Port Discovery

Patti was on-call last night and she never got called in so we made the most of her extra time with us.  Check out Stella and Maggie cuddling and seeking Patti's approval in the new "Feeling the love" video to the left!

We took advantage of her extra time with us this morning and took the whole family to Port Discovery in Baltimore.  It's a hands-on, stroller-friendly playing and learning environment with something for everyone.  Maggie and Stella even got to play and walk in one section while Will explored nearby.

We watched ourselves on TV in the mission control section.  Will even shared the captain's chair with the girls.

Patrick and Patti took turns climbing and crawling through the main exhibit with Will - a three-story jungle-gym/treehouse/play-area.  There were tunnels, ladders and slides with one creative way after another to exit the treehouse into each of the three levels of the museum.

Will met a human-sized Mr. Potato Head, he played in the train, with the golf-ball locomotion machine, in the water center, in the pyramid, in the spaceship airlock and more.  Will could have spent the entire day playing in the water center - it had spray nozzles to shoot drums, chimes and cymbals with water and make music.  There were opportunities to learn about the water cycle, to make dams and locks in a small water system, and to use water to turns wheels and gears.  He was so cute in his little blue raincoat walking from one learning opportunity to another.

The girls seemed to like certain things but they were too small for all but one or two parts of the museum.  Next year they'll probably be running everywhere too...

Maggie monkey

So Maggie has become a monkey.  Her new thing is to climb whatever she can, over and over and over again until we create enough obstacles that she decides to move on to something else...to climb.  Dining chairs, the armchair, the couch, the ottoman (our obstacle to the stairs), the entertainment center - all fair game this week.

Yesterday, Patti found Maggie sitting on the center of the dining room table and Patrick found her trying to lay down on the second shelf of our bookshelf (she used Stella as a step).  Stella is always at her side, but she hasn't shown any interest in leaving the floor.

Here are some of her feats.

Hard work and Mother's Day

Patti showed Will a neat idea in a Lowe's catalog and he went goo-goo over it so we spent Saturday converting Will's boring old sandbox into part of a larger play area, complete with plants, a ramp, a lake, a helipad, a road with stripes and a tunnel.  He was quite the helper to Daddy and Pop.

We're pretty thrilled with the final product, and Will loves it too.  He spent all Sunday morning playing in his sandbox and moving his trucks out on to the "road."  He was completely head-to-toe white from the sand - like we'd dusted him in flour...

We celebrated the rest of Mother's Day with our Moms.  Patrick called his Mom and got to chat.  Daddy and Pop cooked lunch, Mommy and Mimi got beautiful flowers from their hubbies, and after gifts and a nap for the kids, we went out for a delicious dinner together.

Here's to you Moms!