Hands On Children's Museum (Oly)

Kyler and Matey! On the way to the Museum.

Adjusting his microphone.

Pointing out the Mommy and baby deer.

In the tree house!

Looking at animal x-rays.

In the ticket booth, with a great little smile.

He is very comfortable turning handles/wheels. Even if they are pointless.

Matey did not need the tool belt, the tool belt did not fit, but yet the silly Mommy insisted on a picture. 

Painting the house (the goggles were his idea).

Screwing the house.

Determining if I pulled the strap tight enough to comfortable fit on his head.

He played in these rocks, shoveling them into the back of the truck and wheelbarrows, for at least 10 min.

Driving the dump truck.

Pushing on the giant Pin Art wall.

Pushing back and forth with Kyler to see who can do it faster.

Playing in the water.

Hanging out in a cave at the sea shore.

Very dissapointed because I made the mistake of telling him he could go "in" the light house, and he took that to mean he'd be able to "reach/play with the light" in the the light house.

He knew right what to do here! Practicing his egg collecting skills for the next time we go see Cathy!

I thought it was adorable that Matey knew he needed to turn on the water first before the hose would work. He did not however pretend to turn the water off when he was done. 

Watering the vegetables. 

"Eating" a hamburger. 

Driving an ambulance.

Playing with trains.

All done and not co-operating with the Mommy as we drive home.

It was a LOT of fun. We went with our roommates and had a BLAST! It was over 2 hours of too many small children and boredom for parents but that's not what it was about. They are currently in the process of building a bigger Children's Museum and I fully agree that they should. 

I'm not sure if we're going to be able to go again before the new one is up and running but we will definitely be back, and call ahead to see when it's less crowded so that the grown-ups can play with the kids and sneak some educational-ness in there. A couple times I wanted to point out the science or engineering behind something but couldn't because of noise or other small children. 

Also some places were too crowded for Matey to feel comfortable going in so we passed them all together. In any event when we go back my roommate and I decided we would definitely bring something to keep us entertained because if it had been up to the boys we would have been there for several more hours... 

SEXY BOOTS!

What more needs to be said?

New Hair (mommy) and Matey Playing

New Hair, shorter and styled.

 Playing his Cat in the Hat game from thePirate. Matey LOVES this game.

His little body can squeeze under fairly easily, but if it's Mommy or Grammy it's a challenge. 

He did it! *yay*

We've been having fun playing with all the great toys he got for Christmas. Thanks again!

Christmas!

Christmas.

 Matey's stocking.

 You still have to make your bed on Christmas morning!

 This one is for him, he's almost sure of it.

 Ahh, booty.

 I asked him to open his EYES wide... well... they're open too I guess.

 Fruit snacks?! Thanks Grammy!

 Cookie monster counting?! Thanks auntBeki!

Wood Animal Puzzles!

 Cars stuff?! Thanks Grammy!

 Toy Story puzzles!

 And another one!

 Thomas!

 A number train puzzle!

 Another nother Toy Story puzzle!

 An airplane with nuts and bolts and a power screwdriver!

 An airplane board game!

 An animal train puzzle?! Thanks hteB!

(I know it's an 'alphabet' train but just try getting Matey to agree to that...)

Race cars with traks!

Matey got so many cool presents and had so much candy and fun food that it was a little bit like Berenstains Bears: Too Much Birthday. But we all survived and he loves all the presents. 

Thank you to everyone who helped make Matey's 3rd Christmas a happy time!

Presents from Daddy!

Matey was very confused about saying 'thank you' to thePirate because thePirate was not there and in the second one especially you can see him looking around for his daddy. He got a little upset that I kept telling him to say 'thanks' to a person who clearly was absent. Then he started to pick his nose...

 The pirate ship from thePirate required some assembly...

 ... or maybe...

LOTS of assembly...

 Finished! Grammy did a great job putting it together and uncleBrent helped with the rigging!

 It was by far Matey's favorite toy of the day.

So you win this time thePirate- but no worries, next time he'll like my gift more. 

(no i don't really feel compelled to compete for who gets Matey the "best" present. i'm happy that my boy got so much awesome stuff from lots of people who love him and i think it's great that he and his daddy have so much in common. i know thePirate is going to be itching to visit just so he can get a crack with Mateys new ship.)