We went to a new museum yesterday. The SEE Science Center in Manchester. They have “the largest permanent LEGO® installation at minifigure scale in the world” – a huge Lego model of downtown Manchester circa 1900. The mill buildings, the old theme park, a market, etc. Lots more details on their website. “Lego City” at Legoland in Florida was much bigger, but I guess that doesn’t count as a “permanent LEGO® installation at minifigure scale.”

Crank the handle to raise the balls to the top. Push the button at the far end to launch them down the ramps. Endless fun!

The Lego Millyard Project

I love the cut-away to show what’s going in inside the factory.

A Lego construction site, constructing a new Lego building.

I forget the name of this park as it no longer even exists, but apparently it was quite popular in the 1900’s and, according to the sign, a great way to showcase new uses for electricity!

Carnival games at the amusement park.

Roller skating at the amusement park. This one’s for you, dad!

They had a ton of fun lifting themselves up in these chairs. Yay for big muscle activity!

This is cool! When you push a button to make the disc spin, and when it does the black bars make colorful concentric circles! The best part is, the description says no one knows exactly why your eyes see color when only black bars exist. :)

I think we need one of these in our house. It’s as mesmerizing as a fish tank.

We had tons of fun capturing shadows. The bright light flashes and leaves a lasting imprint on the wall. The imprint fades after a minute or so.

They (ok, we!) got in some crazy positions to make interesting shadows on the walls.

Fun with mirrors

We had a quiet drive down and back while Neil Patrick Harris read us stories about Henry and Beezus. I love audio books! We were home in time for dinner and a fairly normal bedtime. Overall a pretty great day!

PS. Julie, this would have been a GREAT halfway point to spend the day together.

After two late nights in a row (one and two), I figured I’d better do something today to really wear the kids out and get them in bed early! Since the temps were in the 90s again and the humidity was 100% (at least!), we decided to get out the old slip-n-slide and invite a few friends over. Watermelon, lemonade, water balloons, slip-n-slide, and kids. What more do you need?!

Unfortunately the little adapter that came with our Dollar Store water balloons didn’t actually fit on the hose, so the filling process was slow going. We did it in three rounds, with slip-n-slide and snacks in between.

Friends

Ahh… water!

I love that face. They all made it and they all kept going back for more. :)

I put out watermelon and veggie sticks (they sound healthy, but really they aren’t!) and my friend brought tortilla chips and lemonade. The kids also had the luxury of PYO black raspberries! Life is good.

We have a new patch of berries this year, in addition to the usual patch!

These guys came a bit later and LOVED the slip-n-slide.

That’s right kids, run, run, run!

Sadly the slip-n-slide broke a few times. It survived one round of duct tape, eeked through a second, but by the third break in the plastic we knew it was a goner. Luckily we had a final round of water balloons… though they may have been the downfall of the afternoon.

With the final round of water balloons we got to see the boy/girl differences. The boys pelted each other, while the girls decided to save their balloon “eggs” and build a nest.

The girls decided to take two balloons each and use them as eggs in their pine needle nest. The boys threw their balloons as fast as they could get their hands on them! In the end, when everyone was tired, the party ended with the boys (especially Lex) upset because the girls weren’t sharing. As hard as us boring grown-ups tried to explain it, there was no consoling the boys. Everyone got tired and cranky and we went our separate ways for dinner.

Lex left first, choosing the “go inside and shower” option of the three choices I gave him.

Yes, I am the mother who takes a picture of my crying child before consoling him.

Despite the not-surprising ending, it was a great way to while away a hot and humid afternoon! We’ll have to go buy a new slip-n-slide or a sprinkler or some other fun water toy before our next get-together.

After a nice morning, lunch at Panera Bread, a super fun afternoon, and a sweetly forgiven mommy fail, my two fell asleep quickly and early! Leaving me plenty of time for blogging :) You’re welcome!

A big congratulation today to Grampy Don and Miss Pat on their wedding. Alan and Amanda and some of Pat’s family were there to celebrate with them. I don’t know the details (sorry), but I’m sure it was a joyous occasion!

In the words of a man in love, posting on Facebook,

“Apparently the Lord had more in store for me, and He put another of His precious souls in my life. On July 6th, at 10:00am we, Patty and I, will become they new Mr. and Mrs. Johnson. I will take care of her as I did His first gift – with all my heart and soul. That is the vow I will make to the Lord, and He will guide me forward. I will always love my relationship with Him, and I will love Patty, His gift to me, with every fiber of my being as I have demonstrated before, until He takes one of us home.”

The lovely couple!

Congratulations! Pat, welcome to the family! We’re glad to have you.

The quote was copied from a Facebook post Don made on 6/28. I hope that’s ok!

We got to see the fireworks after all!  The second round of the storm held off and they started the fireworks at 9:40pm. The kids were in bed, but still awake, so I let them come down. They were amazed that I invited them down for the show. :-)

We brought chairs out onto the damp porch and we had a good view of the air show over the tree tops.  Lex named and categorized each one (firefly, weeping willow, branching willow, shape, etc.).  Eve kept up a fairly constant stream of rambles, seldomly completing a sentence and occasionally shooting her fireworks finger guns into the air. I sat in the cool breeze (it was down to 75°!) and enjoyed the pure perfection of it all.

Happiness is.

I’m a day late, but still wanted to say Happy Independence Day to all! We spent the morning working in the basement, peeling wallpaper off the stairway, covering things to prepare for painting, etc. Then Alan spent the rest of the day sanding and mudding the stairway. It was a HOT day and we were all sweating, especially poor Alan.

Lex worked hard scraping wallpaper!

Alan, working hard. We are going to have an awesome basement when he’s done!

The weather was hazy, hot, and humid all day… well into the 90s! We went down to the fireworks festival around 7:15pm. I love it there. They have music, food, ice cream, and entertainment. We always see lots of people we know. It’s a great community event that always makes me happy.

We got there, took a walk around, said hi to a bunch of people, bought ice cream, then sat down to watch one of Eve’s friends in a dance performance. Then the rain started. My techy hubby was monitoring the radar on his phone and kept giving us five minute warnings. On the final warning he went back to pack up our blanket. We were enjoying the dancers, but when the raindrops started we were headed out fast. Luckily he was prepared and we were in the car before the sky opened up! We headed home, played a rousing game of Uno, then got the kids in bed by 9:30pm. Sad about the fireworks, but overall we had fun anyway.

Eve, waving her flag and having a grand old time!

The kids bought ice cream with their own money, then kindly shared it with mom and dad. :)

The fireworks ended up being postponed until tonight, so all day I’ve been debating. After our Franklin vacation (I promise a post on that soon!) with lots of late nights, then a late night last night, we are all tired. Eve cried many times today for no apparent reason. The weather today was just like yesterday and I was watching the radar trying to decided about fireworks tonight. We got thunder and lightening and lots of rain at 4:30pm and I saw another big storm blob coming our way, so at 6pm I made the call and said no fireworks. The thunder started again around 6:30, confirming my decision. Instead we are hanging at home, watching Rio, and eating dinner in the living room. There is currently a birds vs. monkeys battle happening in the movie. Good times in tired town! It will be another late-ish night, but not as late as fireworks! We even watched a fireworks video on YouTube and that seemed to satisfy the kids. :)

Happy Independence day! I hope you all celebrated in style.