Day at the Museums

Brian approached me a few weeks ago with the idea of the family going to Raleigh for the day while he attended a conference for work.

I'm a realist.... I immediately thought that it would mean an early morning for us (out the door, packed for the day by 7am), doggie care, and me alone with 4 kids away from the house:) Not to mention it was just 2 days from Chris' party with friends coming to the house.

But the benefits kept the idea alive. Having 2 hours each way with Brian was a key... definitely some bonding time stuck in the car for hours;) We are so blessed with having two great museums right next to each other that are sooo kid-friendly and sooo informative! I learn soooo much when I am there!! And that the majority of the cost of the trip (gas and parking) was already provided through work/conference!!

So I baked, purchased and packed to provide meals for the kids and I - morning, lunch and snack times;) We rose early and loaded up into the car eager for an exciting day:)

We had a wonderful time..... gleaning information, "seeing" what we have learned played out in artifacts and displays/videos, exploring in the kids' room.... but,

it was a challenging day too!!

 My pictures display the 1/70th-ish of a second shots don't include the fussy, demanding 3yr old (just a stage... at least that's what I'm telling myself), or the bored/tired 6 yr old, not to mention the almost 8 yr old being told by a much-older visitor to have better museum manners.... humpf :/

A normal day in a not-so-normal (for us) place.

Onto the pictures.. I don't have many b/c I let Anna use the camera to capture what she wanted to through the museum!

Chris loving the pirate ship replica

The history museum had bags you could check out with activities and books. We did this "overall" bag and the Indian bag. We didn't do every activity but it was helpful.

Nate used the mini slate from the history bag as we joined the museum's story time. Love that he's soo "into" writing his name right now. He's doing it alone now but during the trip he wanted me to write it first:)

It was very cool to read a book about the Wright brothers (from our bag) sitting under the replica! Yes, even stopping once or twice to pick out the different parts or figure out where the brother's rode;)

Nate was cracking the kids' room attendant up with how much he loved the BIG beetles from the dead wood display. It was something he had to ask to play with and he had the man there for a LONG time a couple of times;) Lots of hand-washing going on, too!

The amazing high-powered TV microscope had our attention for a while!! Did you know that the Lincoln Memorial statue can be seen in the Memorial engraving on a penny?? I never knew!

Chris of course checked out his latest splitter wound.

I think they took out all the boxes at least once while we were in the kids' room!! Funny to have them all working on separate things for a little bit of time!

I got my first sniff of fossilized dinosaur poo.... awesome! LOL!!

Nate's first remembered trip on an escalator. I was very thankful we did that at the end of the day because we might have spent the rest of the day just riding the escalator- if it was up to Nate;)

We even got to walk through and explore the new Science Research Center for a little while!! It's amazing and very modern! Not sure of all that is discussed but definitely a place for older kids (or my kids to grow into).

I'd do it again in a heartbeat. I might not try to do all I tried to do (understatement of the year). And maybe planned for a few downtime/snack breaks. But the kids are still talking about their "day at the museums in Raleigh" and I have already tied something we saw to what we started this week in history.

So lots of benefits to getting out of our routine and spending the day just absorbing;) Maybe it will be a yearly thing:)

A Road Trip with Kids

On Sunday the kids and I hopped in the van for a road trip with Brian. He had a conference for work in our state capital, so we thought it would be a fun family road trip... Brian do the conference-thing and the kids and I swim in the hotel pool and check out the great, free, state museums. A simple trip :)

LOL... everyone knows traveling with kids is NEVER that easy:)

my picture for Sweet Shot Tuesday and  52 Weeks of Happiness

Throw in a hotel with no fridge, microwave or free continental breakfast. Then add food allergies:)

No complimentary Wi-Fi (and I forgot the book I had been reading)!! A mixed up in hotel room arrangements, so all of us stayed in one room! And very excited kids!

Sunday night we did swim:)

And then grilled hot dogs on the George Forman:)  

We made it work... even the sleeping arrangements were fine!

Monday was almost a disaster :/

Fussy kids, multiple trips from the van to the room and back to the van, locking all of us OUT of the room, major disgusting blow-out diaper with no extra pants, lost Doggie (later miraculously recovered... really a miracle to loose Doggie in the state capital on a busy day and actually find him!), running a kid to the bathroom to vomit with three other kids trailing behind....


I really wondered if it was worth it :(

We did make it to the museums for a bit (before the diaper incident). 

As I looked through the pictures, I saw the sweet memories that we DID have! How much we saw at the museums! How much fun the kids had exploring different exhibits! How Nate likes elevators now... sort of;) And the beautiful evening walk with Daddy:)

Tuesday I wanted to head back the museums in the morning because I felt like we had missed soo much with our early and quick departure the day before;) But then wisdom kicked in.... the kids really wanted to swim again:) Enjoying a simple morning packing up, swimming and heading home was much more enjoyable;)

Did we have the "perfect" vacation?

LOL... not very relaxing... kind of stressful :/

But we overcame the challenges. We all stayed healthy and safe! And did enjoy one another's company.... even if it included living in one room, dirty diapers, cooking in the bathroom and some attitude adjustments... just a part of our season right now wherever we travel:)
 

More Wordless Wednesday at

NapTime MomTog,

5 Minutes for Mom,

Go Graham Go,

To Be Thode,
Mama to 4 Blessings, 

and any other linkys I find !!!

Collage of our Wednesday Adventures

Wednesday we spent most of the day with Grammie and Pey. We decided to take the ferry to the Children's Museum.....what fun!

I thought Anna would be a little hesitant, but she didn't have any concerns:)And the children's museum was PACKED b/c of a couple different schools visiting the museum (year-round school). But we had plenty to do and the kids really liked it and got to explore new things.....

I thought it was funny that during the Planterium show we all fell asleep...I must have been tired falling asleep during a show with TWO kiddies on my lap:) But it gave us all a little cat nap which kept us, especially the kids, from getting too grumpy.

My parents tried to convince me to stay the night and help send off Pey this afternoon.....but I had woken with a sore throat and was starting to feel a cold coming on.... after a runny nose

night and having a "head" cold this morning....it was a good decision to have already made the short trip home.

But Pey will leave today and my mom will be leaving Sunday.... we won't see them again until early December :( But at least they're connected with the Internet. And when Mom visits she can stay for a couple weeks at a time (Dad's schedule isn't as flexible).

We were worried that the kids wouldn't get to know Pey. But with pictures and talking about Grammie and Pey, they do pretty well with only seeing him 2x a year!! Anna was Pey's shadow yesterday afternoon :)