Diggin for Dinosaur Bones

Summer is quickly coming to an end, and there are several things I want to do before school starts again!  Today we hit Crown Center, one of our favorite places to explore, play, and EAT!

The kids always enjoy Kaleidoscope and I love watching all the creative energy at work . . .

They were crazy about the glow in the dark room, and Graham was SUPER excited about making his own puzzle!!  That boy is a puzzle genius!

 Graham & Danny waiting for their creations to come out of the magic dryer

 My little artists at work

All of that creating made us hungry, so (of course) we headed to Fritz's!  Where else would we take a couple of 3 year old boys who LOVE trains??  Yummmm.

 choo-choo

Andrew was VERY impressed with the french fries.

With full bellies and happy hearts we headed over to check out the dinosaur exhibit. 

We saw some scary dinosaurs . . .

We turned into archaeologists and went digging for fossils . . .

We even hung out in a dinosaur nest.

No trip to Crown Center is complete without making a wish in the Westin Waterfall and riding the glass elevator to the top!! 

What a view & what a great day!!

 

Sand In Our Toes

My baby boy is turning 3 tomorrow and he has been BEGGING to go to the beach.  We packed the family van full of beach towels, sunscreen, cold drinks & sammies and headed out to Longview Lake for a little low-key birthday celebration and to hang out with the cousins!!

We stopped at the Marina and fed the carp.  WOW!  There were TONS of them today, and they were HUNGRY!  I thought I had a lot of mouths to feed!!  There were so many fish & they were crawling all over eachother, and then the ducks and geese were walking on top of them.  Kinda crazy.  Ava cracked us all up with her comment . . . "I haven't seen a fight like THAT since preschool!!"  Apparently, it involved a very cool puzzle.

 Little Danny feeding the fish

We had a little picnic & ate some birthday cookies and then headed to the beach to cool off.  The sand was SO HOT it almost took the skin off the bottom of our feet, but the water felt great and everyone had a blast!!! 

Everyone took turns getting tossed in the air . . .

Andrew floated along rather happily . . .

And we all played hard!

                           

 OK, actually we all floated lazily in the cool lake waters and enjoyed a momentary respite from the 106 degree temperatures.  It was awesome, and, for a brief moment in time ALL FIVE kids were happy.  That in itself is an accomplishment.