An Almost Naked Parade

We had to get out of the house today.  A week of being sick totally sucks!  After a quick trip to Costco, we headed over to the Discovery Children's Museum.  It was a good place to go for an hour or so. 

When we went downstairs, the kids started playing in the water. Of course, all of the clothes started to get really wet.  So, I pulled Harry's shirt off to avoid unnecessary soakage.  Right after, Julia came up to me and asked me to take her clothes off.  I pulled her shirt off and then turned my back to help Harry with something.  When I turned back around, her skirt and underwear were around her ankles.  Whoa, girl.

Luckily, I caught it before she made a naked parade through the gallery.

Thursday Go Day

Thursday is our busy, on-the-go day.  Violin in the morning, co-op in the afternoon. 

Raef and Zach have violin lessons on Thursday mornings and it lasts from 10am to 11:30am.  That means, I have 90 minutes to kill with three little kids.  

One thing we do, probably about once a month, is hit the local Costco. It is not too far away.  It is usually pretty disastrous with Eli, Harry, and Julia. But it seems that they keep getting a little bit better every time I take them.

Here is Harry and Julia in the cart. Harry was being a real stinker and kept pushing on Julia and nuzzling her.  At first, she thought it was funny, but...

It started to really get on her nerves. I can't blame her. It would bug me too. She must be my daughter.  Harry still thought it was hilarious.  Why stop? He was having fun annoying her to no end.

We also go to the Discovery Children's Museum almost every time.  It has been such a blessing. It is only a mile away from their lessons, and it gives us plenty of time to play. Plus, it is usually pretty empty this time of the week, which makes it a lot easier for me to play zone defense.

Eli is climbing on the cloud structure. He can go all the way to the top by himself.

 Just today we went there and they had lots of fun. We visited the Spark Lab, the DaVinci room and then the <5 room.  And going along with the "Don't annoy Julia" theme...there was a little boy about her age that was following her around with a puppet and putting it in her face. She screamed at him and then pushed him pretty hard. The girl has had lots of practice pushing boys away!  I didn't intervene, but his mom did.  Julia took care of business and the pesky boy left her alone.

The Discovery - Reno's Children Museum

Something totally awesome is about to adorn the downtown streets of Reno this fall and I am stoked.  On September 10, Reno will be opening a large, luscious children's museum.  I was fortunate enough to get a sneak peek with my husband. We went with Kevin and his wife Kelli, on an invitation from one of Kevin's clients, Mr. Lee. Kevin works with Rinar and Kelli is my good friend up here.  Mr. Lee is an integral part of getting this visionary building opened and he is very excited about it.  Now I can see why.  The place is going to be amazing.

I have become a big fan of children's museums.  Ever since we spent some quality time at the children's museum in Boston, I love going to them in cities we visit around the country.  I have a feeling that Reno's "The Discovery" is going to be high up on my list...and the best part is that it will be in my backyard.

I took some pictures and I thought I would share them with everyone.

This is the main hallway entryway that leads to the top floor of the museum.

Rinar, Kevin, Mr. Lee and Kelli

When you enter the main hall, there is a large atrium.  This used to be Reno's city hall, and the atrium was a lot of wasted space. Not anymore. It is absolutely perfect for a large play structure and other fun things.


Here is a plane that kind of overhangs into the atrium below. Kids will be able to play in the plane and "fly" it.  If you notice behind the plane is the super-play structure. It has to be about 40 feet high, at least. There is a similar one in Boston, but this one is much bigger.

This is one of the galleries. There are a lot of galleries. But this one is going to have a really cool feature.  It is the DaVinci gallery where it combines art, science, and engineering. There will be lots of gadgets the kids can use. This window will actually be a place where kids can paint!  Cool, huh?  When they are done, they can wash it off.  I have never seen that before at a children's museum. Sweet!

This is a picture from the ground floor. You can see the wing from the airplane overhead, but notice the large cloud play structure in the background.  You see? It is huge!!!


Underneath it is a waterway that is modeled after the Truckee River.  Kids will be able to play in the water.  I wonder if they will provide aprons so they don't get too wet. Hmmm....

This gallery is meant for younger kids. There will be lots of things to play with in here as well.  In the background is a mining operation set-up where they can load ore onto a conveyor belt above them. I am sure we will spend many hours in this room.

The Nevada gallery has all things peculiar to our state. You see the mining cart?  They are building a mining shaft behind it for exploration. There is also an indian dwelling, train station, and other pioneer/mining type stuff. We are the Silver State after all.

I am really looking forward to enjoying this new gem of Reno. The best part is you can get a family membership for only $85.  That is such a bargain.  It was a treat to be able to see the construction of this facility.  I hope it has much success.  The people who have imagined this thing from the ground up have put their hearts into this place. It is really a gift of love and I am so grateful.  It will be such a blessing for our community.

Out and About

We completed a successful homeschooling week and were able to add a few fun things into the  mix. On Thursday I took all of the kids to the children's museum in Carson City. We went in the morning. It took about 20 minutes to drive there and it was very beautiful. It was a bit cold and a little snowy, but overall, it was not to bad.  The museum is very small but it was perfect.  It is an old civic auditorium, so the museum was all on one floor. The kids had loads of fun for several hours. Children are not sophisticated. They can enjoy life's simple pleasures.

The babies get very excited when we ask them if they want to take a bath after dinner. They race to the bathroom and stand expectantly at the tub, waiting to hit the water.  We have very little in corporate housing, so Rinar improvised with a bowl set. I guess it was a hit.

 Yesterday, we decided to go see the countryside. We have nothing else to do. The most logical place to go was Lake Tahoe. We just drove around for a bit and then stopped at a state park near South Lake Tahoe.  It was so beautiful and we look forward to enjoying it during the summer.

This is out in front of the common area at our corporate housing There is a playground just off to the right and the kids enjoy playing there quite often.

 Eli is really starting to take care of Julia and Harry. Here he is sharing his popsicle with both of them.