Smithsonian Museums + the National Building Muesums

We went to the Smithsonian Air & Space Museum.  There was an "oooh" and "ahhh" factor when we first got there, but I think little guy may be a little too young to really get into it like we thought he would.   Seemed like the part he liked the best was where he got to interact with the airplanes (sit in a cockpit & steer) or hang out in the interactive children's area.  They actually have some really cool hands-on science experiments with deflection using water and air movement.  

Later that evening, we went to the city at night to see some of the monuments that we weren't able to see while walking the mall the day before. Alghough dark, we saw the Vietnam Memorial and the Lincoln Memorial. DC is really quite busy at night, as there were hundreds of people on the steps of Lincoln's Memorial. 

We spent the next day at Smithsonian's Natural History Museum.  He did enjoy the big animals, however, he raced through the entire museum not wanting to stop and see or learn about anything.  In 4 or 5 years, I can imagine he will be SO into this place!  They have an interactive children's area too.  There were some activities for kids his age, but it seemed that the majority of the activities are meant for a little bit older crowd.  

Look closely... little guy grew moose-ears!

The good thing:  both museums were free to get into.  (What's expensive, however, is grabbing lunch in the museum.)  The next day, we paid to go to a museum even though there's not as much to see.  

We spent the entire day at the National Building Museum.  I popped into this museum several years ago on a work trip, but Todd's never been.  They have exhibits on city planning, historic Washington, construction techniques, and some travelling exhibits on various architects.  We thought this museum would be a hit, however, because of the LEGO exhibit that happened to be there while we were in the city.

Honestly, this is where Mercer spent most of his time.  Todd and I would trade off hanging out with Mercer while the other would go see an exhibit. This way, we got to see what we wanted to -- and Mercer got to play with building blocks all day!  And they also had a children's area.  There are building-related toys in the children's area, of course.  Definitely his best day at a museum.


Out of all of the great things we saw & did in the city... he said his favorite thing was riding the Metro train!  ha.  

I do have to post this story about the Metro b/c it is something that will make us laugh in years to come as we re-read this:  so, Mercer is still learning about "timing" of going to the bathroom -- he's had several "close calls."  We were on our last train ride heading back to Jim & Becki's house.... and all of a sudden he starts to yell "the poop is coming!  the poop is coming!"  As soon as we hit the next stop, we jump off the train and start running down the platform... then up the escalator... and onto to the ticket counter.  The entire time, Mercer is yelling "the poop is coming."  The guy at the ticket counter lets us out and he starts running towards the entrance to the Metro station.  He unlocks a door and Mercer makes it... just in time!  (whew)  

Rose Marie had taken the train from NY to DC the night before. Todd's cousin, Tina, picked her up and hung out all day while we were at the museum.  Todd's sister was sort-of passing through (about 80 miles out of the way) after having taken her daughter Tara to college orientation... so they stopped over too.  Friday evening was spent hanging out with the family (and looking out the window at the "micro-burst" storm that was dropping trees and tree limbs all around the house).

It was a busy vacation.  It was not our relaxing trip to the beach, but we did get to see a lot of family between North Carolina and Maryland:  3 grandmas, 1 grandpa, 1 great-grandma, 1 great-grandpa, aunts, cousins, and an uncle.  We were glad we made the trip!

Our vacation destination this year: Washington, DC

After we stopped in North Carolina, we continued up the road to Maryland.  We stayed with Todd's brother, Jim, and his family for the remainder of the week so that we could "vacation" in DC. 

Each day, we went into the city.  Our first day there, we walked the mall.... and got acquainted with HOW BIG it really is!  We were on foot and did not make it as far as we thought we would.  We did some cool stuff, however.

As soon as we got off the Metro, we went to a carousel / took a spin.  Then, we visited the Smithsonian "Castle." 

We also walked through a Smithsonian sculpture garden.  Mercer and Marley are standing in front of a stainless steel tree.  And we got another shot of Mercer standing inside of a Calder sculpture.  We saw - as we were leaving - that he was not supposed to be "inside" of it, however.  oops!

Afterwards, we walked towards the Washington Monument.  It was closed for damage, however, we played Frisbee on the big grassy lawn adjacent to the monument. 

After lunch, we went to the White House, but were "shoo-ed" away with the hundreds of other people who were peering into the wrought-iron fence.  We figured that someone was going to make an appearance on the lawn & we couldn't be there??

We worked our way over to the World War II museum and put our feet in the water / walked around to look at the states represented. 

We continued to the new Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial.  We probably spent the most time at this monument.  He is carved coming out of a large stone that was "pushed" out of the larger boulder / entry - symbolic of the monolithic struggle he encoutnered.  Most-impiring are the quotes are etched into the wall. 

The monument faces the tidal basin and the Jefferson Memorial is beyond.  Mercer found a little water feature and had to play in it there for awhile. 

Our day ended with a long walk back to the Metro and then an evening at the pool where Jim & Becki are members.

The following day, we visited the Air & Space Museum. 

We stopped in NC last week...

.... on our way to DC for our family vacation. 

This year, in an effort to save some money, we did not book our relaxing trip to Edisto Island beach.  Instead, we opted to take an "educational" vacation & headed to Washington DC to check out museums.  We stayed with Todd's brother, sister-in-law, nephew, and niece just outside the city.

On our way up to DC, we stopped over in NC at my mom's house.  We were there on father's day and spent some time with Great-Grandpa Nunn.   Mercer played with lincoln logs, did cartwheels, and generally entertained grandma and grandpa both.  They are always amazed by the amount of energy that the little guy has! 

Earlier in the day, we spent the day at the NC Zoo.  It's such a beautiful zoo with acres and acres of land for the animals to run and frolic and... to take mud baths.  We spent the most time in one spot watching the rhinos playing and laying in the mud.










Here's Mercer crawling on a rhino sculpture that we had him propped up on when he was just 2 months old (check out the blog post from April of 2008)



 
We love going to the NC Zoo when we can; we made a special effort to go there this trip because there's a unique exhibit there this summer:  animatronic dinosaurs!  We thought that Mercer would be really enjoy it, however, he did seem to be a little bit scared of these towering 'animals' which moved, snorted, and even spit water.  (Here are a couple of shots of the dinos in motion.)










Little guy rushed through this part of the zoo.  He hung out at the end of the dinosaur exhibit digging in a sand pile for fossils.  It was interesting to see the heights, weights (some of them were 8 - 16 tons each), and some factoids on each one.

We only went through 1/2 of the zoo -- stopping off for photos, to cool off in a misting tree, flying a helicopter, and climbing on and in the artwork throughout the park.

Here's a shot of Todd & Mercer (in an unique father's day pose) and another shot of Aunt Sandra, Grandma, and Mercer.

The following morning, we got to see my dad too!  He and Charlie happened to be in NC at the same time as us.  We enjoyed breakfast with them before hitting the road and heading to DC.

The next blog post (coming soon) will continue our journey north.

recent trips

A couple of weekends ago, we went to Tennessee to visit a close friend & her family.  My childhood "sister," Susan just moved to Arkansas and we are really grateful to have spent some time with the whole gang before they moved. 

We hung out with Susan, Chad, Hunter, Caeli, Rune, and Saber.  My best memory of the entire weekend is the feeling of inclusiveness from their family.  Everyone from the oldest (Hunter) to the youngest (Saber) were so great with Mercer.  He felt like they were his brothers and sister by the end of the weekend (after the obligatory "shy period" was over).  Above is a shot of some of the kids holding up their "masterpieces" of birds on a limb after spending a couple of hours at a painting place.

We got the chance to hang out with their family a few weeks prior as well -- at an event where Susan was honored:  she was inducted into the Gwinnett County Schools Sports Hall of Fame.  Susan was an amazing athlete in school -- excelling at tennis, softball and basketball.  She went to Duke on a full scholarship for basketball, in fact.  The coach who nominated her talked about how well-rounded an athlete she was, how she excelled in her studies and how she had such a strong character.  Here are some pictures from that event (her giving a speech at the event beforehand as well as accepting the award publicly down on the field with her children during a Gwinnett Braves game).   It was really special being able to share this with her parents, brothers, uncle, and friends. 

Another recent trip was one I took for work to San Francisco.  Todd and I have been before, but on this trip, I felt like I really got to know the city.  I walked along the piers along the water with a former co-worker, Kelly, before we had dinner and dessert at another downtown spot.  The following morning, I was able to go on a very very very long walk (thanks to still being on east coast time) before having to go to my first building analysis. 






I walked along the Embarcadero past Alcatraz and the Sea Lion platforms.  In the distance is the Bay Bridge beyond all of these boats.  Then, I headed inland and walked by the iconic Transamerica building and got to notice some interesting textures and building juxtapositions.  

My first project site visit ended early afternoon and I had enough time to rent a bike -- to try to ride to the other side of the city to the Golden Gate bridge.  My goal was to reach it / cross it / and come back.  I was bit naive, however, as trying to do this ride through the city during rush hour up and down the ridiculously steep hills... it was not the best idea!  I made it to Golden Gate park (which is enormous), but not to the bridge.  Oh well... next time... but I will NOT be going through downtown again to get there!  Picked up a tip from locals afterwards suggesting taking the Embarcadero all the way around to the city over to the bridge -- not through the city.)

The next day, I went through another building, then had plenty of time to spend with other friends, Bob & Jen, and their daughter Zoe.  Back at home, Todd and Mercer got to spend a lot of quality time together hanging out; they attended their first soapbox race where handmade cars are taken for a spin -- fueled by gravity and human power. 

The best thing about going on this trip:  the enormous welcome that I got when I came back home.  Mercer saw me, ran across a room with arms outstretched, and lept into my arms.  He pressed his cheek into mine and kept telling me "mommy you're home"  "I missed you mommy"  "I love you mommy."  Throughout the rest of the evening (and even the next day) he just wanted to be by my side.  OK... is that just the best??!!

We are about to head out as a family for some more travel.  We will be taking our "family vacation" to Washington DC this year instead of Edisto Island (although we know we're going to miss the beach this year).  There will - undoubtedly - be a post upon our return about that trip.

Here are a couple of additional photos from the night at the Gwinnett Braves games that were funny.  Our son is "hamming it up." 


Have a great weekend.  - Candice

Mother's Day 2012

I created another blog site in which to jot down ideas for doing art projects with Mercer or gardening / earthy-related things.  I put a post on there about making Mother's Day cards:  http://www.earth-and-crafts.blogspot.com/  There haven't been very many art projects that Mercer has warmed up to, but he really did LOVE doing the marble-painting project.  Mercer has been drawing a lot at school, however, and it's pretty amazing to see the progression in these examples:

About 2 months ago, he drew these people.  The ones with the pink on them is "daddy" "mommy" and "me"

Mercer "progressed" to adding eyes the following month.  Not sure what the big one in the middle is (looks like fangs) but the ones on the bottom are our family.  Todd at the right, Mercer next to him -- both with purple eyes.  I'm the brown with orange eyes and he says the little one with orange eyes is his baby sister.  The ones in green at the left are his friends.


















Most recently - he's been drawing a lot of these people with facial characteristics.  I'm the purple one.  Todd is the blue one.  He hasn't drawn a recent self-portrait in this new drawing style, but we'll ask him to draw one and post it as soon as he does.

Mercer is also writing "on demand."  If he wants to write something, we tell him what letters to write - but he can pretty much do it on his own.  I bet how this is how he made the mother's day card shown here.  If you read it carefully -- I'm not actually taking him to "swing" -- at the time they made the card, we were taking him to "swim."   The teacher probably mistook what he said when asked to describe what his mom does!  ~ha~   it's perfect.  : - )

It poured rain on mother's day, so we postponed a visit to a new botanical garden 'til the following weekend. The garden was designed by a local landscaper and was a project that he has been working on for 20 years. It is pretty -as seen in many of these photos.

May updates

We haven't made any adoption progress, per se.  Mostly, we're getting the word out that we're looking for a baby girl / fundraising / and trying to figure out (still) the direction that we're going to pursue:
1 -Will we be lucky enough to find a private adoption?   
2 - Will we use the same adoption consultant we used previously who has all of the opportunities across the country?   
3 - Will we go the traditional route and apply at ONE adoption agency and wait?

We don't have the answers, so we just keep pushing the word-of-mouth while fundraising... so if option 1 doesn't pan out, we can afford option 2 (preferable) or 3.  I'll be honest... it's tough.  Because we've been putting ourselves "out there" & letting people know what we're hoping to do... lots of people ask about progress made.   No "major" progress to report, unfortunately. 

We had another sale to raise funds towards the adoption.  We don't really have enough stuff to hold a yard sale, so we sold plants from the yard, baked goods, & fresh-squeezed lemonade.  It was a lot of work for me (several weekends of prep digging up / thinning out plants) + Todd (squeezing 8 lbs of lemons).   Most of the "customers" were neighbors and friends.  There were a few people who stopped by because of the signs at the top of the street.  There was even someone who stopped by because she was lost and bought a cup of lemonade for directions (we would've given her directions without buying lemonade, though)!  My favorite memory of the day was two 12-year-old girls from the neighborhood who were laying in a shady spot under our tree "hanging out" while they were waiting on a new batch of lemonade to be made.  They were talking to two 6 year-old-girls who were laying - both propped on their elbows hanging on every word the older girls were saying.  The younger girls were on cloud nine hanging out with the older girls ~ it was priceless.
Mercer "pushed" lemonade on ANYONE who came up to the sale... if someone stopped because they were interested in plants -- he would bring them some even if they didn't ask for it. We had borrowed a dispenser - which M could use - so he would get a cup, put in a little dribble of lemonade in it, and bring it over.  It wouldn't be enough to quench a thirst, but how could you turn that down??  Oh yeah -- and for the record -- fresh lemonade is very labor-intensive, but oh-so-good & worth every penny that the seller asks!!

We're going to hold another pancake breakfast soon - now that Mercer's Soccer Skills class has ended.

He really did improve quite a bit from that first lesson he took where he "gave up" before the end of the class.  Yes - he's only 4 - so it's understandable that he thought the first class was hard.  But we are especially proud that he stuck with it each weekend and even played in the rain on his last class.  He remembered some of the things that his coach taught about how to kick the ball with the top of your foot or inside of the foot instead of with the toe.  He also can "dribble" (kicking the ball lightly -- passing between feet) while running.   The league in which he played also handed out some very nice medals of completion.   All-in-all, we are happy that he finished and completed the class.  He learned some skills on listening and practice and the kids even played as a team a few times too.  We were thinking about trying T-ball this fall to see how it goes, but maybe pick up soccer again next spring?  Who knows?

Another nice thing that happened this month:  we were hanging out in a neighbor's front yard one evening.  This neighbor has some raised beds there and while we were standing around / talking, she tugged on some leaves that were standing up out of the dirt.  Out came a carrot from seed she had sprinkled in during the winter.  She asked Mercer to help and he was elated and would even squeal - look what I got!!  This generous neighbor grabbed a handful of these leaves and sent us home with a bunch of carrots.  After we washed them up, Mercer happily ate one as a snack (and we ended up cooking with the rest).  But - he kept talking about how he got the carrot from Mrs Barbara's yard!  This, after all, is why we are participating in the community garden & why we raise tomatoes / herbs in our back yard.  It was the perfect example of how kids will eat something they grew and harvested!  ~yay~ 

Speaking of which - we also picked strawberries and harvested mulberries from the tree in the back.  I've been making jam with the two, as it makes a nice blend.

I'll write about Mother's Day in the next post & will try to get it out much sooner! 
Have a great week, Candice