I didn’t get as many photos because it was much darker in this section and I had to read the games to the kids. They also have this very cool Cabinet of Curiosities room that had many interesting and random artifacts.

The gift shop had cool books. And we didn’t even get to the historic village outside because it was being renovated.

We will return to this museum. It was really cool and the kids had a great time!

..and of course, a few hours after we got home, the lego building ensued. Tyler built a castle with the Duplo legos. I really, really love the Duplo legos. Yes, Tyler builds tons of things with the regular-sized ones, but with the Duplos, he and Quinn build beautifully together. They are plain and simple. The kids create so easily with them and have created everything under the sun. It is hard to explain this love affair of mine – maybe there is just always harmony and great creativity when they are involved and what Mom doesn’t love that?

Also, I had bought some string to add to our art shelf for the kids to have. I am so glad I did because just a day later it came in quite handy with their castle building and horse and cart building. Oh, and the room at the bottom of the castle Tyler built is the dungeon. And the two blue blocks on string were treasure grabbers I believe.

This castle lived on the table until Daddy got home a few days later. Then was destroyed a day after with foam swords when Tyler had a playdate! Boys will be boys…

Well, everyone there that day seemed to be in the lego exhibit or the discovery rooms. We had this hallway all to ourselves. Since we did, we started running up, down and zig-zagging side to side. We had such a blast. Then I stopped to take pictures of the kids.

I adore this series of pictures. It almost makes me tear up. The epitome of my children. Running up, down and side to side to make music in this musical hallway.

It’s difficult to capture an energetic child in a way that reflects the beauty of that energy, that passion, that zest. I see it all here. Grand motion, grand energy, grand joy, grand beauty.

These are my two awesome kids. And while that energy can drive me crazy some days, it is also so very wonderful and so very amazing. They are such bright lights and I am so lucky that I get to spend so much time with them.

What a cool museum. A traveling exhibit, 16 discovery rooms, a natural history wing and so much more. We were there for 4 hours and had the best time. It would recommend this as an awesome day trip for any family.

They are finishing up some of the discovery rooms, so sometimes explanations and information about the exhibits were lacking, but a person who worked there said they are working on that. Some of the rooms were put in just recently.

Also, scattered about the hallways around all these rooms are climbing and other interactive toys for small children. So if you had a 5 year old and under 3 year old – this place would work great.

I took so many pictures that I have to do this in parts!! The first part covers the Medieval lego exhibit and the Discovery Rooms.

The lego exhibit was so cool because it was using legos as a way to give kids a taste of castles and Medieval times and also an opportunity to be creative. They had tons of building areas, a computer castle designer, make-you-own fairy tale, a game where you built a wall and then launched a catapult to see if it was strong enough, a jousting area, and real knight artifacts. It was so very cool!

OK, now we are moving onto the Discovery Rooms which covered a wide range of topics – the human body, the water and bubbles room, the weather room, the energy room, the pioneer room, the simple machine room, the tea room, people of the world room, the communication room. Some rooms were better than others, but I am sure that every kid would find a few rooms they would love.

Quinn was definitely not ready for this, so we decided she would have a date with Mommy. I was really puzzled as to what we could do. Leave it to Daddy to mention the painting pottery place! So that is what we did.

She picked out a horse and decided that she would paint the body green with a purple head and tail. We worked on it together and she did really well!

She loved explaining to everyone how we had to leave it there to get fired and glazed. We picked it up a few weeks later. Sadly Mr. Horse has broken all 4 legs since he was being played with. More on that later….

Quinn has this brilliant talent for being able to turn any object into a toy. It can a curse though as things like this can end up broken. I need to find some glue and we will attempt to get him mended.

After that we headed home for some lunch. Then we did some of her favorite things – watercoloring and playing. I played with her for a while which is something I don’t usually do, so she was having fun asking me to pick animals and whanot.

I do love watching her play. She and Tyler are very different that way. She has a rich imagination and can fall into play so easily. Even sitting in a carseat – it comes so easily for her. Songs, stories – I love to listen in.

I think I am always so in awe of those moments with Tyler and grab the camera because they are infrequent. This year I am trying to help him get into that mode a bit easier. His sister will be a big help there….if he will just let her drive for 5 minutes!!

We had a great time and I really enjoyed some one on one time with my sweet, sweet girl. She now wants to return to the pottery place to paint “all the things she likes there”.

Also, seems one of the kids got the camera and got a great shot of the state of Quinn’s kitchen. If I don’t do some regular cleaning out, the thing gets stuffed with everything. I am sure there is some developmental reason she does this, but I don’t know what it is. Any nook that is “hers” – between her bed and the night stand, the area at the foot of her bed where her treasure basket is, and her kitchen are constantly filled with items pillaged from all over the house. When anything is lost, everyone already knows to check with Quinn first. I know she was sent to thwart my decluttering ways!

Flashmob!
This day I was also in a flashmob with some friends. This wasn’t one of the fancy, dancy highly choreographed with professional dancers kind of thing, just a bunch of Mom’s having fun and helping kick off World Breastfeeding Day with some excitement. Don’t worry – some people freaked out when they saw flashmob and breastfeeding in the same sentence. We just did a fun dance – the rap part of the song we danced to had lyrics to were raising awareness about the benefits of breastfeeding.

It was cool to see how one worked and something to check off the ‘ole bucket list.

Yummy Dinner!
Well, I was feeling so great after that flashmob that I came home and made a sinfully yummy dinner – Creamy baked noodles with eggplant and cheese.

Oh my, melt in your mouth eggplant and tomato sauce, a bechamel sauce, penne pasta, a pinch of nutmeg – it was so good! I paired that fairly heavy dish with a salad and some raw carrots. Y-U-M!

This vacation was for Alyssa. It was a chance to be me, myself and I and I enjoyed every moment. I didn’t talk the kids while I was gone. There was no point – they are very much out of sight, out of mind kids and talking on the phone does really do much for them. I have seen this when Daddy is out of town. So…they are a lot like me I guess!

I enjoyed every moment. In the mornings I went to a coffee shop to enjoy a latte and breakfast. In the evenings, I would head out into the town with friends.

One night, a friend and I headed to beach. There was the most incredible full moon shining brightly right over the ocean. I felt so very alive that night.

The next night, we were eating at a restaurant seated outside – again that full moon! And then at the table right next to us, a jam session breaks out! It was awesome!

I got to talking to this man at the airport about luggage process and airline incentives and he thought I was on a business trip! He thought I was a business woman – man, I still got it!

I talked and admittedly flirted a bit with this hot guy who sat next to me on the plane. He talked with me for like 45 minutes! Had I not been married – a phone number would have been exchanged. I still got it!

The workshop was intense, but great and I learned so much about myself. To chat with all these other mothers who also home school was great and really inspired me for this coming year.

I don’t know else how to describe it but electric.

I came home ready to dive into this new journey….and also ready to make more room for me to be me out in the world. I need that and this trip helped me realize how much. It is all a balancing act, but if I put some energy into it – I know I can make it work. So dance classes for me this fall….I think so!

Oh Tyler.

The way you immediately went off and set about on your mission interested me so.

What really struck me is that later when your dear friend and sister decided to spend a good while sliding down the natural water slide, you chose instead to scuba dive. And for the next 40 minutes you would dive down with your swim mask and swim around near the bottom as long as your breath would allow. Each time you surfaced, you exclaimed, “Mom what rare and beautiful fish are down there!”. Later you would request oxygen tanks.

You had no interest in what they were doing – you were so very much engaged in what you wanted to do. You became more of an individual to me that day. Finding your own passion, finding your own bliss. I so enjoyed watching your exploration of that small pool and loved just how much wonder it held for you.

That was such a good afternoon. And later that night you would blow me away again with a wonderful art creation. You are blooming right before my eyes!

I love you so much my sweet, sweet, boy.

Friday we make peach cobbler and today we made peach ice cream – very near and dear to my heart. I have so many memories of being a child up in Canyon Lake and making peach ice cream with the family on the 4th of July. The kids’ job was to sit on the ice cream maker while the kids turned the crank. We were lucky to have many adults to share in the turning! The ice cream was always amazing!

The deer were so tame..or hungry.	The peach tree was so full!

Coop and Campus

The Blanton
I cannot begin to express just how blown away I was by this museum. It is itself beautifully designed. Add in the amazing collection of artwork and you have a most amazing place to visit. I have no idea how many times “wow!” came out of my mouth.

This kids were incredible and I really appreciated their opening up to the experience. I do think that this particular museum does have a way of casting a spell. Also, they had this interactive exhibit on learning in their lounge area. I hope it becomes permanent. The exhibit is on learning and as part of it they have 10 wooden boxes of various manupulatives. We visited this room twice. I felt like it really integrated the experience – after spending time taking in so many different genres of art, they could process and let it out by creating with the manipulatives.

More Art

This Amazing Room

Some of our artwork!

Now time for some lunch!
So we decided to have lunch down on campus, but what? The kids ruled out hamburgers at Player’s. Yeah, we were shocked too. Tyler really wanted a sub sandwich, but we weren’t in the mood. And then as we are walking we see Crave, a Thai food and sushi place. We had a lovely meal there. Tyler has decided he likes Thai food which suits us as hubby and I love it!

It was a really great day!