Last Weekend (and this one is already upon us)

There have been record highs here recently, but while we were away missing it all, we got to enjoy temperatures around 100 in the mountains of VA. Now that was craziness… it’s hardly ever that hot there so early in the year. It was wonderful to get into a pool of 86 degree water and relax.

Before all of that, Enid and I met Deana at Patrick’s Kindergarten graduation. Now that was some serious heat! That old gym hasn’t changed a bit, and by the time we walked out of there we were wet to the bone with sweat. It was a pretty cute ceremony… They had a slide show of stuff throughout the school year, and the kids got to sing and announce their own names into the microphone. Here’s Patrick up to bat and a photo of his class waiting their turn.





On the way to VA, we took a detour through Raleigh to Marbles Kids Museum (and the State Farmers Market, BJ’s Wholesale, and lunch at Camille’s Sidewalk Café, which I always love.) We’re thinking about getting membership to the museum. It’s a pretty good deal, and Enid loved it.

The busiest attraction while we were there was the “Around Town” area. They have an awesome area set up like a little town with the entrance being a slide out of the back of a real city bus! There's a boat for fishing, a fire department & truck with a house on fire, an ambulance with working lights and a hospital complete with NICU, a well-stocked grocery store, full kitchen & dining room, a barn with stuffed animals and hobby horses, back porch with rocking chairs for reading, post office and delivery truck, an office to write in, a "treehouse" with telescopes and animals, girly dress-up & a stage with puppets, train tables... each part of it has it’s own dress-up, working parts, and props related to each location! Whew! It’s a preschool teacher’s dream of dramatic play! I thought it was neat that they have bins for mouthed toys, so I assume they keep things sanitized. There was a little infant/toddler area with rocking chairs and lots of baby toys too.

Near the entrance, they have some huge, larger-than-life games. Enid played Connect 4 for the first time and won! That seemed to take Gerald by surprise.



As you first head to the upper levels, there’s an indoor and an outdoor water play area. Without hesitation, Enid grabbed a rubber ducky and shoved it in front of the spray pipe. She got soaked of course, but after getting a smock on her, that was her favorite thing to do.



One of the coolest parts to me was the pirate ship. It’s pretty big and has lots of piratey stuff to do on board. Enid climbed up and made her way around the whole thing, and then she threw the anchor overboard.

This was interesting… a real piece of the Berlin wall.



In the IdeaWorks Gallery, we got to make our own cars and race them. Enid briefly played with the super-structures (legos), and there were real tools and bins full of recyclables for creating.

Five Friends From Japan had displays to show you life in Japan, each area hosted by a different Japanese child… a tofu shop (where you could learn to make your own pretend to sell and serve it, a girl’s bedroom with lots of books and toys, a boy’s bedroom with boy stuff of course, a garden with bamboo and gardening tools from Japan, and a living room with musical instruments and showing Japanese television. There was also a school room with lots of desks that had mock lunches and example of school supplies. You could learn to use chopsticks, origami, manga, and lots of other stuff! (Here’s a mouthful for you! Five Friends From Japan is created by the Children's Museum of Boston and Capital Children's Museum and is a part of the Asian Exhibit Initiative, funded by the Freeman Foundation and administered by the Association of Children's Museums. It is supported in Raleigh by United Arts Council of Raleigh and Wake County, with funds from the United Arts campaign and the North Carolina Arts Council, an agency funded by the State of North Carolina and the National Endowment for the Arts.)

And now, back to mountainous VA… The first night there, we went out for Mexican and Enid got excited when she saw this.



After dinner, we surprised Caitlyn for part of her birthday festivities by meeting up with some friends at a place called Hot Shots. They have miniature golf and an arcade, but the big event was the bumper boats… they sprayed water! Enid was just tall enough to ride (41”), but Gerald had to ride with her. At the end, he was soaked the most. Disadvantage: adult.

That Saturday, pretty much the entire family and a few of Caitlyn's friends all had a tea party at Petticoats & Petit Fours Tea Room. Caitlyn has had a birthday tea party there for the past few years, and Enid was finally old enough to attend! This is the first year that the men of the family joined us, and not all of them were impressed. I myself really enjoy it each time, and most of the tea and food is great. The girls loved dressing up in all the frou-frou and hats. Enid didn’t keep hers on very long, but she chowed down, in case you’re wondering. She liked some of the teas, but is not a fan of Jasmine.





Now, maybe by next week, I'll catch up on what we've done since then!