Providence Children's Museum

This morning, we went to the Providence Children's Museum.  It wasn't overly busy, but there were more people there than normally due to the rain.

Collin and Reagan had fun, but I could see that they are at the top of the age range for this museum; next summer, we will have to make a trip to the Boston Children's Museum - they have so much more for older children.

There is a lot that Katelyn is too young for at the museum, and unfortunately, we couldn't go in to the baby/toddler room.  The museum has a rule that no children over four are allowed in the baby room.  Dumb rule.  If you have older children then you are just out of luck, your baby can't play in the area designed for babies, unless you have another adult to stay with the older children in another part of the museum.

Here is a little of what we did enjoy:

The Hispanic Market is always a hit with Collin and Reagan.  They like to pretend to cook, serve food, and work the cash register.  There is also a pay phone in the room that they like to use.

One of my favorite areas is this room full of pneumatic tubes.  Scarves and sponge balls can be put in the tubes and the children can control the direction of the air.  It is funny when the scarves and balls unexpectedly fall from the "sky" and land on your head!

Our favorite part of the museum is the water room.  Just as I expected, Kate LOVED this room.

This is how she stayed for almost an hour, her little hands each holding a ball under the water, just watching the water swish by her face.  She loves water.

I am not sure if you can tell that Kate's chin is wet in the picture below this text.  She put her mouth into the stream of water trying to get a drink.

Of course, this room is a lot of fun for big kids too!

We ate lunch at Panera after visiting the museum, and now we are picking out clothes, emptying junk out of backpacks (yes, there is still stuff from the end of school in their backpacks), and getting ready to make brownies to celebrate our last day of summer vacation and the beginning of a new school year.

Buttonwood Park Zoo

I love the Buttonwood Park Zoo.  It is the perfect size for very young children, and Mondays are extra special because the Toe Jam Puppet Band performs.

Today was Katelyn's first zoo visit.  She stared at the animals, but did not really seem to care much about them.  She LOVED riding the train though.

She also enjoyed watching Collin and Reagan ride the carousel.

Reagan always loves to milk the fake cow!

Collin couldn't resist trying it himself.

I don't usually take pictures of the animals because no one really wants to look at them, but the zoo has baby beavers right now and they were so sweet.

We watched some of the Toe Jam Puppet Band performance, but it was so hot without any shade in that area, that we decided to leave a little early.

Collin has a soft pretzel or a piece of popcorn in his mouth!

It was a fun trip to the zoo!

Summer Days

Summer is winding down.  Tyler started football practice, Collin and Reagan had their last tennis lesson, and soccer season is underway.

We spent a good amount of time this week just relaxing.

Collin had $105 in gift cards for Toys R Us, so we went there this week.

He bought Ninjago Lego sets (and of course, he assembled them immediately) and gave Reagan $25 to spend on whatever she wanted.  He did that on his own; I thought it was sweet.  She bought a penguin.

We made solar oven s'mores this week.  Instead of traditional s'mores, we made ours with peanut butter cups and peppermint patties.

We all preferred the peanut butter cup s'mores and thought about trying Rolo or Milky Way s'mores someday.  We also decided that we all prefer classic s'mores over any other variety.

Collin and Reagan went mini golfing with Grandma.

They got ice cream/popsicles from the ice cream truck three times!

Finally, Collin had his first soccer game of the season.  What a difference a year makes; he did great out there!

Summer Bucket List Update

This weekend, Tom took Tyler, Collin, Reagan, and Olivia hiking in the Blue Hills.

It was hot, but the kids had a great time.

Yesterday, Collin and Reagan tried origami.  We used the easiest book in a Dover origami kit and I had to help them with some of the projects, but some they were able to complete alone.

cat

pig

dog

Reagan was very proud of this cup because she made it without any help.

Collin and I worked together to make this frog - it really jumps!

house

dog

So, Collin and Reagan were able to check off two more items from their summer bucket list.  They still have quite a bit left:

- Make s'mores in a solar oven (I have the supplies ready, we are just waiting for the right day when it is hot and the kids haven't had too much junk.  I avoided it last week because of all of the birthday celebrations and this week Collin has camp at the Audubon Society, so maybe next week.)

- Bowling (they are hoping Grandma will do this with them - how is that for a hint?!!!)

- Children's museum (I am purposely waiting for the end of August when most of the Rhode Island and even a lot of Massachusetts schools are back in session so the museum is quiet.  I am looking forward to this because I think Kate will love the water room!)

- Visit the zoo and see the Toe Jam Puppet Band (I am waiting until the end of the month for this one too, and it will be Kate's first visit to the zoo!)

- Mini golf

- Do something nice for a neighbor

- Geocaching (not sure if this will happen)

- Mystic (not sure about this either)

- Make a summer scrapbook