Fixing the Flat - 2 weeks

Callen has been in his band for 2 weeks now and things have been going really well.  His head grew 5mm in the first week and 0mm this week.  I'm not to worried about the lack of growth this week because of his massive growth the first week.  His head is starting to look much better and it looks like he'll be out of his band in 4 more weeks (6 weeks in the band).  Here are the latest pictures of my little man in his band and one of him out of it.

My Happy Camper

My little man without his band

Chilling outside

We're Roughin' it

Mr. Drool

Ummm

I love this shirt, I don't think I'm overprotective

 but I did get asked if he was in the helmet to protect his head while in the Ergo

Please Touch Museum - Lunch and Wonderland

Lunch time can be hit or miss in a museum.  Sometimes the food is great and worth the price; other times the food is disgusting and over priced.  The food here was pretty good, I like having choices; more than just burgers and greasy cheese pizza.  While they do have pizza it's made in a wood burning oven, they also have yummy baked sandwiches.  It was not the cheapest food but not over priced like other museums.  We did have a hard time finding a place to sit but as it turns out there is more seating by the Carousel (should have read the signs).

After lunch Tavish wanted to ride the Carousel (an extra $3), Tavish loves merry-go-rounds so he had a great time.  It was not the most spectacular merry-go-round he's been on but it's in the top 5 (he's been on a lot).

 Round and Round and Round we go

  We switched gender rolls

I must admit by this time of the day (11:30) my husband and I were having pretty much all we could handle at this museum.  While it's great for kids, it was not designed acoustically for hundreds of screaming children, so the deafening sound was getting to us.  That being said, we are not the people to leave a museum half done (especially if we have no plans on going back) so we pressed on.  The next exhibit to investigate was the  Access/Ability.  This is one area of the museum which targets older kids (5+) and teaches them what life is like living with a special need and how people over come these challenges.  My husband and I found it very interesting but Tavish was not that into it.

Before we heading back down stairs to the Wonderland exhibit, Tavish found a piano which he had lots of fun playing and they also have a giant walk on piano (like from the movie Big).

 

Playing Mozart at 2 (okay not really)

Now I must fully admit we did not do the Wonderland area justice, as Kyle and I were both getting a head ache from the noise down there.  Tavish was also a bit scared of some of the features in this exhibit (he would not go into the hall of mirrors but can we really blame him).  He did have a great time playing with the cars that go down this ramp (not sure what it had to do with Wonderland) but he did have an issue sharing them.  I could tell by the increasing number of meltdowns that is was time for us to go.

Overall I think we had a pretty good time but not sure that we'll go back.  I personally like the Children's museum in Baltimore (Port Discovery) better for a number of reasons:

• better security - children can only leave the building with the adult them came with
• better acoustics - a combination of 3 floors and exhibits in closed rooms makes for much less noise
• play gym - the giant gym in the middle of the museum is just fun

I think in a July we'll be checking out a Children's Museum in Richmond, VA so we'll have to see how it compares. 

Quick Tip about the Please Touch Museum: at least during the weekend and in February there was lots of free parking near the museum if you arrived before 10 (not sure how much parking there is after that).

Please Touch Museum - City Caper

Once we finished the majority of the top floor we headed down the stairs.  Our first stop was City Caper, it's like a village for little people.  The exhibits in this area were hit and miss.  The construction area was okay, nothing special but Tavish had fun.  This is an area which can cause friction as there are not too many bricks and only one conveyor belt but Tavish and the boy he was playing with kept things very civil which is great for an almost 3 year old.

Next we decided to go home well the City Caper home which is designed for kids 3 and under.  Tavish had a great time pulling carrots while Callen enjoyed catching butterflies.  The nice part of this area is that its closed off so you don't have to worry about your toddler running off.  It is a cute little house and great for the little ones.

 Time to harvest the carrots

Butterflies

From the house we moved to the hospital, which had the potential to be great but was a huge let down.  It was pretty much just a nursery with a few anatomically correct baby dolls.  I was hoping it would be more of a hospital with kid friendly hospital stuff, you know tongue depressors, reflex thingings, sphygmomanometer and defibrillator - never to early for AEDs.  While there were a few x-rays and a stethoscope you could find more kid friendly medical stuff in a mickey mouse medical kit.  This area could be improved with just a few added props.

Is Callen's heart beating?

We were hungry so we left the hospital and headed for the McDonalds play.  I don't know if McDonalds sponsored this exhibit or what but it was TERRIBLE (which explains why there was no one playing here).  I could buy a McDonalds play set better than this exhibit.  There was nothing here but a cash register and the supplies to make a hamburger.  I just don't get why there was nothing more than a few hamburger pieces.  When I think of McDonalds I think of chicken nuggets, French fries and happy meals and there was none of this.  Too bad it could have been fun.

 Where are my chicken nuggets?

Callen's first burger

We bypassed the shoe store because it looked lame and headed to the grocery store which was AMAZING.     Now had we know how popular this would be we would have headed to the grocery store first. It was by far the most popular spot in the museum.  When Tavish finally snagged a cart he had a blast and it's a good thing I don't give him control of the shopping cart at a real grocery store as he pulled everything off the shelf.  I think he had the most fun working the cash register and there was a very nice girl who was willing to let Tavish check her out (I don't mean it in that way).  

 Well I think I need two of these

Okay that will be 9 9 9 6 10 4 dollars

I did not want to be one of those parents who lets their child hog all the fun so we dragged Tavish away from the grocery store and headed to the Centennial Exploration area.  I personally found this exhibit interesting as it explained the fancy building the museum is located in and gives a look of life in the late 1800s.  While I found it interesting, I think Tavish found it boring so we headed off for Lunch.

More about lunch and the rest of the museum in the next post.

Please Touch Museum - Top Floor

Our first stop on our Philly tour was the Please Touch Children's Museum.  The Please Touch Museum was one of the reasons why I wanted to go to Philadelphia in the first place.  However I must say I was a little let down and I don't think it lived up to the best Children's Museum in the USA.  That is not to say that everything was a let down just some parts.  It might not be the best Children's Museum in the US but I'm sure it's one of the top 10 (but I've only been to 2 so it's in the top 2 I've been to).

Our first area we tackled was River Adventures.  I am pretty sure that Tavish had a great time here as we had to coax him to move to another area but he's 3 and likes pretty much every water table he's been to.  In comparison to other water exhibits this one was just okay.  It had the potential to be great but I think a lot of it was not working properly.  I am pretty sure there was a wave simulator that was not working and there were not many boats and ducks for the kids to play with (there were not many kids yet).  When I compare this water exhibit to the one at Port Discovery Children's Museum in Baltimore, Baltimore wins.  (sorry there are no pictures I was feeding Callen and I had the cameras)

Once we got Tavish away from the water, we moved on to the Roadside Attraction.  This was really well done and quite a lot of fun.  There were lots of cars for the kids to play with and even a real SUV which kids could play in and fill up with gas (the gas was not real).  Tavish's favorite was the crane which he could operate to pick up balls.  The best part of the crane was it was timed so that no child could "hog" the crane. (one of my huge pet peeves).  We played here early in the morning so it was not that busy and Tavish did not have to wait long to play but when this area gets busy I could imagine there might be some unhappy kids.

 Tavish on the job

Fill it up please

From the road we moved to the sky into Flight Fantasy.  This was another fun area but only because it was not crowded (yet).  The highlight was the flying rocket ships where kids could make their own rocket ship and then launch them.  

 Tavish would not leave this ball dropper

 Going for a run

Callen even enjoyed this area

Rocket Launcher

Our final stop on the top floor was the program room where Tavish had no interest in doing the craft but beelined for the trucks.  The crafts that they demonstrating looked like a lot of fun but like I said the trucks were much to distracting.  

 Trucks, Trucks, oh wait this one is broken

 Oh a propeller...Can I eat it?

Hey Tavish! I want a ride.

Wow there is a lot to do here and I have a lot to say so I'm going to leave the bottom floor for another post.

Sorry about the quality of pictures I'm still working on how to get good shots of kids in a museum.

Philly Here We Come

My husband and I decided that we needed to get away for a few days and I've been telling him that I would really like to go to Philadelphia. Philadelphia has some great museums there I'd love to see, so off to Philly we went. Philly is a 3 hour drive from where we live and this would be our first road trip with Callen.  Callen is pretty good in the car most of the time and when he does get upset it's nothing that a soother and my terrible singing can't fix (I don't know why my terrible singing calms my boys down in the car when they are mad but it really does work).  However, 3 hours in a car is a long time and Callen was only 3 days into his new head gear so I was a bit worried.  Tavish on the other hand is no rookie at road trips and while we had not been on one for awhile I know he travels well.

As our travel plans evolved we decided to do a Saturday-Monday road trip instead of our traditional Friday-Sunday plans.  This worked out great for us because Tavish was sick on Friday and this also meant we could leave early Saturday morning and not have to worry about any rush hour traffic.  We left around six and with only one stop for breakfast and pee break we arrived at our destination at 9:30.  Here are a few of my tips for an easy road trip without a DVD player (I'm not against these but I only plan on using ours for an extreme emergency)

Toddler and Older

•  snacks - pack all of your kids favorite snacks and keep them close by.  You don't want your snacks packed in a hard to reach spot.  Also you want easy to clean snacks, I'm a fan of raisins, fruit leather, granola bars, and animal crackers.  I try not to get anything messy or sticky.
• toys and books - pack lots of different toys and books and have them either accessible to you or your child.  Again you don't want to be digging around for new toys when they get bored of what they have. 
• have a special road trip toy or game - something that you only use when on long road trip.  We have a tag/tag jr. (review to come later) which Tavish can use when he's in the car for more than an hour.  This way it's a special treat and won't get bored of it after 5 minutes
• bring great music - have a variety of music that  you and your kids both like.  To me there is nothing worse than having to listen to the same terrible CD over and over again
• books on tape or pod casts - these are great for older children and even adults.  Listening to a good story/book can make a trip go by much faster.  My husband and I are huge fans of the Vinyl Cafe pod cast and it's kid friendly too
• tell stories - my 3 year old love stories and he love ones that I tell.  I tell my own version of choose your own story and he love it.  I really need to record one as they get pretty silly.

Babies - Traveling with your baby can be really easy or really tricky depending on the age of your baby and their temperament.  I have a very easy baby when it comes to traveling so my tips may or may not work for you 

• start off happy - make sure all the immediate needs are met: food, clean diaper, comfortable.  I try to make sure that I top up any feeding and have a fresh diaper before I start, this way I know if my baby is crying it's not because he needs a basic need met.
• entertainment - babies usually like something to look at besides the back of the car seat.  Mirrors work great as it allows you to look at your baby and they can also be entertained by themselves.  I also put in a few soft toys to keep him entertained
• be prepared - be prepared for anything and have extra's of everything.  Make sure you have a second or third soother on hand and with easy access if you need one.  Bring extra clothes, diapers, and wipes just in case you need a change of clothes.  
• plastic bags - bring some, you never know if you'll have a blow out that requires a clean up
• stop when you need to - you'll need to stop more often with a baby then you would on your own so plan for these stops
• sing - when you can't stop and your baby is cranky just sing.  I don't think it matters how terrible or good your voice is, the sound of your voice can be soothing or at least it makes you feel like your doing something until you can pull over.

Keeping these things in mind we had an easy trip to Philly and we were ready to being sight seeing.  First stop was the Please Touch Museum...

Wordless Wednesday

This photo is from 2006 when Kyle and I hiked up Barrier Pass in the Kananaskis Mountain Region in Alberta.

I don't know how they do it

Moms with big families that is.  Last week a friend of mine asked me if I wanted to join her on a trip to the Baltimore Aquarium. And while we had a great time I found it but a bit stressful at times too; see we had five kids and one on the way (she is 7 months pregnant) between the 2 of us.  Add in a couple hundred kids on school trips and wow did we have our work cut out for us.  Keeping an eye on 4 kids going in opposite directions can be really tricky and I must say I did not see much of the Aquarium as I was too busy watching out for our little ones.  How do moms with big families do it and I don't mean big families like the Duggers (the older ones watch the younger ones), I mean the families that have more young kids than hands.  I think my stress level would be through the roof and that was with well behaved children.  I think I'll stick with the two I've got, I like to enjoy the attractions we go to and not worry about missing kids.  We were so busy I didn't even have time to take out my camera.