Choo Choo

Christian loves trains and is always asking us to build him a bigger and better train track. There's only so much you can do on those small train tables. Every once in a while the kids get the idea to build their own track system throughout the house. They will use every possible piece they can to make it as long and big as possible.

 I don't mind because it occupies them for a long time, gets them out from in front of the TV, and has them thinking creatively.

As you can see, it's the entire length of the hallway and then curves into the living room.

Vacation Part 6 - Science Center

On Wednesday, July 11, we drove to Cleveland to the Great Lakes Science Center. Gabe and I have gone there before when he got back from Afghanistan when we had spent a few days alone. We figured the kids would like it because it was completely hands on. We liked it because we didn't have to keep telling the kids not to touch the exhibits. :)

We got there shortly after they opened and decided to also buy tickets to see one of their Omnimax (kind of like Imax but the screen is a dome) movies about polar bears in the Arctic. We had a couple of hours before the movie so off we went to play and explore.

making tornadoes

controlling the robot

spaceship simulator

One of the first places we found was a giant playground for kids. There was a really cool vacuum tube that would suck up small plastic balls and toss them into a "claw-like" thing hanging above. Once it's full, you pull a lever and it will drop all the balls back into the pit and onto the people below.

I did not get many pictures for you guys. I was busy chasing the kids from one area to the next or playing with the experiments myself.

After the movie and going through the whole Science Center, we headed outside where they were having a science show. It was a nice 20 minutes of them doing the Mentos in pop experiment and putting liquid Nitrogen in water.

1 Mento in pop

10 Mentos in pop

Liquid Nitrogen in water. You can't see, but there is a man in the pic dumping it.

We also did some walking around the harbor since the Science Center is right on the lake.

The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame

Cleveland Browns Stadium

The Great Lakes Science Center

It was past nap time and we were all tired so we headed home. Gabe had more homework to do so we picked up some pizza and took it to my sister's house.

And I thought I'd leave you with a little something funny. As we were driving to the Science Center, we passed a semi truck with this sign on the back.

Classy, right?

How many people do you think he got to flash him?

This Explains the Rattle

Our washing machine has been making a horrible rattling sound every time it goes through the spin cycle. It had been going on for about a month and I was tempted to call a repair man.

Then, the other night as I was putting a load of clothes in the machine, I looked in the detergent dispenser. I noticed there was something in there. I reached in and found these...

Colored decorative stones. 63 of them to be exact. I couldn't believe it! Christian had taken them from an unused fish bowl and put each one in the detergent dispenser. All this time I've been wondering what was making that sound.

At first, I was upset because I was thinking about what it could have done to the washer. Then I had a good chuckle over it.

Never a dull moment with my kids around.

Little Pockets

As I as was putting laundry in the washer tonight, I noticed Christian's pants were a lot heavier than they should be. Sure enough, upon checking his pockets, I was surprised amused at all the stuff I began to pull out.

Spare change, rubber bands, keys, and two sets of mini cymbals. Apparently, I need to make checking pockets a habit now for him. I think just about every mom I know could probably tell me some pretty funny stories of what they have pulled out of their own son's pockets. And here, all I ever pull out of my pockets is lint and the occasional dollar bill!

What was going through his head as he was choosing these random items to put in his pockets?. I love watching children when they don't know they're being watched. You can almost see the wheels turning in their head as they play and it is such a joy to see those moments.

What kind of things have you pulled out of your child's pockets?

I would love to hear about them!