kids, but kids of all ages could participate.

We got there around 11. Parking was a mess. The one public lot near the museum was full, and people were coming in from both sides. The parking areas dead-ended, so it was impossible to turn around and get back out. There were a number of totally empty state lots, but they were all designated "No Public Parking." We ended up parking on the street a few blocks on the far side of the museum. After last weekend at the fairgrounds and this week at the museum, it's clear there are a lot of people looking for cheap or free things to do with their kids around here.

The girls were young for most of the activities and the exhibit. Having only been to childrens' museums, Madeleine and Lily did not understand why they couldn't play with the items or jump into all the displays. The pirate ship they had in the play area wasn't as cool as the one at Marbles (that they were expecting).

Both girls tried writing with the feather pen, with limited success. Lily went to make "Sea Biscuits" while Madeleine worked on a coat of arms. Neither particularly liked the singer. They liked making the sea monster mask, but it was very crowded by then, and it was taking forever. So we did our best to convince them to take it home to finish.

We had lunch at the Mellow Mushroom, and made it home around 2. We all crashed with the late nap.

Sunday morning we worked on projects. The girls have been excited about Pirate Day and ask about it every day. So, we made a countdown calendar for Pirate Day. Each day they open a door, and it tells them how many days are left. They decorated it with stickers they picked out at Michaels on Saturday.

Then we made brownies to bring to the new neighbors and necklaces with the beads from Michaels.

Then we did "water play" in the driveway with Mr. Wiggly. The girls always say they want the sprinkler and then get all upset when it's turned on and throwing water in their face. Madeleine is more afraid of it than Lily. So, I came up up with the brilliant idea of putting a cup over the top.

As Lily says, "It's actually not that bad!"