Visiting Clifford

 The local kids' museum (Kidzu) had a Clifford exhibit, so I took the boys to see it after Daniel had gone home.  (We had been thinking about going with all the boys, but after two nights of late bedtimes, they weren't really up for it around lunchtime!)  Matthew and James seemed to enjoy it, and it was especially fun that one of their preschool friends arrived at the same time as we did.  It was very crowded at first (Sundays are "pay what you wish" day), but since we were approaching closing/dinner time, it cleared out for the last part of our visit.

Matthew liked that there was a "letter writing" station where he could color!  (James was a bit disappointed that he could only climb as high as Clifford's knees.)  Mattie also was excited about the art room -- he is very enthusiastic about his art projects these days, especially when he can use new materials (like the cloth letters they had at the museum).

I love the picture of Mattie on the "boat" (fourth picture down), since his hat makes him look ready to go out fishing!


We hadn't been to this museum since they opened at this location. I'm glad we came on a Sunday -- it was fun to see the Clifford stuff (the exhibit was really well done, with lots of areas for the kids to explore), but the museum itself is pretty tiny, and not likely to hold the boys' attention for very long at this age (unless we were doing some kind of specific project in the "making" room).

Also, as we were leaving the house to go to the museum, Mattie said, "Is this the one we got a flyer about from the library?"  And yes, several weeks ago we'd seen a Clifford flyer at the library, but I don't think we'd mentioned it since -- that kid remembers everything!  (As another example, this evening we were reading a book that had cursive writing in one of the pictures, and I was explaining what it was -- and Matthew said, "Like our Christmas name ornaments."  And yes, they have wire ornaments that spell their names in cursive.)

Spring-ish

 First cookouts of the season with friends and relations!

Back to the Beach

 We had planned for a beach outing on Saturday because it was supposed to be warmer than Friday -- and it was (mid-60s compared to mid-50s).  However, the forecast didn't mention the cold wind coming off the water, so it didn't actually feel much warmer!  As you can see, the boys had a great time regardless.

Earlier in the day, Mattie had been insisting that he didn't want to go to the beach, and that we should just go home after the aquarium.  I'm pretty sure that he was just disappointed because we told him it would still be too cold to swim and that no, we weren't going to go out in the waves with him. Clearly, he recovered quickly once he was actually in front of the ocean!

Aquarium

 On Saturday, we took the boys to the Aquarium at Fort Fisher to enjoy the wonders of aquatic life -- but it turned out that their favorite part was the playground. :)

The gift shop may have been a close second for Mattie -- we told them that they could each pick out a small souvenir, and James fairly quickly decided on a coin wallet shaped like a fish, and after much more deliberation, Mattie also got a coin wallet with the aquarium logo on it.  They have been playing with them ever since!

(It was hilarious -- Mattie and Mike were in the gift shop first, and Mattie came out and told James that they could each pick out a gift:  "You can get a magnet shaped like Nemo!  Or a coffee mug."  Because of course any four year old would like a coffee mug!)

We happened to be going by the big tank when the divers were inside (and not many other people were around), and one of the divers came down and waved at the boys and did a flip for them -- Mike and I thought it was great, but I don't think the boys cared as much.

Drs. Strangelove

Riding the bomb

Battleship Brothers

 We took an overnight trip to Wilmington this weekend.  (The top picture is the view from our hotel balcony.  Grandma Geo, this may look familiar -- it was the same place we stayed with you and Mary Ellen.)

We arrived yesterday (Friday) around lunchtime, had a nice meal on the Riverwalk, and then headed over to the Battleship North Carolina.  The boys were still getting over colds, and James was especially droopy at lunch -- we weren't sure if he was going to make it for touring the ship or if I'd have to hang out with him in the car!  But as you can see, he got a major second wind when we arrived -- the Battleship was exactly his kind of place, with tons of things to climb on and explore.  (The ibuprofen in his milk may have helped, too.)  The third picture pretty much sums up his approach -- dashing on ahead to the next thing.  (He did not have much patience for us oldsters who wanted to actually pause to look at things or read some information.)

The ship was super-cool.  It's huge, with so many different sections for all aspects of life, from the soda fountain to the operating room (since it was basically a floating town).  And a lot of the signs had short stories/memories from the crew members, which were really interesting to read (or, glance at before chasing James again).

James was losing steam again toward the end, but then we found the giant chain (which the boys used as a balance beam) and the giant anchor (which they pretended was their own ship -- they were plants defending against zombies, of course.)

We were there for two hours, and definitely could have stayed longer!