Discovering Fun!

We spent the first few post-Christmas days at home -- lounging about, playing with new toys, and napping.  (Honestly, after the traveling and the excitement of Christmas, it took us more than a few days to get the girls back on their regular schedule.)  We loved the easy, relaxed pace.  It felt like vacation.  (Maybe because it was!)

Eventually, though, we decided our little circus needed adventure beyond our home and neighborhood parks.  We took a mini-adventure to the Palo Alto Children's Library one morning, which was marvelous.  We spent hours browsing the collection and came home with a good collection ourselves.

A few days later, though, we decided we were up for something bigger.  We headed for San Jose and the Children's Discovery Museum.  We've loved our visits to the Bay Area Discovery Museum in Marin, and we'd heard glowing reports of the South Bay version from the girls' Auntie Caroline.  Auntie Caroline is a trusted authority on such subjects; we have such faith in her judgment that our little circus went ahead and purchased a membership to the museum before we'd even visited.  And although that might sound a little rash, we didn't regret it at all! 

The museum was really, really busy.  I think that everyone in the South Bay must have decided to get out of the house at the very same time!  But even though it was a bit crowded, the girls had lots of fun.

The first stop was a bubble exhibit.  With a little encouragement, Kathleen stepped up to test out her bubble-making skills.  (They were first-rate, of course!)  Madeline watched in awe.

The girls touched and tested and played with so many different things that morning -- pulleys, balls, costumes.  They spun things and threw things and stacked things.

You'd think that Madeline would be too small for such a place, but she enjoyed herself just as much as her big sister did!

The girls played and played, but eventually everyone needed some lunch.  We'd thought we'd grab something at the museum's cafe, so that we could play some more after eating (we hadn't even ventured into the supercool water play room), but apparently everyone else had that idea, too!  Instead, we decided to pack up a little earlier than we'd intended and stop for lunch on the way home.

The girls were sad to leave the museum, but (like their Mama) they were consoled with a little bit of ice cream after lunch at Sweet Tomatoes.

We're thankful that Daddy might have Fridays free this quarter -- we're hoping he can join us on our next adventure to the Children's Discovery Museum, too!