Rain Storm

On Thursday, the kids school was let out early because a strong storm front was coming through with heavy rain and wind. That's right--they'll cancel for just about anything these days.  Zac was able to pick the kids up, and they went out and enjoyed the aftermath of the storm. School was even cancelled the next day because some schools were without power.

Pullen Park

I took the kids to Pullen Park for a short visit this morning.  I hadn't been there with them in a long while.  They played a bit on the playground, we rode the train and carousel, and they played in the "fort" (area with magnolia trees) as well as this liriope bed between the pond and the creek.

That afternoon, Alice had a playdate at Izzy's and brought back some soaps they had made, and shared one with Simon (at Izzy's request).

Love letters to the cat

I found this little post-it-note booklet full of notes Simon had written about the cat.

"You are smart"

 

"You have fluffy gills" (He calls the cats ribs her "gills")

"You have sharp gills"

"You love [having your] tummy scratched"

"You love to doze"

"You close your eyes when you doze"

"You have 14 stripes on your poof" (tail)

"You have money, which most cats don't"

Here's the cat's money pouch he made her.

Dried bananas

The kids' school was closed today for a teacher workday.  So they made dried bananas with Zac.

New Work Benches

Zac made the kids some work benches for the garage.

Astronomy Days

Astronomy days at our downtown science museum are always a blast.

Garage gift shop

Simon has created his own gift shop in the garage, with shells and rocks and all sorts of things. Here, he has repurposed the insert from a box of chocolates to organize his "gems." I think Alice is "shopping."

Then, they'll use the origami paper and wrap up a bunch of "presents" for us. It's like Christmas morning sometimes.

Greensboro Science Center

Since we had a long weekend for MLKjr Day, we drove to Greensboro on Sunday to check out the Greensboro Science Center. Our favorite part by far was the aquarium.

The "zoo" outside was pretty minimal and most of the animals were inside and not visible due to the cold weather. The kids always complain that they can't go in the animal enclosures and play, because the ropes and logs and things they make for the animals seem really fun to our kids. We can never threaten to put them in a cage at the zoo when they act like wild animals because they think they would love it.

 The science part of the museum was underwhelming. It just had a little section on the weather, a dinosaur room, and a small play area. We finished the whole museum in a couple of hours, even after eating lunch there and going to the aquarium twice, we ended up watching a couple of the free movies just to fill the time. We're so spoiled with our great museums here in the triangle.

The kids each only had a dollar or two of their allowance left, so they went in together on a little box of shells at the gift shop. Here they are taking turns picking which shells they want.

Simon is thankful for math

Simon's teacher sent home a bunch of work, and I came across this, most likely from around Thanksgiving.

Bus stop beauties

Simon's new bulletin board

Zac installed a larger bulletin board in Alice's room, and gave her old one to Simon. All evening we heard banging, because it turns out he was using his pineapple rock (that he bought at the Linville Caverns gift shop) to pound the thumbtacks into his bulletin board.

Here it is two weeks later (1/26/20).

Simon's new garden shop and strings in trees

We stayed home again today, and the kids enjoyed the warm weather and mostly played outside and in the garage. Anna came over for the most of the day so her mom (Jess) could get her house ready for renters. Alice and Anna actually played really well together all day, and Simon played with Ellie a lot.

Simon had Zac build him a garden area on the back yard where he could put his little plant arrangements. Zac thought he wanted a raised bed filled with dirt, but Simon didn't want any dirt in it.

Meanwhile, Alice and Anna kept themselves busy stringing things up in the magnolia tree.