Stomping New Grounds

 We didn't spend all that much time in Durham when we lived in NC, but boy is it looking nice these days! We had a lovely outdoor dinner with Janas and family at the American Tobacco Campus. Matthew loved the "stair waterfall."  (He really wanted to go in the water, but it's not allowed.)

Nature Boys

 We spent some of Sunday afternoon at Cedar Falls park, taking the trail to the creek.  The boys liked jumping around on the rocks, and V-R pointed out the wildlife to them (tadpoles, fish, and what she said was a crawfish).  Fortunately, no snakes. :)

Tour D'Childrens Museums

 The boys had been talking about wanting to go back to Marbles, so Mike took them on Friday, along with Janas and her kids.  Although the boys had talked about wanting to go back to the submarine part, they really loved the new electricity exhibit (and of course, James enjoyed the sports area and Mattie got wet in the water area!)

On Sunday, the boys and I went to Kidzu while Mike got some work done. It's in what I think is a new space in the mall, and they've really made the most of it.  The boys liked the treehouse, doing an art project in the Makery, and climbing the climbing wall.  (James also liked putting every possible toy food on the scale to see how high he could get it to go.)

Stomping the Old Grounds

 We were back in North Carolina last weekend -- I was invited to a conference at Duke, so we decided to make a family visit back to the old stomping grounds.  Nora, Daniel, Bryan, and John Paul joined us for a trip to the Museum of Life and Science.  They changed the outdoor play area since we were last there, and added some new climbing structures (but also took away the water feature that Matthew liked).  We all had a great time (and even did two train rides!)  It really is a fantastic museum -- there's just so much there, and almost all hands-on.

Adios, San Juan

Just a few more pictures from San Juan.  :)