Summer Vacation, Day 3

I'm in the planning stages of our Disney vacation, so I spent the morning booking our air travel and chatting with out travel agent.  It's a surprise trip for my son's fifth birthday, so trying to discuss it discreetly on the phone was a challenge.  Luckily he didn't catch on and I was successful in booking our flights.  It will be his first time on a plane and I am already nervous!  He will love it.

 

Once that was settled we headed out to my sister's for a play date with the cousins.  There are four cousins there, two big ones in elementary school and twins who are in preschool and just about nine months younger than my kiddo.  The four cousins had a blast together playing.  It's days like this that makes me wish we had more than one child so that my son had a constant play mate and companion, but he'll have to make due with his awesome cousins. They held a costume parade today!  There's my little soldier.

We brought my son's little bike along today for him to ride with the kids and discovered that he is too big for it! He has been riding his scooter this year and today was his first time on his bike.  He had so much trouble because his knees were all crunched up high.  I can't believe how much he's grown in a year!  He took a ride on his cousin's taller bike and it was perfect.  It looks like we'll be in the market for a bigger bike now!  

Summer Vacation, day 2

On our second day of summer vacation, we checked out the Morris Arboretum.  This June so far has been unseasonably cool.  It was a bit of an overcast day, perfect for exploring outside.  The Arboretum has a new summer exhibit featuring hand painted and designed Adirondack chairs scattered throughout the property. We found a few of them on our explorations, but my son big goal was to discover hideouts.

We took a new path this visit to a section of the property we rarely visit.  We discovered a groundhog family's home, including at least three holes, around the base of a huge evergreen tree.  Nearby was what my son declared to be our hideout, a huge weeping evergreen tree that we could actually stand under it's canopy of branches.  We found a pretty little waterfall and fountain too.

Next we checked out the railway gardens.  The new addition to the buildings this year are all based on storybooks.  We saw Humpty Dumpty, Rapunzel's tower and many other buildings.  James and Percy were even out on the tracks.  My son discovered Thomas was in the train "shed" or storage area, along with an Amtrak train that fascinated him.

At one point my son decided that he had to use the potty "right now!" We were no where near a bathroom.  I asked a gardener if he could direct us to the closest bathroom and he did better, he drove us in his cart to the nearest one!  That was possibly the most exciting thing to happen, getting a ride in the cart!

We finished our exploring with a visit to the Out on a Limb area for a climb on the nets and taking a rest in a kid-sized chair! It was a fun day!

First day of summer vacation!

My son's last day of preschool for the year was on June 1st.  He was sad that he won't get to play in his fun classroom anymore or see his teachers. I assured him that we would see his friends over the summer and that come September he'll be back at school.  In the meantime, I have three full months to plan activities for him to keep him busy and entertained.  I have lots of things planned!

Over the weekend my son told me several times that he was sad about no more school.  To ease into the summer transition, I scheduled a play date for him with one of his school buddies, who met us at the Please Touch Museum.  The boys had a blast playing while the moms had a chance to catch up and chat. I love going to the Please Touch Museum on Mondays, as there are no scheduled school groups and it is usually not too busy.  We could have spent hours there, and we always leave there wanting more, but that just means we get to return.

I am always impressed with how the museum operates.  Exhibits are always being refreshed, so when a part wears out it is replaced or fixed.  The new train exhibit downstairs kept the boys busy for a good half hour.  Something about shoveling pretend coal is fascinating to four year olds. We discovered a new trolley in the transportation area that my son just loved.  We visited it twice that day because it was that much fun!  (My son is obsessed with SEPTA and trains, so this really fit in with his interests!)

My son got injured there, again, and the museum staff handled it great.  He cut his finger on a switch.  After I got him cleaned up and bandaged, I went back to the room where he got hurt and told the staff person on duty about it, as I was concerned that maybe there was blood on the switch and it should be cleaned.  It was not at all the museum's fault, I think he just got his finger tip pinched.  Two more staff members approached me to make sure he was ok and talked to my son too.  The last time we visited, he got a splinter.  That time I asked about getting a band aid and was equally impressed with how helpful the staff were.  I just love that place.  Membership has really paid off for us, as we can go as often as we want. We will be visiting there often this summer!