Day at the Museum

Today was my belated Mother's Day choice...going to the Museum of Nature and Science. I was so excited because they have entire floor of exhibits geared toward kids aged 0-6. Perfect for our curious little man! Of course, he had to start the day off, literally, with a bang. To his head. He flung himself off our bed this morning and made this nice red mark and what will probably be a bruise by tomorrow. Can you see it in the picture below?

One of the first areas we visited was a kitchen/living room setup. Garrett loves all things kitchen-related so he had fun getting out all the pans. This area also had a computer that's kid-sized. We came back to the computer many many times. He is definitely his Daddy's son like that! (Not that Mommy's not tech-savvy too!)

Kitchen fun!

Rearranging the living room

The second picture in this line-up is my favorite...he was SO excited to be using a computer and not have his parents hovering, wondering if he'd break the keyboard or mouse.

Next we headed to the backyard area. There were reptiles in tanks, bug costumes, and an anthill that they could crawl through. He liked the animals but especially liked the tunnels.

In and out of the anthill

This is a shout-out to Uncle Bob and Scaley. Garrett thought this orangey-colored corn snake was awesome. Yikes. I hope he outgrows this.

Checking out...the tarantula. No. Thank. You. Enough said.

Looking at a toad and some turtles.

Next we went to the backyard patio, which is only for kids aged 0-2. You'll see why it's perfect for this age group.

He could run, run, run here and bounce right off the floor. :-)

Then we went to the fire truck, construction site, drama stage and water play areas. We didn't stay in any one area for too long but we enjoyed each and every one.

Next, we went to the farm. There were eggs to find, veggies to pick, and tractors and horsies to ride. But, because of all the field-trippers there at that point, we didn't do a whole lot of these things. Next time!

The tractors caught his attention. Then he had to pet the horse. And feed the pigs some corn.

The last place we went to in the Children's Museum part was the sand table. We're getting a sandbox soon so it was good to see that Garrett liked playing with the shovels and rakes.

He had a bit of a problem keeping the sand tools at the table, but he had fun.

Before leaving, we went through the big kid exhibits upstairs. The best one was the fossil exhibit. There were two different sandy areas with brushes and shovels to dig out dinosaur bones.

Digging for Dinosaurs!

And here's one final picture to enjoy...my baby boy...in a hazmat suit. :-)

The Foot Locker

I'm not talking about the shoe store, but the foot locker that's sitting in Russ's office. We've been using it as a barricade the last couple days as Russ has been organizing paperwork and books behind his desk. It's much easier to do when Garrett isn't "visiting" every two seconds. Thus the barricade. Unfortunately, he has quickly figured out how to climb on top of the foot locker. At first it took a lot of  effort and time to hoist his little body up there, but this morning he just scooted right up there as if he'd been doing it forever. Yikes. In the last two days he's also stuck his hand inside the hot oven door, flung himself off our bed, and climbed out of the bathtub on his own. Can you say "busy boy"??? He's determined to get injured at least once a day I think. Sigh...boys.

Here he is helping Russ study for finals last week.

Here he is digging into my wallet (this was one of the few times I actually had CASH in there!)

Conquering the foot locker. Does he look just a little bit pleased with himself?

Warrior Dash

My husband is a Warrior. No, seriously, he is. :-)

Yesterday was race day for Russ and his sister Hillary--The Warrior Dash to be exact. The Warrior Dash is no ordinary 5k race. Yes, the participants run 3.5 miles. But with 14 different obstacles staggered throughout the course. Here are some of the obstacles they had to conquer: Texas Tornado (gale-force winds), lots of mud obstacles, Hay Fever (scaling hay bale towers), Breathless Bog (going through waist-deep water and over logs), Cargo Climb (climbing cargo nets), Warrior Roast (leaping over fires), and Muddy Mayhem (the final obstacle, crawling through mud and under barbed wire). It was quite the event!

About 9000 people were registered to run each of the two race days, with waves of up to 500 people being released every half hour. There was a contest for the Best Warrior Beard and the Best Warrior Costume. No, Russ and Hillary did not try to come up with costumes or beards. But a lot of people went all out and had on some crazy outfits!  Garrett and I went along to watch and cheer them on. There was only one area for spectators, at the very end of the race, so we camped out there until they ran past. The only casualties in the race were their running shoes, which were so muddy and disgusting that they donated them to Green Sneakers, a group that cleans and recycles them into affordable footwear for people all over the world. It was a fun day but we were all exhausted by the time we drove home. Yes, even the spectators were tired. But the Warriors had conquered and it was a successful day. I think their total race time was about 33 minutes, but we'll find out the official results in a couple of days. No matter what, I'm proud of them both!!!

A looooot of people were at the Warrior Dash. There was a stage with live music, a food tent, gear tent, and other vendors too.

Hillary and Russ, pre-race, wearing the warrior helmets each runner receives.

I had to get in a pre-race photo with my warrior (you know, just in case he got disfigured during those crazy obstacles, so I'd remember what he looked like).

My two warriors (one of them hated the warrior helmet).

This is how we spent the time waiting for our warriors to dash past. Garrett ate lunch in his stroller then we parked in front of the Muddy Mayhem pit.

They had to keep refilling the mudpit with dirt and water because the runners end up taking so much of the mud with them . Garrett really wanted to jump in.

Our first glimpse of Russ and Hillary...they're in the distance in the middle, the red and gray shirts.

The Warrior Roast obstacle

Almost finished! Only one obstacle left...

The initial plunge into the Muddy Mayhem pit...you can't see the barbed wire but it's there! (That's Russ on the right and Hillary on the left.)

More mud. Can you spot Russ or Hillary in each of these pictures? It's hard to tell who's who when everyone's coated in goop.

Russ is across the finish line and waiting for Hillary to cross over in the bottom picture.

Mud. Enough said.

This is what Garrett looked like by the time we were ready to leave. He was pooped.

A couple of random costumes. The top group was in head to toe pink spandex--SCARY! And the other guy you see running was dressed as some kind of super hero.