I woke him up at 8:40. He took a couple minutes, then went straight into the bathroom. As we came out Carly told him to check the mail. She had made a card for him with a little rebus in it. I explained the word and how I remember them from something as a kid (beer bottle lids?). Cassie made pancakes and the kids ate them. August sat at the little green metal doll table. After he was done, he asked “How could they eat so much so slow?” He’s a much faster eater than Colin and Vivian.
When they were all done eating they went in the fort. I heard August telling Vivian “Every animals electronic: Animals have nerves, and nerves carry electricity, so…”
They went outside, and August put on a pair of gardening gloves. He and Vivian were finding rocks, then I ended up with the kids by the playground. August was digging for worms and insects, and I was pushing Colin on the swing.
We went in at 10:45. He asked about heat killing germs and washed his hands in warm water. We got driving to the science center around 11. He and Vivian played Minecraft. We parked, walked to the science center, and I took him to the bathroom. He crawled out of the stall under the door, even though it was unlocked. We started looking around at 12:30.
He and Vivian mainly stayed together. First floor, then down to the basement. Saw the live snake down there. Then up to the second floor. He pointed out a pectolite geode. ‘Geode’ was a word of the day. The one thing they spent the most time on was the webcam (August said it was a spy camera that he had installed) showing about 6 bird feeders. We saw 6 or 7 different species of birds, and up to 9 birds at a time.
Carly had waited in line to get the tickets to the 1pm magic show. We eventually headed outside and sat at picnic tables across the road and ate some lunch. August ate a little cold pizza, but the others wouldn’t. too cold.
We went back inside for the magic show. August and Vivian sat together across the aisle from us. When the magician would ask for a volunteer Vivian would raise her hand and get as tall as possible. August wouldn’t raise his hand, but later pointed out he was being quiet.
The magician was quite good, and funny, and worked well with kids. Carly dealt with squirmy Colin on her lap. He also enjoyed it, but kept missing the jokes or tricks and then asking what was funny. The magician did the standard tricks, like ripping apart a newspaper and putting it back together, having some one guess a specific card (or cereal box, in this case), the sight gag of magic wands that pull out of each other, producing more and more wands, etc.
It was about 45 minutes, then we headed back outside. We went over to the picnic tables again and the kids played around there. August had found a place with a bunch of centipedes, so Colin got more of those. August was intrigued by a big tree stump and had me count the rings. I counted at least 90. We then walked over to the sensory playground. There were glass marble things and August said the lines through them were little wormholes. We touch/looked at/smelled the plants in the sensory tables, and August found another stump. Carly and I went to him, but after a minute he told us to go away; he seemed to be enjoying time on his stump. Colin and I ran up and down a wooden bridge, and he scared me jumping off a big fake hollow log in the playground. I caught him by his stomach, one handed, and slowed his descent. I was pretty impressed with that, but he was upset that I didn’t let him do it on his own.
We walked the .3 mile interpretive trail. There was an outdoor classroom area, and Vivian led climbing up on it and dancing. August joined her. I was surprised he was able to climb up. He danced as well. Colin also got up. August was doing his robot dance. They were also answering questions. Back down, August found a spider on the rocks.
We came out by a roadway and crossed to the big regular playground. August mainly sat with me in the shade and had a snack, while the other two went and played. Colin was trying to climb a slide and got near the top and fell on his chin, ripping off the scab. A good amount of blood from that.
We stopped in at the museum before we left to use bathrooms, but August and Vivian wanted to be Native Americans for a while. They went in the bark house, then were running around doing things like gathering berries and hunting bison (which I’m pretty sure the Lenape didn’t do, but okay).
We got going, and stopped at a place called Home Plate Dairy on the way back, mainly so that Cassie could wake up Colin so his nap wasn’t too long. The kids all a flavor called Unicorn something. Carly, and I think Cassie, had jilted cow, and I had soft serve black raspberry. The workers were amused that we all got kid sizes. I also got an eggplant sandwich, which turned out to be sort of like an onion ring sandwich. Not bad, but not quite the healthy option it sounded like.
We sat up at a picnic table on the grass behind the restaurant. There was an odd fake totem pole up there, so that was a word of the day. When he was done, August found a stick and was playing around with it, first as a sword and then, as he sang, “it’s actually a magical spy stick…”
We left at 6:15 and were back in the house about 7. Carly and Cassie made veggies and veggie burgers. I made the coffee. The kids found their iPads. We ate, then they played in the fort. When Colin wanted to play, August said it was okay, and even said he could move back so that Colin could get in. But then Vivian and August were both complaining that Colin was wrecking things. Before they could escalate, August got out and came and told me. I asked Colin if he wanted to come out and play trucks with me. He did, and as he came out I heard August back in the fort telling Vivian that he had told his dada.
Colin and I started playing with cars, lining them all up. Eventually, August came and joined us. I talked about comparing them to see which was fastest, and Jeff went and got the blue track from upstairs in the garage. We set it up in the play area, starting with a chair, and used a bunch of other toys to make a hilly track.
At one point Colin took me out to show me the worms. He held my hand and said something about what Cassie says about holding hands. We went in after a few minutes. We went inside and Vivian and August getting hyper in the bedroom. They played on the couch, then all took a bath together. Carly was tired, so she put August to sleep. I left them after 10. Carly came out to finish washing her shirt, and it got quiet pretty quickly around 10:15. I heard the mantra playing.
Digging for worms:
Trailside Science Center:
Finding centipedes:
Magician 1:
Magician 2:
Wormholes:
Outdoor stage 1:
Outdoor stage 2:
Outdoor stage 3:
Outdoor stage 4:
Mowing with the stroller:
