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!

Beach Brothers

It was too cold for the beach yesterday, but that didn't stop Mattie and James!

According to Matthew

Matthew has been cracking us up lately with some of the things he says.  On Sunday, he and James were out on the deck coloring their firetruck with chalk, because they wanted to make it a snow truck.  (Snowflake pillow is still Mattie's favorite toy, so many things have a snow theme here these days.)  They wanted me to come out and see because it was time for the "festival."  Mattie said, "You are the luckiest person, because you get to come to the festival and you can color with whatever color you want!"  He said that a couple times and then paused and said, "Actually, it's kind of a sad festival.  Do you know why?" (Why?) "Because you're the only one here.  I was expecting more people."

Then in the tub that night he had a container full of soap bubbles, and he said something like, "This is the basket of soap that I bought.  Nice, dry soap.  Or shampoo, as they say in French."  (I have no idea where he got that "as they say in French"!)

In the grocery store, Mike had disappeared to go get something, and Mattie commented, "When we go to Disney World, we're going to have to put Daddy on a leash!"  I do know where he got that one... :)

He also loves to pick out his food or order his food.  He's very definite about what he wants!  (And it usually includes a chocolate milkshake if that's an option.)

Springlike

 We enjoyed the nice spring weather today!  (It gets colder again this week, but it was good while it lasted.)

Brains

I was amused that Matthew happened to be wearing his Plants vs. Zombies shirt on the day that the science museum had a special exhibit on brains.  (BRAAINSSSSS!)  Mattie said his favorite part of the visit was coloring his "brain hat" (swim cap with an outline of parts of the brain).  

My favorite part was that the Springs and Sprockets exhibit was still there -- it was supposed to leave at the end of February, so I thought I'd missed it, but we were in luck!

James's favorite part was the hover table.  It blows air out of the center so that you can test the aerodynamics of your paper creations. Someone else had cut and folded the edges of a paper cup so that it spun around and took off, which delighted the boys!

(The train, alas, was closed for construction this time around.  They're putting in a big new area where the old water features used to be.  It won't be open for quite some time, but the train should restart later this month.)

Kindergarten Ready

We had parent-teacher conferences at preschool last week, and the teachers said both boys are ready for kindergarten!

They are still working with James on using complete sentences in the classroom and on his fine motor skills, but the teacher said his math skills are "off the chart" and his reading is great (although she doesn't know what level he's at because he doesn't want to read for her in the classroom -- she said even though she just asks him to read one on one, he doesn't seem to like having attention drawn to him).

I asked the teachers their opinions about having them in the same class in kindergarten, and both teachers thought it would be a good idea.  So, hopefully the school system up in Buffalo will allow that!

At the Barricades

The boys built a big wall with all their "comfy stuff."  (James, of course, wanted to jump off to top of it when they were finished.)  The amazing thing was that they even cleaned it up when they were done!

The boys were supposed to have their last day of basketball today, but it was cancelled due to power outages yesterday at the schools, and concern about remaining ice in the parking lots.  (We were fine here, but apparently the last round of rain, wind, and ice that came through knocked down a lot of trees in the area.)

Mardi Gras Time

 Nora and Adrian's friends (Bryan and Kristi) came over for dinner on Saturday, and we turned it into a Mardi Gras party -- homemade Hurricanes, chicken etouffee, red beans and rice, and even a king cake! Good living! The kids liked the beads and masks (even though actually seeing out the of the masks was a challenge for them -- the eyeholes weren't quite in the right place for little ones!)

Springlike Sunday

 Today is another winter weather advisory (sleet and perhaps a bit of snow, although there hasn't been much of either yet), but yesterday was gorgeous!  The boys had a blast at the playground, and then we all enjoyed a delicious "proper" Sunday lunch (roast chicken) cooked by Adrian.

Daniel's Dinosaur Museum

The boys had fun seeing the animatronic dinosaur (Terry the Triceratops) and Rat Basketball at Daniel's science museum!