Road Trip PA

Our friends Sarah, Gabriel and Henry (and Tom) moved to Allentown, PA this summer and of all the times to choose to visit we went in the aftermath of the recent "catastrophic" snow event. All those snow days we've been stuck at home actually proved to be quite the little motivator for us to go on a road trip. If our storm was catastrophic I wonder what Allentown's was called, cause there was a LOT more snow up there. Had fun going to the Lego movie, the boys played together, and then we went to a very kid friendly science center that I wish was transplanted down here, the boys loved it.

A water table where the kids can move panels around to control where the water goes. Brilliant and time consuming.

 A human size kaleidoscope.

There was only one glitch when I decided to let the boys make one of those flattened penny things for 51 cents. Who carries change around anymore I ask? I only had enough to make one and we had four boys. That didn't stop me and when I took this photo at least two children were (still) crying and whining in the backseat because they couldn't have the penny. Isn't Sarah handling it gracefully? Not one of my best ideas. In the end, as is often the way with kids, one of them accidentally dropped the thing into a crevasse on the vast floor of the minivan, we told them we'd find it later and it was quickly forgotten. Problem solved.

We'll be back...when it's summer.

Snowdaydeux

Zip-A-Dee-Doo-Dah 

Zip-A-Dee-A

My oh my it's another snow day

Did some things new and 

Did some the same

Zip-A-Dee-Doo-Dah

Zip-A-Dee-A

First we played out in the snow-oh

Wait that's not true

Not factual

First we watched lots of vid-e-o-uhl(s)

Zip-A-Dee Doo-Dah

Zip-A-Dee-A

That's how we started

Our Valentine's Day.

There's no way I can keep that up and still have any time to myself before the boys finish watching the third part of the Ice Age quadrilogy - again. So, in summary, today after playing in the snow we left the house to visit friends, then cousins, then more friends, and generally tried to avoid catching the dangerous disease cabin fever.

 

Dance partay at Aunt Nance-ay's!

Not only does this picture display Sam's superhuman strength, it also showcases some of the recent updates to Nancy's kitchen. Lovely new counters and backsplash! 

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Since I didn't finish that post yesterday and now it's today (they're just wearing the same clothes again today after wearing them yesterday and sleeping in them last night, ding), here's a little P.S. 

Almost the entire reason I let them do these messy science experiments is to watch them look serious while wearing those goggles. Safety first. That, and when they (Owen in this case) say things like:

"See mom, I told you I was Spiderman."

Anatomy of a Snow Day

Quite the winter we've had. Freezing cold, more snow days already than the past few years combined. You know it might be for real (I can't help but be at least a little skeptical about "catastrophic" weather reports) when they announce school is canceled for the next day as you're picking up your kid from school without a snowflake in sight.

Well, the reports were right and we woke up to at least 10 inches this morning. Mike spent a couple hours trying to dig out to go to work but without the road being plowed he was stuck (it was finally plowed around 7pm - yay!). First, I did a little dance that we still had power which is always my biggest fear when the word catastrophic is used to describe a storm. Then the boys and I started checking things off my dwindling list of snowy day activities, including:

(no brainer) playing in the snow! Jacob spent a lot of the morning practicing his snowboarding in the spirit of the Sochi Winter Olympics.

I was glad to have Mike home to help make our very own snowboarding course..of course, using the term "course" loosely.

Then, with it being Valentine's Day tomorrow they made cards that may arrive a teeeeeeeeny ttiny bit late.

Then off to the basement obstacle course,

and some cookie making/baking,

and some cookie eating.

And finally the piece de resistance...MOVIE time with the third installment of the Ice Age quadrilogy.  With no school tomorrow I have a good feeling we'll easily finish this series before the snow melts.

All in all a pretty nice little Thursday.