New Year's Day at Marbles

The kids had been begging to go to Marbles for weeks so we decided to go after our hike. Our membership had expired but admission was only $2 on New Year's Day. Just as I had feared, it was incredibly crowded. I try to make a point of only visiting at the least crowded times possible but the kids still had a great time. We even managed to find this room with soft building blocks that has never been open when we've been before and we had the entire room to ourselves. That was the perfect place to take a break from the noise and chaos. Plus the boys loved building towers with Grandma.

marbles + hot dogs

The kids didn't have school on Veterans Day. Oliver had a sleepover in the girls' room the night before. They put all of their mattresses on the floor and thought it was pretty fun. Unfortunately Amelia pulled a muscle in her neck when she got out of bed in the morning and was pretty immobile the rest of the day. We did venture out to Marbles (the children's museum) later in the afternoon but she still couldn't do much and wasn't very happy about it. Ben got back from a work trip in time to join us at the museum. (His work schedule has been crazy lately. He headed out of town again early the next morning.) We walked over to Tasty 8's for dinner after the museum. Yummy hot dogs and fries with fun dipping sauces. The pumpkin milkshake was excellent too.

Dancing while waiting for food. Hooray for warm fall evenings! (Which we are no longer having.)

Science Week: Marbles

We completed science week with a trip to Marbles. They had just opened up a new exhibit about energy which the kids loved. It's so fun to have such a great children's museum so close.

Marbles Kids Museum

By the beginning of June, we were all ready for summer to begin. But the girls still had a few weeks left of school. I let them skip school one day and we had a lazy morning at home and then ventured out to Marbles Kids Museum in the afternoon. A weekday afternoon is definitely the best time to avoid crowds there and the kids had so much fun. We have made good use of our membership.

Marbles

We spent the afternoon at Marbles. The kids had a great time and we practically had the museum to ourselves. Plus we scored parking right in front of the museum (parking experiences in downtown Raleigh have been MUCH different from D.C.).

scooter races + marbles

The kids didn't have school the day after Martin Luther King, Jr. Day which was good since I woke up feeling really sick. Amelia pretty much took over and got everyone breakfast and then kept Simon happy in the playroom until his morning nap so I could go back to bed for a bit. Amelia made me a sweet "get well" card and slipped it under my door. She said she hoped I felt better soon so we could do something fun. I had promised the kids a trip to the children's museum. I felt a bit better by the afternoon so I loaded everyone up and we headed downtown. We are loving our annual pass at Marbles. It's a fantastic children's museum and the kids have a blast each time we go. I started to feel sick again after a bit so we didn't stay too long but thankfully the kids were sympathetic and didn't put up a fuss about leaving. Ben arrived home soon after which was good since I was pretty much passed out the rest of the night. Whatever hit me was luckily gone in 24 hours.

We have a super long driveway that's perfect for riding bikes and scooters. We live on a dead end street which means we no longer have to worry about traffic and crazy speedsters. Hooray! The kids spent a few minutes on their scooters before we headed to the museum.

Oliver was having fun pushing Simon in the stroller. Simon was amused by his crazy driving.

The girls were hard at work for a long time in this kitchen.

Always determined to get his socks off.