More "Vacation Time" Fun, Friday-Style

One of the things we really wanted to do with the couple of extra days in JC's week off, after we got back from our grown-up getaway, was take the kids to the Arizona Museum for Youth. I've been meaning to get them over there forever, having heard it was the neatest thing.
On Friday morning, when Bethany woke up and we were starting into our usual routine of getting ready for preschool, we decided to ask her if she wanted to skip it and go to the museum instead. All she really grasped was that Daddy didn't have to work again and she could hang out with him, and the deal was done!

She...um...dressed herself.

This picture has very little to do with anything but it's cute.
On our way out to the car that morning, passing through the work-out room, Ben decided to give their miniature golf cart a pretend test-drive.

We actually made a stop to get a part we've been needing for said golf cart on the way to the museum, so I guess it actually does have relevance!
And, anyway, then we headed to AMY (it's apparently cool to call it this...you know...Arizona Museum for Youth?), and following are some pictures of the kids enjoying it all.
Some pictures are really blurry because we had forgotten a camera and were using our phones.

The boys really liked these little flower puzzle things.
I sound so sophisticated, don't I?
I swear, I had an idea for something like this in our playroom a couple of years ago and we never ended up doing it because I just couldn't perfect it in my mind.
See, we should have come here long ago!

This is a little felt tree on the wall...so creative. The fruit and birds, etc. have velcro on them so they just stick right up. How fun.

And there's a little garden where little plastic vegetables are stuck in the "ground" and they can pull them out, replant them, take them into the "kitchen" to cook, etc.
I swear, this place is the most fun.

Ben, getting a little drive time.

They have an art room where every day they have a specific kind of craft going on...something really easy for a parent to help their kids with.
On this particular day, it was gluing foam puppies and coloring with chalk.
They probably have a way cooler name for that craft than the one I just gave it...

Cute.

Also cute.

This little light table was awesome. Pretty little wood shapes with colorful plastic centers that the light just shined through and made so wonderfully pretty.
Bethany loved it.

As always, Ben loved the slide.
He always gravitates to slides.

But Bethany liked it too.

A little peek-a-book in the "tree trunk" aka slide/playhouse thing.
Really, my commentary is super lame tonight.
But that smile is not.

At this little spot, they can drop a "postcard" in the "mail" to the mayor of Artville (what this little part of the museum is called). James colored one up and supposedly, we're supposed to get something in the mail from him.
Keep your fingers crossed!

Ben's turn for peek-a-boo!

His preferred method for going down the slide.

In the little playhouse area, Bethany found a lovely spot for some lovely viewing of her lovely self.

Does anyone else think their own kids are the cutest in the universe?
Or is it just me?

James found one of the many colorful scarves laying around and twirled it around for a while.
It was sparkly and pretty.
Who wouldn't?

All three kids...and...a fourth?...go for a drive.

Anyway, I can hardly do this place justice with a few pictures.
Or they fun we had here.
Or what it was like when James fell down in the tree house area and got a bloody nose.
He gets really really really mad when things bleed. So he tries to fiercely wipe it away...making it worse...and...everywhere. Which really freaks the other parents and kids out.
Also, he screams a lot when he's mad about things bleeding.
...It was about time to leave anyway.

But really, this place was really fun! The kids had a blast and I'm considering getting memberships at some point in time, especially since it's less than half a mile from Bethany's preschool.
Yes, please.

Once loaded back up in the car, the kids said "Yes, please" to some giant pretzel sticks while we decided where to go eat lunch.
We chose Pete's Fish and Chips.
Wouldn't you?

Having had an out-and-about morning, and planning a very out-and-about day the following day, we took it very easy that afternoon, just let the kids have the run of the house and play play play.
One example of what they find to do in situations like this:

Ben, ready with his Buzz.

Bethany, ready with her xylophone, starts a-playin....

And...dance!!!

And...stop and giggle.

And...be amused with yourself.

In the meantime, James spends his energy gathering up pieces to his dinosaur puzzle. Look how he's fancy, carrying one on his forearm.
That's talent, my child.

I liked this picture of them at rest time because they're all tucked in comfy-cozy.
And because you can see, in blurry non-detail, that we have finally done something with that wall.
No more strangers in frames. Pictures of people in our own family.
Imagine that.

So...I felt to document how we spent this week of vacation...even if we were home for some of it and did lots of little things, it was still an awesome week. There is still more to come...thankfully, in fact. I feel like even though this post reported on some fun stuff, I am not at my best reporter-self tonight.
Perhaps that requires a break and I shall return another night for more updating.
Or perhaps it requires redemption by rushing into reporting on the super-fun day that followed this one where we...sort of...went out of town.
Only time will tell.
But we did have fun on this day. :)