My parents and I made big plans for this week, and we've had a lot of fun carrying them out. We had only a little while to chill out at home before the ambitious plans began.
On Sunday we did the meal planning and grocery shopping and some food preparation for the week. Delicious beet salad for lunch and dinner everyday! I should not have told her to put in all six beets...oh well, it was delicious. We also stopped by a friend's house to indulge in her pool, which was fun for 20 minutes until a humongous thunder and rain storm hit! I think there may even have been some hail.
On Monday we drove to a beach in Delaware, about a 2.5 hour drive each way. We left at 6:30 in the morning and got home at 3:30 in the afternoon (as far as I remember). Although it was fun, and even the drive was nice, I would not do this day trip again. It is a long time in the car for a short time on the beach. I'm not trying to take away from anyone else's fun by saying that, just sharing my perspective. Captain Adorable and his Oma and Opa had a fabulous time cavorting in the waves and frolicking on the beach together. I was exhausted from lack of sleep and tried to nap on the sand, but my fellow beach-goers couldn't stop yelling and playing their radios for long enough for me to really fall into sleep. I mostly lay on a towel, guarding our spot and our stuff from the gradual but unmistakable encroachment of others as more and more people showed up. (We arrived at 9:24am.) I did get a bit hot there, lying in the sun and walked down to the water with the intention of getting in, but the water was so cold (Captain Adorable's teeth were chattering and we eventually had to leave because we couldn't get him to stay out of the water long enough to warm up) that I couldn't take the plunge. In addition, I dreaded the whole public shower experience so much that I preferred to avoid the need to use one.
On Tuesday we went to Port Discovery, a fabulous children's museum in Baltimore, then went to visit my sweet MIL at her house, then home for dinner. Of course we had a wonderful time at Port Discovery. Bob the Builder is there now, a favorite of Captain Adorable, so we plan to go back often. My sweet MIL wanted to meet us out somewhere, but I did not want her to have to make any effort (she did have surgery less than 3 weeks before!) and I wanted my parents to see her house, so we went there. Unfortunately, Capt. Adorable was so difficult to handle (he was also tired from a very full morning at the museum) that we had to leave before we were really ready. Ah well, I tried.
On Wednesday we went to the National Natural History Museum in D.C.. The idea was to go there to see the Hall of Dinosaurs and the Hall of Mammals or the Oceans exhibit (Captain Adorable has an interest in both dinosaurs and whales). Perhaps a stop in the Insect Zoo to see some millipedes....but we ended up doing something different. We went to the IMAX theatre to see a dinosaur movie. It was only 40 minutes long, and not so scary from an adult's perspective, but what with the gigantic screen and the 3D viewing, it was an intense experience for my little guy (at about 30 minutes in he asked when it would be over). Captain Adorable was so overwhelmed by this experience that he could barely eat lunch (I ended up hand feeding him bites of his sandwich). After lunch we went to see the Insect Zoo, but in the exhibit (skeletons of familiar animals) we had to walk through to get to the Insect Zoo, Captain Adorable was already kind of losing it. When he started kicking the walls I knew I had to get him out of there! The Insect Zoo entertained him for about 10-15 minutes, and then he asked me when we would go home! He did not want to see dinosaurs or anything else, just wanted to go home. Fortunately I had brought along the Ergo; he got in and fell asleep in short order. Then the adults wandered a bit in the exhibit on minerals and gems (saw the Hope Diamond again) and after about 30-45 minutes, Capt. Adorable woke up (but was quite unhappy about it and cried loudly, refusing all my attempts to cheer him up/address his problem) and we went home. His favorite part of the day was the Metro. Of course there was plenty to do at home too. First they helped me with a surprise for the absent Captain Obvious. Then they packed their car (this is very exciting for Capt. Adorable, as it involves using a dolly, you see) with some of the things from Old Grandma's apartment to take back to Tennessee.
Today Oma and Opa are going home. Boohoo. But right now they are on the deck with their grandson, using the chemical reaction that occurs when you mix vinegar and baking soda to fill a balloon with carbon dioxide. Now Oma is trying to convince him to go for one last bike ride before they hit the road. Because that's how my dear hands-on parents roll.
No comments:
Post a Comment