Washington DC Day 1-Air and Space Museum

Our first day of vacation started out with a very early morning (had to wake the kids up at 4:30 am) but a very exciting first flight for N2!  They were not that impressed with sitting around an airport but luckily it seemed to go by quickly.  Here they are on the plane waiting to take off.  The plane was not at all full so we got 2 rows of 3 seats in front/back of each other to ourselves.  It was nice not being squished!

Noah spent most of the flight looking out the window or having The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe read to him.  Natalie on the other hand drew a picture in her new notebook of the sun we passed by and the plane.  We played Go Fish and she enjoyed her snacks.  She also got some ipad time and building with play-doh.  It was easy to keep them entertained!

It was HOT when we got to DC.  We dropped our bags at the hotel and then headed to the Air and Space Museum.  We toured around the museum and saw the planes and a few exhibits.  Natalie moves through museums like I do (especially ones about air and space) whereas Noah loves to learn about the space part of the museum (he wasn't that interested in airplanes).  We did attend a planetarium show (that I fell asleep during!  Clearly I am not meant to get up at 4:20 am) which N2 thought was really cool.  We also found a kids' area (although it was probably for adults but it was the only hands on thing in the museum) about how things fly.  Both enjoyed this part of the museum.  There was a presentation on how things fly and they were really interested in that.  Then they got to practice "flying" a plane-the could make the tail parts of the wing move in this plane.  In the first picture Natalie is pretending to be a plane taking off down the runway.

N2 were impressed by the size of the rocket cones of the Saturn V rockets.

After about 3-4 hours both kids were done with the museum.  They were tired and Natalie was bored so we left to return to our hotel, get some dinner and go to bed.  We had the kids in bed by 7:40 pm Eastern time and I went to bed around the same time and fell asleep pretty quickly!  We were all tired.

Noah's Songs

I finally found Noah's songs so now you can enjoy his lyrical talents!  You can tell that one of them would have an idea and then the other would use the same idea.

Song 1
Gold, gold
I love gold
Gold, gold
I like gold because it's shiny.
I like gold because it's nice and pretty.
I like gold no matter what color it is.
I like gold not even if it's gray, blue or black or brown
because I I like everything about how it's shiny.
I wish I lived where pirates live.
Also it's fun to play with gold.
You pretend to be a pirate.
I'm a pirate so help me find gold past me.


Song 2
Argh mateys
I like my ship.
I would fight anyone away.
I don't take a shower because we're pirates.
Pirates don't ever shower.
I think I have to go somewhere else.
But I think I can go and still sing.
Do you want to come with me?
Do  you want to come with me?
We have to move the ship.
I'll keep singing this song.
Ahoy mateys.
I'm the captain.
Yipee ki yay.
They let me move the ship
Whenever I want to and wherever I want to.
I have to finish this song in 10 minutes.
I want to go in my bed to go to sleep.
Send down the anchor.


Song 3
My friend is prettier than me.
Just how imagining you can see.
But I'm not as pretty as my friend.
And she loves me how much she cares.
And I want to get married with her.
Because I've seen a lot of parrots who are girls.


I Want to be Prettier by Noah
I want to be pretty
Like my friend parrot
Because I like to be pretty
like my friend parrot.
And I have an idea what I want to do.


Parrot Sitting in a Tree by Noah
Parrots sitting in a tree.
Along came an elephant who said,
What are you waiting for?
And the parrot says,
I'm waiting for someone to come
and take me to my kindergarten class.
Parrot sitting in a tree just relaxing.

Pirate's Cove

Last Friday we met up with some friends at Pirate's Cove in Elk Grove Village.  It's a small park that has rides for kids as well as a craft and a show.  The day we went was wizard's day so all the rides had Harry Potter names, the kids got wands when they entered, there was a magic show and the craft was a wizard hat.  My kids love the rides and luckily there aren't long waits.  At most they have to wait through 1-2 times of the ride going around but most of the time it is less than that.

They have a hand train ride where the kids have to pedal by hand but there are employees who push the kids.

They also have paddle boats (powered by hands not feet) and they can become bumper boats.  Water does get in the boats so there bottoms get wet but they dried pretty quickly.  N2 love these boats!

They have a train and if you are lucky enough you can sit in the engine and ring the bell as much as you want (doesn't get annoying at all!)  The second time around, N2 didn't want to sit together.  Noah sat with our friend Bella and Natalie sat with our friend Noah (they are twins too).

There is a jumpy house and a climbing wall.  Natalie really wanted to do the climbing wall and she is big enough to do so this year but after waiting in line over 5 minutes, the employee told her she had to have closed toe shoes to climb the wall.  Too bad they don't have a sign up saying that so that kids don't want in line and then be disappointed!  They have a big slide that kids ride down on burlap sacks.

Pirate's Cove also as a carousel and a nice playground shaped like a castle (not sure how castles fit in with pirates but oh well!) and a dragon slide in the playground.  N2 really had a lot of fun.  I got quite bored of it by the time we left which is why we left.  It was also pretty warm for parents because there isn't a lot of shade in the waiting spots.  They have shade on the rides for the most part but not where parents have to wait.  It was also fairly busy because of Wizard's Day.

Teddy Bear Picnic

The library had a Teddy Bear Picnic last week and we decided to go and take Baby Bear and Candy Crush.  It started with a picnic on the lawn under the shade of the library's trees.  The library provided juice boxes and packets of Teddy Grahams or animal crackers.  We had a nice lunch with.our animals who happen to be eating my tomatoes.

 Then we went inside for a marionette show.  The man doing the show had so many different marionettes that danced around.  He could make the eyelashes blink, the mouth move and all the limbs move.  He also could make the marionettes "hold" things and do different things like blow up a balloon, swing on a trapeze (that was a monkey).  N2 enjoyed the show but it got a little long for them.  It was a fun program at the library!

Natalie's Songs Part 2

I found more of Natalie's songs while I was cleaning up the play room (which looks so nice now that we got rid of so many toys, moved some up stairs and bought new shelving for their craft stuff).  I haven't found Noah's songs yet so I can't post any of those.

Natalie's Song #4
Kookaburra is sick.
And then monkey comes through and says
What are you doing kookaburra?
And the kookaburra just sits there.
Do you want to go to the jungle exploring?
Do you want to go to the jungle exploring?
Do you want to go to the jungle exploring?
Do you want to go to the jungle exploring?
Do you want to go to the jungle exploring?
Do you want to go to the jungle exploring?
I know you are not happy.


Monkey is Sitting Up in a Tree by Natalie
And we don't know what he's doing.
But he is going to the Jump Zone.
And then at the Jump Zone he meets his friends
Kookaburra and Parrot.
And my song just began
But it's time to end.
Not really.


Explorer Jungle by Natalie
Coo coo meets his friend, Monkey.
Ooo, Ooo, Ahh, Ahh.
And then...
Alligator comes by and asks,
What are you doing in those trees?
I'm going to the Jump Zone.
Jumpy, jumpy jacks
Jumpy, jumpy jacks
Jumpy, jumpy jacks
Jumpy, jumpy jacks
And then the other doggie's friend comes by and asks,
What are you doing up in those trees?
I'm going to dinner with kookaburra.
I think I have to go.

Natalie's Songs

My kids have recently been making up songs and making Brian and I write them down as they sing which is tough because they sing too fast for us to write.  Their songs have been mainly about pirates.  Here are 3 of Natalie's songs.  I know they are going to be the next big kids' hits!

Song 1
I like gold.
I like gold so much that I wish I could get all the gold.
I'm a mighty pirate.
And I am a pirate so I do not brush my teeth.
I don't shower so I smell stinky.
I'm the captain of the ship.
I don't take a shower so I'm stinky.
I don't brush my teeth so they are green.
Then my song just began but it's time for it to end.
Bye, I have to drive the ship so
Argh mateys, bye!
I'm the captain of the ship.


Song 2
The gold is buried in the sand.
I know it's buried in the sand.
Ahoy mateys
Ahoy mateys
Ahoy mateys
I like the treasure and you come with me.
I'll flap my tail in the air when I get the treasure.
Ahoy mateys
You can't come with me.
Ahoy the other captain and the other ship.
They can come with us.
We can share the treasure.
My song just began.
I know I should take a shower
and brush my teeth they are all green and I'll get cavities.


Song 3
This is the song of Pirateland.
And the kookaburra and monkey and parrot were afraid of the pirates.
And then he hugged his friends.
And his friends hugged him because they were scared.
And they said it's okay and they made him their pet.

Pony Rides

Another day we decided to take N2 and Charlie for pony rides.  We thought that we were getting 3 ponies that the kids could ride for a half hour.  We pulled up at the farm we were supposed to be at and had to talk to the man mowing the lawn.  He went over and saddled up one pony (first had to brush it down) and then took Natalie for 2 laps around the farm house.  Then it was Noah's turn and finally Charlie's turn.  They each rode around again and then the time was up.  Oh well, they all had fun but it wasn't what any of us expected!

Fishing

One day on our vacation Grandpa took N2 fishing.  We went first to Frankfort to fish in Lake Michigan.  After a little bit it started drizzling.  We hadn't caught anything.  We decided to leave and try the pier in Beulah at Crystal Lake.  By that point N2 were a little tired of fishing-they had to be patient and there wasn't enough doing of anything.  But Grandpa did catch a fish not long after arriving at Crystal Lake.  Then it started raining more so we called it a day.  Grandpa did take Charlie fishing the next day and they caught much more.  Must have just been the day we went!

Sleeping Bear Dunes

On Tuesday of our vacation we headed to Sleeping Bear Dunes so that we could climb one of the dunes.  We stopped first at the visitor's center so that everyone could see what was there (N2 had been there on Sunday with Grandma and Grandpa).  The visitor's center was a madhouse!  There was a ranger convention going on so there were tons of rangers but there were also lots of people.  After a short visit there, we headed to the Dune Climb.  This was one big dune to climb!

 N2 climbed up and then down and then up again.  Everyone made it to the top of the one dune but then some of us went further.  Natalie and I made it up the next dune just to find out that there were more dunes in front of us.  We wanted a view of Lake Michigan (we later found out that it was 2.25 miles to the lake).  Natalie and I went back but Brian, Noah, and Dan went a little further.  Dan, Paul and Brian went back another day and hiked all the way to the lake.  On the way back down the dune, there were gorgeous views of Glen Lake.

We played in the sand at the bottom of the dune after people climbed back down.  They had fun burying Grandpa!

Traverse City Children's Museum

We went to Beulah, Michigan for a week with Brian's family.  His parents rented a house with 4 bedrooms for all of us to stay in.  The first day that Lisa and her family were there, it was raining so we headed to Traverse City to the Children's Museum.  Their whole museum is nautical themed.  They have a boat that kids can steer and work the engine.  They had a sailboat that kids could hoist the sails on and turn the rudder.  They had a projection of a creek with fish that you could step on and the fish would dart away.  They had a huge water table where kids could set up different ways for the water to go and try to turn the paddle wheel.  Plus so much more.  It was a little small but other than that was really neat!

4th of July

We went down to Glenview for the 4th of July to attend the parade.  We had a small piece of curb partly in the shade (we got more space once the people next to us moved their chair).  The kids really just wanted candy and weren't too excited by all the other people walking who didn't have candy (admittedly there were a lot of politician groups walking and other groups that weren't exciting).  I did enjoy the 2 bagpipe groups (Megan held her ears for both of the groups), the Jesse White tumblers, the Bolivian dancers (because who knew that Bolivia celebrates the 4th of July with us) and the floats that made bubbles.  I didn't get any great photos.  As we were walking home, the kids had a parade back to Mom and Dad's house.

We stayed for lunch and then the kids played hide and seek around the garden afterwards.  We decided not to stay for the fireworks because my kids seemed tired and the saw fireworks the night before in Wauconda.