Children's museum in La Habra

Reminder: left click on the pictures to enlarge them.

We took a trip to the Children's Museum in La Habra. Target sponsors free admission on the first Saturday of each month. The girls enjoyed themselves for hours. Somehow I missed a picture of them creating puppets. Guess who loved that activity the most? I also missed pictures of the locomotive room. Libby and Lee also enjoyed a puppet show during this time as well.



(This picture didn't get turned) Sage and Brooke are sticking their faces out of the holes of this indoor tree. They have a room for children under 5 to enjoy.

Outside in the dinosaur garden we found these "dino riders" willing to be photographed.

Brooke loved the dress up room with all the clothes, shoes and other props a girl could want. She actually played in the sound room as well.

Sage dressed up as a firefighter.

The store they have set up includes little carts, wooden and plastic food, a cash register and scale. Sage was trying to see how much weight she could make the scale hold before it will fall off.

She made it to almost 6 pounds before pieces started to fall.

Gavin and Kaylee had a good time as well. Look at these cute mamas, they are both 32 (?) weeks along.

Sage made it on this life size horse. Crazy as it sounds, I tried to lift Sage up on the horse (yah right). Uncle Philip came to the rescue. He lifted Sage up and she was very happy to get a turn on the horse.

Brooke gets her turn with the reigns

Libby and Lee also get a turn. The best thing about this horse...well I think you know :)

Here is Brooke showing another mode of transportation.

Sage was happy to find an intriguing looking mancala version. She loves that game!

Sage also found special kimonos and other fine materials to try on in this room.

The last room included real "stuffed" animals on a nature walk.

Yes, they are crazy enough to let us touch them. These animals remind me of the velveteen rabbit, they are very LOVED!

Brooke is as grumpy as a grizzly.

Lee meets up with this Kodiak bear. She didn't want him to leave and tried to give him a hand!

GRRRRRRRRRR...Sorry if we scared you. Next month they will be focused on pumpkins, want to come?

Aquarium

Lee was off for the day (turned out to be part of the day) and Perry was at Wild Rivers with his youth group. It was a perfect day to visit the aquarium for a few hours. Even better when some other family members were looking for something to do and joined us.



The girls are pointing to what they painted on this "Wyland" mural back in April that is now on display at the aquarium.
http://theloveridgelegacy.blogspot.com/2009/04/painting-with-wyland.html

We visited the lorikeets and loved feeding them.

Aunt Jenny has 10 more weeks to go!

We roasted while we watched the sea lion show. They are so playful! We even had them play with us (no trainer around) through the glass down in the tunnel. They like to fetch, just like dogs.

I'm busy

All 4 kids were at home and we needed a down day to get things done. I especially needed to get writing the sacrament primary program, kids needed to entertain themselves. Perry set up this fashion show "thing" Santa brought 2 years ago. I set up the little pool in the backyard.

Under Perry's direction, the girls picked out costumes to represent different categories. Then they won different "hats" for each category.

You see, even the dog enjoys a good show. He can't stand to miss a thing.

What do your kids do when you have to get something done? Yes, the house was trashed, but they had fun and they cleaned up!

Perry's birthday party

Some of you know that Perry likes to cook. He also likes to make things for other people, so part of his party was the CAKE. He made an angel food cake from scratch (little help from Dad). He also made pancakes for the boys in the morning.

4 boys came to our house to play video games, sleep over and go to the park in the morning. Well, we also snuck in a movie. "The city of Ember," a movie based on a book series that Perry read during the last year

Playing with a nerf bow and arrow that Ben gave to him. Perry received many generous gifts, he is one lucky boy.

Sleepover parties have seen their end at this house. This party lasted for almost 24 hours, I think I prefer the 2 hour parties that are held at a different location. What do you prefer?

Thursday

How did you spend your Thursday? Our family went to a place that is exciting, interactive, and has something for all. So we spent 12 hours in this inviting place and could have stayed longer, but they closed and kicked us out.
Look at this breathtaking waterfall. (I am going to nickname Brooke, my poser. I had no idea she was making all these poses for the pictures.)












KNOTT'S Berry Farm was our amusement park of choice for the day. The highlight of the day for me was watching an Extreme Wheels show with Brooke. It was a high action outdoor show with people on bikes, roller blades, skateboards, and just great acrobatics. This is a must see in my opinion!

Brooke rode this jumpy ride at least 20 times throughout the day, sometimes many times in a row. She made friends when the siblings weren't around.

It was even her last ride of the night. She was such a trooper when she was too small to go on rides, she would wait at the exit.

THE PONY EXPRESS doesn't bring mail. It is a fairly new ride that puts you on a horse. It goes fast and puts you in a motorcycle (bullet bike) position. I thought it was a unique design. My goal was for Sage to get on a larger roller coaster - she rode the pony several times and couldn't believe she hadn't done it sooner. Libby, on the other hand, went on everything she was big enough for!

The kids also enjoyed going on rides in Camp Snoopy with their cousin, Gavin. These cars whip you around. Uncle Philip some how managed to get his legs inside this car to ride with Gavin.

We loved the skateboard ride

Lucy was playing a game called, "Lucy says" (similar to Simon Says). Brooke really got into the show when they started performing the chicken dance. Brooke in the pig tails, Libby in the teal shirt.

Brooke even stopped to give Snoopy a high five.

This is a shot of Gavin in his RR hat doing a dance at the show.

One of the 4 train rides we rode with Gavin. I have never been on any of the trains (gasp).

We just couldn't pass these photo opps up. I missed why this was at Knott's.

Perry and Lee managed to go on many of the larger, faster rides (Silver Bullet - 3x during the day). We ended the night on the Big Foot Rapids. I figured if we get wet, it is already time to go home. Who do you think was wet after the ride. Yes, that would be me! Nobody was really riding at 9:30 at night, so after I got off, Lee went on with the kids (yes, they just let them keep riding). Sage kept saying she wasn't wet enough. The fun you can have in a boat!

We also took in a stunt show. The kids thought it was very entertaining and Sage moved into the Splash zone (she must be ready for Sea World again).

Libby's playdate

Libby couldn't wait for her friend Caroline to return from a 3 week vacation. Her mom called right when they got back. They live within a 1/2 mile of our home and also have a girl going into Kindergarten this fall (like Brooke). I smell the start of something wonderful! Caroline happily played with Libby for over 5 hours. They made sock puppets and put on a show for Lee and myself. Libby can't wait for next time. Caroline and Libby have many things in common, they may even be in the same 3rd grade class this year! Libby is crossing her fingers and toes.

Brooke's head laceration/Late over gone wrong

If you are at all squeamish...DO NOT SCROLL DOWN! Thankfully, all the pictures I took were blurry.

Last night was going to be grand, "a late over" as we call it around our house. This is where instead of sleeping over, we just stay over late, then go to bed and sleep late the next morning in our own beds. The last minute event was planned, a few moms, several children, etc. The kids started by swimming as the moms were chatting. Everything is going according to the plan and then...Brooke just casually falls backwards, hits her head on a corner of a wall, while standing right next to me! She quietly sobs while I pick her up. I ask her to let me check out her head (like you say every time they hit their wee heads) and I look at my hand and it is covered in BLOOD! This just doesn't happen, it was supposed to be no big deal and we could all get back to the fun night. My friend, Lisa, helped find where the blood was coming from, with the help of a flashlight. Oddly enough, Brooke let her touch the head more than she would me. Well, Sage and Libby had a great time playing games, watching a movie and eating my personal favorite, "kettle korn" while I took Brooke home to clean her up and to decide further action. After staring at an inch laceration on the back of her head that looked like...well it was just too much for me to handle. I consulted with her Dad and took off to the ER (urgent cares are all closed when these things happen). Brooke was so brave, but didn't want to go. She never screamed even when the doctor said we needed to put her back together again. The doctor wanted to use a needle, I firmly suggested the liquid numbing stuff. He consented after explaining that it takes longer for it to work. If you have ever experienced that needle, you know that you don't need a 2nd time around to know it is not for you, me, or any of my CHILDREN. The nice, jovial doctor, placed 3 staples and some glue stuff on the laceration. I was so impressed by my sweet daughter that just wanted to know what was going on and accepted that mom would do the right thing. It broke my heart to tell her that I couldn't fix it this time, the doctor needed to do it. She fell asleep about 5 minutes after it was over (10:30 PM), she was all done. Brooke slept with me and never once asked for medicine. She did have trouble sleeping several times, trying hard to find a good position to sleep in. She is a stomach sleeper, so that helped a lot, since the laceration is at the back of her head.

Brooke woke up alert and acting completely normal, a little tenderness. She even attended her dance class today. Amazingly, she can wash her hair tomorrow and go swimming. The staples will be removed by her pediatrician, next Friday.

This is the head of one TOUGH little girl. Life is precious, enjoy every moment :)