Spring break

Spring break is almost over and we have survived it... well, I might be getting ahead of myself. We do have one full day left. But I think I'm going to survive today because Rocket Boy very kindly agreed to take the boys swimming by himself (first time ever), and then they might play in the park afterwards. So I may not see them again until late afternoon (it's 2 pm now). So nice to have some time to myself. And we're having leftovers for dinner.

I'd say we'll survive today, and then SURELY we can survive Sunday. Park trips, videos, getting ready to go back to school. Maybe we'll go for a hike, since the weather's so nice right now. Maybe we'll go out for ice cream to celebrate the last day of the vacation.

If we do, it won't be the first time this week!

So how have we used our nine-day break? Last Saturday was gloomy and rainy/snowy and Dad had to go be a delegate to the Boulder County Democratic convention, so the kids and I just stayed home.

Sunday was our nice trip to Canon City.

Monday was another "quiet" day at home, with more yucky weather -- though it did improve a little by the end of the day. Videos, games, puzzles... we got through the day somehow.

Tuesday morning we piled back into the car and drove to Denver, to the Museum of Nature and Science, where the twins had never been. 

I bought a family membership, because it's the cost of two visits and now we'll have an excuse for going back. I'm very fond of this museum.

We started by riding the escalator to the 3rd floor (the boys love escalators) and looking at the dinosaur exhibits, also known as Prehistoric Journey.

At first we were unhappy with how the boys (especially Kid B) acted in the museum: wouldn't stop and look at things, just ran pell-mell from exhibit to exhibit. But then I remembered that they're six. Barely. We adjusted our expectations and after that we all did fine, especially since Kid B was wearing his bee shirt and was easy to spot.

The museum has lots more than dinosaurs. There are wildlife dioramas,

a rocks and gemstones section, a small section devoted to Egyptian mummies, and various other things. For an extra charge you can go to the planetarium or watch an IMAX film or see the special exhibit (right now it's about the Maya). But we just looked at the regular exhibits. It was enough!

We had lunch in the museum cafe, and went back an hour later for dessert.

There's a great outer space section where we spent a lot of time after lunch. Kid A's favorite was this set-up where kids could arrange a special kind of red sand in different configurations and then see how running water affects it (this supposedly had something to do with Mars, though it applied equally well, or better, to our own planet).

We were tired when we got home, but overall it was an excellent day.

Wednesday was supposed to be a cabin trip, but I wasn't up for it. Nor, as it turned out, was Kid B, who began kicking his brother as soon as they got into their carseats. So he and I ended up staying home, while Dad and Kid A braved the cold and snow of South Park. The snow was so deep there that Dad wore his snowshoes for the walk from the car to the cabin, pulling Kid A on a sled. I was very glad I'd missed the whole thing.

Thursday we had a play date -- our first ever! -- with a friend from their class. We were there from 10 to 12 and I got the chance to chat with the mom during that time. Lots of fun.

Friday we drove to Longmont on a fruitless craigslist search for baseball gloves -- the twins are starting t-ball the week after next. We ended up finding cheap gloves at a sporting goods store, however, so the trip was not in vain. After lunch we went to the almost-deserted Longmont movie theatres and saw "The Lego Movie," which had been another plan for the week. I thought it was reasonably amusing, and of course as soon as we got home the kids wanted to play Legos. Their creativity seemed to be sparked in other ways, too, because in the evening they suddenly went crazy for sidewalk chalk.

I love it when they get interested in something out of the blue and go wild.

There was a whole story involved with this, some lines were poison, some were cities...

Makes me think of the long summer evenings ahead. We're not done with winter yet -- we can have snow up through mid-May (or later, in a bad year) -- but you can feel summer coming. Or at least spring.