More Birthday Madness

Oh what a great day we had today! It is Gideon birthday for real today and Gabe just happened to have the day off from school so Rob took the day off and we surprised the kids with some extra fun.

First order of business, donuts for breakfast. Yum!

Gideon can get pretty intense about his food.

Zion is not afraid to get a little messy.

After breakfast we get the kids dressed and run a couple errands.

What?! Not what you were expecting me to say? Well, Gabe had an ear infection and had to have a course of antibiotics which we got at Target.

Are you wondering where this is going? he he

Well, Target apparently has this neat program. When we picked up the medicine they gave Gabe a chart and stickers. Every time he took a dose he put a sticker on the chart. When he was done we took it back to Target and Gabe got to pick a toy out of the prize box. What a great way to help Gabe to help me to remember his medicine.

Then we hit the library. Had a couple of returns to make but what we were really hoping for was that there would be a Play Pass checked in. SCORE! There was one! The Play Pass helped us on our next venture - the Children's Museum! The Play Pass is a special card that you check out from the library (duh) that gives you four FREE entries into the museum. They are rarely checked in as I'm sure you can see why they would be popular. But, thank you God, there was one for us today!

Then we get to the museum and the woman at the counter asked how old Gideon was and when we told her we were there today to celebrate his 2nd birthday she let him in for free too. Yippee!

Not much is exciting in this picture but I just love brick building with old murals.

Gideon's first discovery is a play car. I think he's trying to tell me he'd rather not hold still for a photo at the moment.

Gabe finds the orchard and de-harvests apples. Or would that be un-harvest?
Anyway, there is a big area with trees and gardens where you can pick the fruits and vegetables. I guess someone has to put them back.

Meanwhile, Gideon finds an area with about a dozen different kinds of blocks and commences stacking.

We were fortunate to be there for bubble time, too. One of the staff members walked around with what has to be the best bubble blower I've ever seen (have GOT to get one of those).

Thems was some sturdy bubbles!

The three found the chalk board for a little bit.

But then fell enamored with the lit table for building.

There were these cool building blocks that were brightly colored and full of magnets.

Gideon loved them even more covered with bubbles.

Moving deeper into the museum Zion and Gideon discover the paint cans and brushes. Luckily for Rob (he does the laundry, ya know) they must have been using The Emperors New Paint. I couldn't see it at all no matter how much the kids painted.

After that we discovered the story area. That was a whole museum in itself. You could sit and watch a video of a story and then go and be part of the story. Gabe dressed up first as a raven and then as a totem (I think).

You could act out the story or participate in activities like fishing or even try your hand at animation.

Gideon discovers the grocery store which is adjacent to the orchard that Gabe had played in earlier. They are connected by the big truck that takes the food from harvest to market to deli. You can participate in all of it. Picking the food, loading the truck, selling it at the market or making food at the deli. So cool.

There's Zion in part of the garden where you can pick veggies.

One last stop to play with the magnets.

After the museum we head off to a special birthday lunch for Gideon. If you have kids you can fill out a card at Applebees and they mail it to you and they get a free entree.

Then back home we head for nap. I think I may have needed it more than the kids today. While Gideon and Zion napped Rob put together the water table we got Gideon for his birthday. Now I'm hoping my little Dowser won't have to hunt for puddles in the yard or put dirt in the dog water.

Zion woke up first and was so excited she actually wore a coat. *gasp* I know. This is serious. She typically won't wear a coat if it's only 20 degrees outside. But once she saw the water table she actually said she'd wear her coat in order to go play. While it looks mighty sunny in the picture only moments ago the sky was black and it was dumping rain and the potential was still there. It had been doing this all day. Sun in one half of the sky and black clouds and rain in the other half. Typical Washington (I love it).

Finally, everyone is awake and having fun at the water table. Gideon cried when he had to come in for dinner. Like cried so hard he was shaking. I think this is one birthday present that is going to be in use for a long time to come.

Our fun day technically didn't end there. After dinner we had to run off to get Gabe to AWANA and us to Bible study from which we often get back late. So now we are home, the kids are in bed and I can sit down and tell you all about it.

Yep. It's been a great day!

The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly

This post has been a long time coming. I have had parts of it in my mind for it seems like a month now. I just wanted to give credit to some folks and boo hiss some others.

First the good and this is a big good. Kudos to the Armed Services YMCA for recognizing that the families of deployed reservists don't necessarily live close enough to a base/post to utilize the support and programs offered there. They came up with a wonderful solution and worked with the National YMCA and launched the Military Outreach Initiative which provides free or discounted family memberships and nursery to qualifying military families and personnel (and not just Reservists so go check it out if you are military). Yoohoo! Especially since we qualify!

The Bad - my local Safeway for getting rid of their car shopping carts. You know the ones that have the little car in front that the kids can sit in and pretend to drive while mama shops. Safeway used to be where we shopped exclusively but not anymore, not if I can't contain and entertain my kids. There are four other stores in town that either have car carts or have another option that multiple children can sit in so they are getting my business instead. When this happened about 4 months ago I did e-mail the corporate office and the assistant manager at the store and neither one gave hope that they would be replacing the car carts. They've had their chance, now their on my bad list for not responding to the needs of families. I know I can't be the only one who at least partially bases their shopping choices on this type of convenience.

But hey, I'm not as mad at them as I am my local Petco which is brand new. I've found that these chain pets stores leave a lot to be desired in general. Rarely if ever do you actually find an employee that knows anything about pets. Most of the time when I walk in to the fish section I know ten times more about fish than the staff. To give them a little credit sometimes I only know five times more than the staff. Last week, not only did I know more but this girl was so flat out rude that she earned Petco a bump up from merely bad to downright ugly. All I wanted were some whiteclouds. I waited forever for someone to show up in the fish section. When no one came around I finally got the attention of someone at the check out and he sent some one over. When she E.V.E.N.T.U.A.L.L.Y. showed up I asked her if they had any other cold water fish than goldfish. She waved her hand in the general direction of some other tanks and said "Just what we have over there." I told her "Those are tropical fish." and began to explain what I was looking for and in the middle of my question she turned from me and asked a pair of young guys what they needed help with. Wha'?! I didn't even finish my sentence. As in, I was STILL speaking to her. So I said "Fine, I guess I'll go shop somewhere else." and walked away and she did nothing to stop me. Fuming I went to pay for my other purchases since I really did need the dog and cat food in my cart. Conveniently the guy at the register couldn't get his to work and had to call the manager over so I took the opportunity to let her know how unhappy I was at her staff member's rudeness and what happened. Lacy I understand her name was, shrugged, turned and mumbled "Hm, I'll have to go ask her what happened." and walked off. Right. I have so much confidence that you're going to do ANYTHING! Arg! So Petco, there is a Petsmart just about right next to the YMCA where I take the kids three times a week now and not only is their fish selection considerably larger than yours but their staff is a million times friendlier (even if I still probably know more than them). I know. I used to shop their before the Petco went into town, but hey, I can be convinced to drive further for better service and your staff here in town is pretty convincing.

Awesome!

The R Word.

Video created by the Arc of Virginia and the Arc of Northern Virginia, and Blueberry Shoes Productions.

Kudos!

I love to give kudos when someone or some company has done a really excellent job of something and I love to pass on good finds to friends so let me turn you on to something good - really good. This Kudos! post goes to The Rock Wood Fired Pizza! At first glance you may wonder if this is a good place to take kids but let me tell you they ROCK! Rob and I have taken the kids to two of their locations and it's always been fabulous. The waitstaff are great and very friendly, the menu is delectable, and the atmosphere is downright fun! The kids get coloring pages and usually a lump of pizza dough to play with and if you get lucky you'll get a table with a view of the kitchen so the kids are entertained by the pizza tossing chefs. I can't say enough about the menu because fantastic just doesn't do it justice. You'll not find anything like it anywhere else. My new favorite late night craving is their brown sugar mozzarella bread. Mmhmm, that's right, brown sugar and mozzarella on bread. Sounds iffy, doesn't it? It'll win you over after one bite and your family will be fighting over the last piece. I can't get enough of the pasta, the sandwiches are fab and, oh yeah, they make a pretty decent pizza, too. In fact, on the kids menu is a peanut butter and jelly pizza that's so good I could have one every day for lunch and not get sick of it. Gabe never eats all of his so Rob and I finish it off for dessert. Yum! Rob has made a list of places he wants to eat before he heads overseas and this was the first place that he hit. So you guys over at The Rock - don't change a thing, 'cause you rock!