3 years ago today....

Mercer's adoption was finalized!

We had the day off today. Today is the Labor Day holiday. We wanted to go somewhere / do something to have fun with Mercer and honor "his day" but mother nature had different plans. There was a tropical storm in the gulf that moved up to Georgia and rained all day. Instead of travelling today, we stayed in all day. We played with marbles, blocks, games and watched some movies. Mercer seemed to be happy. (especially with this new balance game - ChickyBoom - that we got yesterday when we travelled to Greenville) ~wink~ instead of cancelling our trip, we pushed our trip up a day instead.

We went to Greenville, SC to visit my college roommate + her family and to check out their awesome children's museum. Mercer and I stopped at that museum once on our way home from NC. He was just under 2 years old. At that time, there were only a handful of things that he could do, but it was still a lot of fun then. This time -- it was even more fun because he was into a lot more of the activities. Admittedly, Todd and I had a great time too!!

Last time we went, the majority of time was spent playing in the water area. Mercer got some play time in it this trip, but found many other things to do too. (Note - although wearing a water-proof smock - he still got soaked / had to change. You'll notice he's sporting 2 different looks on this trip. That's why - no other reason!)

There's a sculpture that you can climb that spans the top two floors of the museum. I wanted to climb it the first time we came to the museum, but the kids have to be 3 and up. Mercer was a little apprehensive at first, but he did go back through it a couple of times during our visit. It's constructed mostly of clear Plexiglas shells and cables to hold them up and to create "walls" so you don't fall off of the thing. The way that they're organized, it's like a 3-dimensional maze.

He really enjoyed riding in the Indy race car simulators and playing in the music room - where they had a musical pinball machine that you could customize. He - of course - enjoyed running around and playing with Cindy's kids, Trevor (3) and Daniel (5). I think we have a similar picture to this one with Mercer chasing Trevor (Apr 20, 2010 post). Deja vu~

Quick note: Cindy said that this is the photo (on the steps) that depicts what the boys were doing before they all had to be rushed to the ER. Luckily / amazingly... no one was hurt. There are all sorts of great things to do at the museum, but they'll still climb on things that weren't intended for them to do so!

After the museum, we went in search for a letterbox that was hidden on Main Street in downtown Greenville. This letterbox was based on some micro-sculptures that have been placed throughout town called "Mice on Main." http://www.miceonmain.com/mousehunthints.html Afterwards, we headed south on foot and via a short trolley ride in efforts to make it to Falls Park -- a public space that is graced by one of the most beautiful bridges I've ever seen: Liberty Bridge. http://www.fallspark.com/LibertyBridge.aspx We made our way down to the bottom and crossed (no worries - where we crossed was far away from the falls). If we didn't have the drive home ahead of us, it would've been an excellent day to picnic by the water and explore the greenspace and public art more.

It was a long day and little guy was worn out. He slept pretty much the whole way home (2 hours +), went to bed pretty much straight away when we got home, and slept in today. But, we think he felt special overall & know that he is a MUCH loved member of our family!!