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!

Discovering the Discovery Museum

Yummy crab.

On Friday Kathleen and Mommy visited the Bay Area Discovery Museum for the first time. We were guests of Kathleen's Aunt Caroline and family friend Dana Aughney. It was a neat chance for Kathleen to hang out with twins Daniel and Sophia and Dana's girls, Keira and Devon.

The Bay Area Discovery Museum is very hands-on and there were even activities for children as small as Kathleen. There were fun places for her to crawl around and lots for her to see.

Leenie's Giant Lizard .

She tried out a crab (the plastic kind) and even rode a lizard! Kathleen would have loved it, even if there weren't all sorts of fun things to do, because it was the perfect spot to do her favorite thing -- watch other children play!

The museum is in historic Fort Baker in the Marin Headlands, and it has a great view of the Golden Gate, so Mommy and Kathleen posed for a touristy picture!

scenes from the circus: fall fun

Kathleen recently completed her first book.  Granted, it was only a few pages long, but she titled it, signed it, illustrated it, and dictated the text.  I was impressed!

She called it, "Day Story." (I don't know why. But she seemed very confident about it.)

Obviously, she wrote it.

The first page:

Once upon a time, there was a ladybug who lived in a kitchen.  One day Kathleen found that ladybug.  Her mommy put it in a jar for her.

And then the last page (which was also the second page, in case you were wondering):

Sometimes Kathleen's mommy let Kathleen take the ladybug out and let it crawl on Kathleen's hand.  

It was just a baby ladybug.

Okay, so it might be a bit lacking in plot or character development, but I'm pretty much in love with the illustrations. The ladybug! The hand!

And just when I had grand plans of saving the "book" somewhere for posterity, Kathleen announced it was for Rosie.  Rosie, the lady who cuts Jim's hair (and gives the girls each a lollypop when they go).   I'm not sure that Rosie appreciated the book for the great piece of children's literature I believe it to be, but she received it, nonetheless.  Maybe I'll get the first published book.

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In case you were wondering about that forehead scrape that John David was sporting in the faux-summer post, it's almost gone now.  (It's a miracle how quickly children heal!)  He'd gotten it the day before while playing in the backyard.  I hadn't actually seen him fall -- I think I was cooking dinner.  But John David wandered over to me with a big scrape on his head, and I exclaimed, "Oh, no!  What happened to you, little man?"

And Madeline filled me in.  With all the nonchalance of a three-year-old big sister, she explained, "He was just trying to get in the playhouse.  Through the window."

I honestly couldn't keep from laughing.  Because, yeah, that sounds about right.

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So, this wasn't my idea at all, but something I saw on Ohdeedoh recently -- glow in the dark bathwater!  Actually, the bathwater doesn't glow (that probably wouldn't be particularly healthy for our littles!).  The post just suggested playing with a glowstick or two at bathtime.  When I spied glowsticks at the dollar spot at Target (two for a dollar!), I figured it was worth a try.

It was a rousing success, although I'm not sure that the photos communicate that perfectly...

We've tried it with green, orange, yellow, and purple glowsticks now.  And though the girls most enjoy the "girly" purple color, they're happy to take any glowstick in the water at bathtime.  And to bed afterwards, too.  That makes it a double win!

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Though the weather has kept us from enjoying most of the warm, cozy, typically fall foods (until now -- the weather's finally turning cooler), we haven't been able to resist the urge to add some pumpkin to our diet.  We've braved the kitchen in the morning, before it has gotten too warm, and we've found two new breakfast treats we thought worth sharing:  pumpkin pancakes and pumpkin granola.

The pumpkin pancake batter was a bit thick and therefore difficult to work with, though that could be because we made the batter with whole wheat flour.  I threw in an extra egg and more milk to thin them out, but the batter was still thick.  Thick batter notwithstanding, my children wolfed them down.  And I have to admit, they're pretty tasty with all those spices and some maple syrup.

I was a bit more nervous about the pumpkin granola recipe.  As it turns out, it was easily as popular as pancakes.  (And I realize that's quite a claim!)  I foolishly left the pan of granola to cool on the counter top while I showered and dressed one morning, and came downstairs to find that my little monsters had snacked on at least a quarter of it before I'd even stirred in the cranberries!

Incidentally, Kathleen has her heart set on hosting her best friend for dinner on Halloween (we did that last year -- and anything we do once is practically a tradition for her) and is convinced we should serve pumpkin granola for supper and pumpkin pie or cake for dessert.  At first I tried to explain that granola's not a typical dinner meal.  She didn't really buy that.  And then I tried to explain about how we don't know when Flash is coming, and how if we're able to host guests we might be limited to something like pizza, but I suppose granola's a pretty low-effort meal, too.  Maybe she'll get her way after all!

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My sweet cousin Katherine and her husband Rob recently traveled to the Bay Area for a bit of a getaway.  And because they're wonderful and generous, even though they were traveling without their own children (who are each six months older than Kathleen and Madeline), Katherine and Rob spent a morning with us -- along with Nan and Grandpa and my siblings and their littles -- at the Bay Area Discovery Museum in Sausalito.  Predictably, I do not have a single photo of my cousin or her husband.  Aargh!  I do, however, have lots of photos of little people frolicking at a great museum.

John David, Madeline, and cousin Emily running and playing on the "Golden Gate Bridge" with Nan.

After they'd been playing a life sized nest, Madeline decided she should lift John David out of it.  They both wound up rolling on the ground, laughing.

John David needed no help climbing in here.  Unfortunately for me, he's a natural.

Four cute cousins in a canoe.  (Or something.)

Our children refer to the Bay Area Discovery Museum as "the museum with the trains," which distinguishes it from the Children's Discovery Museum in San Jose ("the museum with the bubbles").   This was the first time John David was aware of the trains, and he was completely enamored of them.  He didn't quite have the fine motor skills to keep the little train on the little track, but with some help from Grandpa he was happy, nonetheless!

Spring Break in Brief

Last week (almost two weeks ago, really) was Daddy's spring break.  Mama and the girls did visit Nan and Grandpa for the end of exam week -- they enjoyed playdates with their little cousins at the park and the Bay Area Discovery Museum.  Mama and Kathleen even got hair cuts. (Mama at an actual hairstylist's; Kathleen in Nan's kitchen!)  And everyone enjoyed the time with Nan and Grandpa.   We reunited just after Daddy had submitted his last paper.

When the circus first checked out Daddy's academic schedule in the fall, we had thought that this spring break would be a great time for a bit of adventure.  We knew it couldn't be big, since Mama is so pregnant, but we thought we might be able to swing a couple days in Yosemite... or in the City (San Francisco)... or something.

We thought wrong.

Don't misunderstand me: we definitely enjoyed Daddy's week-long vacation.  But it wasn't adventurous.  For the most part, it was marked by sickness.  Kathleen was still recovering from what we'd thought was slapped cheek fever, but may actually have been an allergic reaction to her antibiotic.  (We didn't really figure that out until the Thursday night at Nan and Grandpa's where she didn't sleep AT ALL and complained of being itchy.  Good times.)  By the time Kathleen was getting back to normal, Madeline developed an on-again, off-again fever.  And when that receded, Mama developed sinusitis.  Just in time to head back to class, Daddy got a terrible, horrible cold.  It was as though we'd won some sort of viral lottery -- a lottery we certainly don't remember entering.

Still, we did manage a bit of fun toward the end of spring break.  Kathleen and Daddy went on a daddy-daughter date to the Children's Discovery Museum in San Jose.  (Mama and Madeline stayed home for some marathon-napping.)  They had so much fun together that after they left the museum they decided not to come straight home, but went to Stanford, instead, to buy Daddy's books for the next quarter.  There, they took advantage of the sunshiny weather, calling Mama to let her know they were dangling their feet in the fountain and drinking Jamba Juice.

We kept up the fun the next day with another trip to the Monterey Bay Aquarium.  Because they knew what to expect, the girls were even more excited about this visit.  They couldn't wat to get to the sea otters!  And this time we caught the entire fish-feeding "show."  We sat on the floor with a gazillion school children, watching the scuba diver descend into the tank. Even Madeline was entranced.

But the highlight of the show -- at least for our girls -- was the greedy hungriness of the sharks.  When the diver wouldn't feed them fast enough, they helped themselves to her bag of food.  (Mama was glad she wasn't the diver!  And glad that the girls didn't know enough to be scared, rather than amused!)

Monterey was just gorgeous. We reveled in the sunny spring weather and talked about how the ocean made us "homesick" for Oahu.  (Just look at what's waiting for you, Starlings!)

The last few days of spring break were spent at home.  We ran lots of errands, trying to finish off the big "before Indy arrives" checklist.  But since Daddy was around, even the most normal, everyday tasks were more fun.  

We walked to the post office to mail off some packages.

We worked in the garden, planting flowers and vegetables. The girls helped mix the potting soil.

When we'd gotten everything planted, everyone was very dirty. The only solution? The first sprinkler-run of the the spring!

Daddy's now back to class.  We're hopeful that this quarter will be a little calmer than last quarter -- at least academically speaking... because we know God has big plans for our little family this spring!

What a playdate!

Daddy's begun classes at Stanford, but since our house there isn't available yet (and our household goods haven't arrived), Mama and the girls are still staying at Nan and Grandpa's. Daddy's been driving back for the weekend, but he stays with a classmate during the week. We miss him, but we've been keeping busy in the meantime.

Recently we met up with Mama's good friend Jenny, and her darling boys Zach and Blake for a day at the Bay Area Discovery Museum. Talk about a great playdate! The girls had so, so much fun! (And Mama had fun, too, catching up with her friend!) We did so much, and we only managed a fraction of what the museum has too offer. Each time we've been to the museum, our girls have loved it more. We'll definitely be going back in the future.

And although our camera is still missing, Nan loaned us hers for the day. Unfortunately, I failed to get a group shot of the kids or of Jenny and Mama, which is really a pity. But at least I can share some of these shots of the girls having fun, fun, fun!

Both Kathleen and Madeline loved the waterplay area. The museum provides the little water-resistant aprons, which help keep the play from being a completely soggy mess. Plus, they're just really cute! The girls loved playing with the plastic frogs, crabs, and fish.

Madeline even tasted the fish! (For the record, she does eat fish. Just not usually the plastic kind.)

Frogs made another appearance later in the morning. The girls loved making music with them.

They also got a kick out of the giant spider web.

The "construction" gravel was another big hit. Madeline was surprisingly effective with a shovel. (And she looked pretty cute, too.) Kathleen seemed to prefer the dump trucks.

We'd probably have stayed longer in that area, but Madeline was still tempted to eat the gravel, so we moved on rather quickly. We headed inside to another exhibit. Zach was all about the enormous train table in that room, but my girls loved the big fishing boat. They both climbed all over it. Kathleen did a great job hauling in loads of crabs; Madeline even helped toss a few in!

After a full morning of play, we ate a tasty late lunch at the museum's cafe before heading home with some seriously sleepy girls. Thanks, Jenny, Zach, and Blake. That was a fantastic playdate!

Keeping Busy in California

So, despite Kathleen's horrific cold (which she lovingly passed on to me), we've been keeping fairly busy here in California. Well, to be completely accurate, we sort of alternate between being busy and being not-busy. We'll have a couple days we spend just resting at my parents' house, and then we'll get out and do something fun for Kathleen. Not that there isn't fun for Kathleen at my parents' house. They've made sure there's plenty to do! There's a doll house, which Kathleen loves; she pushes and pulls all the dolls through the front door. And there's a baby doll, and lots to pretend with -- a toy stroller, a toy highchair, a toy bottle, and plenty of blankets. And there's a rocking horse that Kathleen rides like a champion.

But even with a rocking horse, there's only so long a toddler (even a toddler with a cold) can be stuck indoors!

On one of our get-out-of-the-house adventures we visited a park that my family used to visit when I was growing up. The park has been completely redone since then, and now it features a neat little water-play area. It was a really warm day, and Kathleen took to water-play like, well, like a fish to water!

Another day, when Kathleen was mostly well and I was marginally well, we joined my sister Caroline and twins Sophie and Daniel at the Bay Area Discovery Museum. It was a great, busy outing for Kathleen. She got to climb through all sorts of exhibits -- bounce on waterbed-like "lilypads," squirm through tunnels, make things bubble and squeak -- and play with (well, near) other children. And after all that fun, we had a tasty, if chilly, lunch overlooking the Golden Gate Bridge.

And then, this weekend, Nan and Grandpa took Kathleen to Train Town in Sonoma. I wasn't feeling well, but the marvelous thing about being with grandparents is that there are people to help out. So, even though I went to Train Town, too, it was definitely the Nan and Grandpa show!

We all rode the miniature train together. Kathleen wasn't completely sure about it at first, but she warmed up quickly and enjoyed watching all the fun things we passed. The train stopped at the petting zoo, which she loved. It amazes me that Kathleen isn't afraid of the animals, or even of feeding them. When the train ride was done, we took Kathleen on her first spin on a carousel. She had her very own horse, and I stood beside her the whole time. She was nervous and a little squirmy until the carousel started up, but when the horse began to move up and down, she just beamed. I tried to capture her glee, but coordinating a hand on Kathleen to steady her and managing the slow camera proved too much for me. All I managed was this shot after the ride... but it's her first carousel ride, preserved.

A morning at the CDM

Last week Daddy skipped a morning of "work" (work, study, whatever it is he does in his office at school) and we all headed to the Children's Discovery Museum in San Jose. Kathleen had been asking to go ("to the museum with the bubbles") and we were happy to be able to accommodate her -- and to make the most of our membership!

We didn't take a lot of photographs -- we mostly just played. We blew loads of bubbles, we unearthed "fossils", we climbed and explored and learned.

We did snap just a couple of pictures, though, and we thought we'd share.

John David explored the "crawlers" room in the toddlers' section of the museum. He did love that book, which we promptly dropped in the "sanitize this" box. (I'm not sure how you sanitize a board book, and I'm not going to think about it too hard, because then I'd be thinking about what my child put in his mouth before I could stop him...)

We pass this fire engine exhibit every time we enter or leave the museum, and it has never really sparked our girls' imagination. Until this visit, that is! Madeline discovered the fire hose and decided she wanted to be a "firegirl"... She eventually donned a coat and a hat, and her Daddy and I couldn't get enough of it!

(By way of explanation, I didn't know that Daddy was trying to video our little firefighter here. I thought he was trying to get a photograph, which is why I keep trying to get her to turn around to look at us, rather than just letting the poor kid play. I sound annoying! Sorry. To you and to Madeline.)

And this? This, the girls told us -- this is "a firefighter and her dog."

Of course. What else could it be?