Bubbles - Part One

We haven't had any theme fun in a while, so I thought we should try at least one theme before the summer ends.  I looked around at what I had on hand, and decided our theme could be BUBBLES!

 I saw these bubbles and just had to try them.  Bubbles that last and last and can be held in your hand?  Sounds cool!  They did not disappoint.  The girls and I had fun playing with them.

In the above photo, you can see how the bubbles just sat on the deck.  They were very neat.  It was fun to have bubbles that didn't pop immediately.

You can see there is a bubble in Reagan's hand, and several tiny bubbles in her hair.  They just kind of sat in her hair or on her hand like that for the longest time.

Of course this type of bubble was no more exciting to Kate than a regular bubble, but she was happy trying to catch them.  A few landed on her, but she could not grab them and keep them in bubble form.

If you are not careful, these bubbles squish.  That's right, they don't pop like normal bubbles, they squish.  They feel kind of like dried up glue.  The bubble residue remained in our hair , on our clothes, and on the deck, but it washed away just fine.

Plymouth Rock

After visiting the Mayflower II, we walked over to see Plymouth Rock.

Look at the sky in that picture; it was a beautiful day!

I love the blue spot on Kate's forehead between her eyes - that's from the lollipop I bought her at Plimoth Plantation!  She had it all over her and all over me!  It kept her quiet and entertained on the Mayflower though.  We ended our visit to Plymouth with ice cream because I wanted to get Kate as messy as possible in one day!  Ha ha.  I think this may be the first time she had her own cone of ice cream, and she was beyond thrilled!

We all had so much fun in Plymouth and we are already looking forward to our next trip!

Plymouth - Mayflower II

After Plimoth Plantation, we drove a few miles to see the Mayflower II.

Some pictures from inside of the Mayflower:

 This woman was singing, and she taught Collin and Reagan a song about a cat in a plum tree.

 This seaman told us that this board was used to chart the course.  Every half hour, they would put a peg in a hole to chart distance and direction.

The most amazing thing about this boat is the size; it's so small!  I can't imagine how more than one hundred people traveled together in such cramped spaces.

Again, there weren't many tourists, so we had great interaction on the boat.

A man came over and offered to take our picture with the Mayflower II in the background.  It came out great, but it's funny to see how messy and dirty we all were at this point!

Plymouth - Plimoth Plantation

Collin, Reagan, Katelyn, and I went to Plymouth yesterday.  The weather was absolutely perfect, and we all enjoyed the day.

We started at Plimoth Plantation.  I chaperoned Collin's third grade field trip to Plimoth Plantation last November, and it felt so rushed that I promised we would visit on our own.  It was very nice taking our time walking through the villages and speaking with the natives and Pilgrims.  Note:  "Plimoth" is spelled this way (different from the spelling of the town name) because that is the original English spelling.

Our first stop was the Wampanoag village.

 Notice that Kate's shirt is already dirty.  The first thing she did when we got there was sit down in the dirt to play!  You should have seen the back of her shorts.

 Kate would not sit on the benches.  She didn't like the animal furs AT ALL!  She seemed to be frightened by them at first.

I didn't even get a picture of the funniest part of our time in the Wampanoag village.  There was a man walking around in a loin cloth, and Reagan was incredibly embarrassed.  Her face was so funny; she just didn't know what to make of him and his attire.

We moved on to the English village.

 This is the inside of the meeting house.

 This woman was preparing a supper of lobster with fried bread and onions.  She mentioned that eating lobster is such a bore because they eat so much of it.

Reagan asked one of these women where they "go to the bathroom".  The woman replied that she didn't understand the question.  A man in the house with us said, "I think she wants to know where your privy is".  The woman then pointed out the chamber pot under the bed, and mentioned that they also go out in the garden.  Reagan thought this sounded terrible and said that she would never go!

 Collin asked these men about their work; they were working on the fence.

 This boy is eleven.  He made Reagan laugh because when asked if he had any encounters with Indians, he said that they are quite frightening because they are half naked, have tattoos, and carry arrows.  Of course Reagan thought it was funny that he mentioned the part about being half naked.

And there is Kate playing in the dirt again.  She insisted on carrying rocks too.

Once we had visited each home, we went to the discovery room so the kids could reenact a bit of what they experienced.

 There was an area of games and toys that I thought was neat.  Collin and I thought this game sounded fun.

 We ate lunch right after we left this area, and the kids chose to be Pilgrims and not use forks.

Reagan wanted to buy Pilgrim clothes in the gift shop after this, but the outfit was $60 and I couldn't justify that expense!

We did buy:

This is the game we saw in the discovery room.  Hopefully we can play it this weekend.

Plimoth Plantation was great.  We spent about three hours exploring.  I was surprised to see that there weren't many people there, but it was nice because we had a lot of interaction with the Pilgrims and Indians.  Reagan has so many questions about Pilgrim life now; I think I have to write them down for our next visit!

Reagan's Baby Names

Earlier today, Reagan told me that she has six names picked out for her future babies:  Louise, Ellen, Abby, Tommy, Jimmy, and Walter.

Tommy and Jimmy are obvious choices - Dad and Uncle Jimmy.  I had to ask about her other choices.

 Walter is due to her love of the character by the same name in The Muppets.

Louise is a character from Max and Ruby, and Reagan said that the name sounds "very Paris" so she will buy her a beret.

Ellen is a character from the show Dog With a Blog, and Abby is just a name that she likes.

I think this child watches too much television!!!

Here is a note from Reagan:
I love my babies because they have cute names.  (I'm sure when the day comes, she will find a billion more reasons to love them!)

*After posting this, I remembered that I have written about Reagan's baby name choices in the past.  You can find that post, by clicking here; it's funny to see that her choices at that time were also television based!!!!

Twenty-three Months

This little cutie is twenty-three months old today, one month away from her second birthday.  She brings us so much joy every single day.  She's funny, smart, and as sweet as can be.  She recently started counting to ten, and she has an amazing memory.  Speaking of her memory, today we were at North watching Collin and Reagan play tennis and Kate went on the slide.  The last time she was on this slide was about three weeks ago, and at that time there was bird poop on the slide that she worked very hard to avoid.  Today, she climbed up the ladder, looked down, and said, "Bird poop gone".  Kate is still very cautious, and likes to observe for a minute before she takes a chance on anything.  She loves to dance and do gymnastics just like her big sister, and her most repeated request is to go to "Mamma's house".

Collin's Ninth Birthday Party

 We had beautiful weather and lots of friends to celebrate Collin's ninth birthday yesterday.

 Collin requested this obstacle course bouncy house, and it was a huge success.  I think we had the same one last year, and it's always very popular with all of the kids.

 The hammock was equally popular.  It's amazing how much kids enjoy it, and I'm happy that it's sturdy enough for them to play on without any real injuries.

 It was funny to see the boys and girls so divided for most of the party.  They traveled in bunches and occasionally chased or spied on each other.

I thought I was getting really nice pictures of this bunch on the front steps, but this was the best picture and in all of them the girls are making silly faces.  They're still cute, funny faces and all.

 As usual, we got Collin's cake from Cold Stone Creamery.  He decorated the cake with his own Super Mario figures.

I love that he held on to his freeze pop while blowing out the candles on his cake.

 Tom followed tradition by putting on his wildly popular and greatly requested fireworks show, complete with sparklers for the kids.

 The party started at 2:00, and at fireworks time, we still had about twelve kids here for the festivities.

Everyone had a great time, and most importantly Collin thought it was a great party!