Weeky Wrap-Up - May 29 (on June 1)

I know, I know, it's already WEDNESDAY!!! (and the way this week is going, it could well be Thursday before I get this post finished & posted)

No excuse, I've just been busy with odds and ends of life . . .

So, this post is about LAST week . . . we were at my parents' house for basically the whole week. Any time we weren't busy running around, the big girls were busy helping Papa build the playhouse.

Monday we went to see the live butterfly exhibit at Brookside Gardens. The first year we went to this exhibit Sassy & Minimi were only a couple months old. They probably didn't get a whole lot out of that year's trip, but the rest of us enjoyed it. We haven't made it every year since then (though we might have made it every year until we moved away?) but every year we've gone, they've loved it.  As we went in, the volunteer letting us in, commented that Little Bit would "probably enjoy it more next year". Ummm . . . WHAT.EV.AR! Sure, she'll enjoy it just as much, and in different ways, next year, but this year we got the WONDER of it all!! We couldn't have chosen a better day (weather-wise. And going during the week, we usually go on Sabbath, but weren't there on Sabbath this trip, meant very few people, which was nice), it was warm enough that the butterflies were SUPER active, but not so hot that walking into the greenhouse was like walking into an oven. It did get warm after awhile, and we were ready to get out into teh cooler out-of-doors by the time we left, but if it's too hot of a day, walking into the greenhouse just hits you with this oppressive wall of heat that's almost unbearable.  Little Bit LOVED LOVED LOVED it! She kept saying "butterfies ebbyhare!!!" and "ooooooh coooot"

The big girls enjoyed it as well. One of the volunteers took a bunch of time to answer their questions and show them things. They learned to tell the difference between butterflies and moths, and other fun facts.

After we left the butterfly exhibit we walked through the gardens, visited the children's garden area briefly (it was getting pretty warm out), stopped to get a picture with the frog . . . fun stuff like that ,before heading to Baja Fresh for lunch.

Tuesday my friend Vicki and her girls came over to visit. Always great to spend time with them.  We usually go to their house, so her girls had fun with the climbing wall and spring horse and such at my parents' house.

Wednesday we went to the Baltimore Train Museum.  Little Bit had great fun with that too. And the big girls continue to find new levels of "learning" to keep them interested every time we go.

The big girls could also spend hours "playing house" in the caboose, and pretending to drive the big locomotives that they're allowed to go up inside and touch things. They invent some scenario where they're driving a train and they're happy for as long as we let them stay.

We about "lost" Little Bit in a train car that had a plexiglass "wall" to keep you off the military bunks. The plexiglass didn't go all the way to the floor and I just barely caught her before she crawled UNDER the "wall".

She also had great fun climbing the ladder to the observation seats in the caboose. And there's a new little kid area with Duplos/Megablocks, wood train tables, etc. So when she got tired of looking at trains, we took her there and she was happy as a clam. Oh yeah, and there's a little train you can ride. I wasn't sure how Little Bit would do in a seat all by herself, we did at least send the big girls so she wasn't alone on the ride. But she  LOVED it. The picture didn't quite manage to capture the big GRIN she had most of the time. And she kept saying  "choo choo".

Thursday morning Little Bit and I headed home but the big girls stayed for an extra day and went down into D.C. with Mama & Papa.

Friday afternoon Rodney & I dropped Little Bit off at our neighbor's house, where she spent her evening being doted on by Miss Judy and Miss Sara. Miss Judy had found a Dora doll at a yard sale, so she had that for Little Bit to play with.  Meanwhile, Rodney & I met Mama & Papa, and the big girls, at the Sight & Sound Theater to see Joseph. It was as amazing as the other shows we've seen there, the girls LOVED it!

Sabbath, the girls told the Children's story for church. They came up with the story all on their own, about one time when Socks, the cat, was missing and they prayed and he came home.

So, obviously we had a BUSY week. But it was fun.

Not much "regular" school stuff going on . . . we did try to stick with our Spanish vocab, but that was about it. They were busy learning math and engineering while helping on the deck/playhouse, science/nature while learning about butterflies, history at the train museum . . . yup, I'd say they did plenty of learning this week despite the lack of "school" LOL.

Comparatively this week has been positively boring, but I'll tell you about that in a few days, hee hee.

If you want to see more pictures from last week, you can go here.