The Children's Museum

Last week we traveled with Momie & Papa to the Museum Centre in Cincinnati, Ohio. What a neat place!! I should start by saying the museums are in the old, restored train station in downtown Cincy. They have done a beautiful job with the art work in the main terminal part. Then off of the main terminal are 3 museums, the Natural History museum, the Children's museum and the History of Cincinnati museum, and an IMAX theatre. They also had "The Body" exhibit which I would love to see, but it wasn't really appropriate for my kids so we skipped it. That is another blog for a later date.

We started first in the Natural history museum and had a blast exploring dark, wet caves, traversing an ice age glacier, viewing dinosaurs, ancient lizards and mammals and much, much more! We had a scavenger hunt to complete to earn points toward stuff in the trading post. Aidan loved that part.....hence the picture with Sherlock Holmes.

After lunch we went to the AWESOME Children's Museum. They have Aidan's favorite section, the Woods. It is a series of tunnels and mazes all connected like a giant forest in Robin Hood. There are all kinds of neat pulleys and levers to raise and lower sections of the floor and change the terrain. There is a Water Works section that Ashley enjoyed and a Little Sprouts section just for toddlers. We finished out the afternoon at this cool ball area that I can't really describe. You funnel the balls up into different tubes and bins and send them to other areas where they can be shot out or dropped. It is hard to imagine but it was a blast. I don't have pictures of the Children's section because I was having too much fun myself to take any. It was a great summer outing!

my sucker thumb

Ashley calls the thumb that she sucks her "sucker thumb". She usually loops it though a hole in her blankie and sucks it while going to sleep. One night I heard her crying on the monitor. Usually, I wait a bit and see if she can resolve whatever it is herself. She usually can. But this time she became more and more distressed. I could hear her saying something about her thumb in between breaths of air. So I had to go check it out. When I got up there and turned on the light she said "my sucker thumb is poopy". And sure enough it was. She had apparently stuck it in her dirty diaper and couldn't possibly go back to sleep with such a quandary. I don't blame her one bit. So, we clean everything up VERY GOOD with wipes, antibacterial soap and lots of water. And with an 'all better' she went right back to sleep. I just had to include this as a precious example of some of the cutest sayings that come out of her mouth. Truly, out of the mouth of babes!

A boy's pocket

I don't usually check Aidan's pockets even though I see him putting 'stuff' in there since most of the time 'everything comes out in the wash', as they say. But after a weekend daytrip with the Quire family and watching Aidan stash items away, I thought I would check it out. That night I found 5 mostly squashed berries, a magnolia bud, 2 leaves, a battery, a crayon, a french fry and a Star Wars action figure. Thanks goodness the 'previously chewed by someone else' piece of gum I warned him against wasn't in there. And the rolly polly I saw him put in there had escaped.

I guess us girls take for granted the storage space of a purse while boys take advantage of their limited storage found in pockets. Aidan's were brimming full that day. The cutest part of the whole thing had to be watching Morgan Quire checking Aidan's pockets every couple of minutes to monitor the collection.

Oh what a time!!!!! Lake Cumberland 2008

I can't imagine a more fun filled, action packed vacation than the one we just had at Lake Cumberland. We had wonderful weather every day except for one, which meant we were out on the lake almost the whole time living life to the fullest! It was so good to see the Tomsic family, Big Jim, Sandy, Morgan and Max, our neighbors from Ohio.

Aidan and Max picked up right where they left off. They had a blast doing everything together from playing ping pong, to endlessly riding the tube. It is so funny to see the transformations of children as they grow up and how even separated by miles these two little guys stays best friends! This year it was especially funny to watch and listen as 'newly cautious' Max would warn 'always reckless' Aidan to be careful and watch out for this or that. These two are still so cute together. I think for the first time ever Aidan actually wore Max out one evening, when I heard Max exclaim "I'm burnt out, Aidan" as he crashed on the bed to go to sleep. Too funny!

Ashley and Morgan became the best of friends almost immediately. Morgan was so patient and sweet with Ashley even through her endless dawdling and then sudden bolt for the door. Ashley finally found her big sister to go everywhere with her. They enjoyed the playground, boat rides, looking for raccoons, shopping in the gift shop, and just plain old 'time together'. It was so precious!

It was like we were still neighbors and talked everyday. We all had the best time!!! You just don't find friends like that everyday.

My crazy monkeys

This is Aidan and Ashley's idea of how a sweet family picture should look.

Luckily, I did get a couple of really adorable pictures also! But this one is my favorite because it is sooooo typical of their personalities!

The battle scars of summer

If you could see poor Aidan's shins you would understand the title. His little legs are so bruised that it makes me cringe every time I have to put on another band aid. But he really is a trooper and mostly doesn't even say anything unless there is major blood involved, so I can't complain. But last Friday Aidan stubbed his big toe running around barefoot (how many times have I told him....?). He did cry with this one and I don't blame him because there was a sizeable 'hunk of meat' in his words, hanging off his toe. So we patched it up with a couple of band aids after bathtime and off to bed he went.

About an hour later I heard some whimpering so I went up to check on him. He was in my bed slathering Clinique night-time eye cream on his wound which was already covered with blue tooth-whitening toothpaste. I think I would be howling at this point, but he was just crying in silence. I asked him what he was doing and he said "I was trying to make it better". I gave him a big kiss for effort, washed and patched it up again and that was the last I heard. But true to his words, when I took the band aid off two days later it was completely healed. So if anyone out there has a sore that won't heal, you know what to try!

Pickle Top

OK, now it is Ashley's turn for a funny story. Ashley is usually very reluctant about wrestling with Aidan and Shannon. She really doesn't even like it if Aidan looks like he is in too much 'distress'. So they have had to tame down their act. But on a very rare occasion Ashley will join in and they will make a sandwich.....like an Aidan sandwich. Which consist mostly of Shannon 'gently' squashing Aidan. And then Ashley gets to be the 'pickle on top' of the sandwich. So whenever Ashley is game for wrestling she will yell "pickle top, pickle top" and go jump on the pile. It is all great fun to watch!