Da Vinci Discovery Center

Continuing the theme of keeping Alex busy and happy by taking her to science museums, we headed this week to the Lehigh Valley's own Da Vinci Discovery Center. We'd gone last year with Grammy and Zoltan and only managed to get a taste of what was there.

First note: I was very impressed that on their web site they suggest that individuals come in the afternoon as school groups usually depart by 1:30pm. We were having a slow morning anyway, so arrival at 1:00pm was perfect.

It's an impressive museum for its size and location. We managed to fill more than 3 hours and didn't check out every exhibit, although that was due to Alex's interest and attention span, not the amount of time we had. It was fun that they had Grossology, which I had seen many years ago at (I think) the Franklin Institute. As always, what captivates a child is never what we think it will be but as we had no deadlines and I only had her interests to indulge, it was an incredibly relaxing experience.

My favorite part was watching her play with the station with all the gears, and gradually incorporate every single gear in one huge rotation. She got a kick out of the paper airplane folding exhibit, where the computer guides us through one of about a dozen different designs. She was too excited to settle down and let me read to her from the book corner in the Preschooler room but had a ball stacking the foam blocks into towers and a hidey-hole for herself (except when a child ran into the room, jumped on her work-in-progress and ran out. Then another kid did the exact same thing during the rebuild).

I guess one of our adventures this summer will be checking out what kind of science/hands-on-children's museums we can find in the DC area.

All packed out

On Tuesday the movers came and started packing all of our things.  A friend from the Consulate was gracious enough to help me watch over everything.  I can't thank him enough.  So all day Tuesday I watch my stuff be packed into boxes and sealed up.  The movers estimated one day to pack and then load everything the second day.  I thought this was optimist and it turns out I was right.   At the end of the first day everything in the living room, kitchen, dining room, study, Alex and Zoltan's bedrooms were packed up.  My bedroom, two bathrooms, strollers and the kids bikes were still left to do.  When Zoltan came home from school he was eager to see all the boxes.  He went from room to see all the boxes in each room.  Later he keep asking me why there was no TV now, where is his Spiderman spoon, etc.  His seems to have trouble understand everything was being packed up, but was generally OK with it.

Then next day the movers were ready to go a little early.  So one guy finished the little packing while the other three started doing the official inventory and loading the truck.  Everything went fine for the most part.  At one point all the stuff was packed and the only thing to do was match our box numbers to the official box number.  So I told our friend I was OK and thanked him again.  After 3/4 of our stuff is loaded on the truck they ran out of space.  So they pick some last things that will fit and load those things.  Off 3 guys go with part of our things and one guys stays back to finish inventory and do the paperwork.  He also moves all the remaining things into the apartment buildings hallway so he can wait there until the truck returns.  At this point there is nothing to do so I head into to work since it has been crazy in the office.  Generally I found in my time in Russia that lots of things are done just not quite right.  Here the mover are organized and effecient but the truck is just a little to small.  Still baffles me, but at least everything went more or less fine.  We will see on the other side how well everything made it.

Too much time together?

Alex tonight drew two pictures for me. In one, I am being eaten by a motorcycle that is flying. There are a lot of pretty clouds around us. In the second one, I am smiling because the motorcycle dropped me; however I am plummeting into a big city (lots of skyscrapers). A lion waits for me on one roof.

Maybe we are spending too much time together? C'mon time, tick along faster and bring our boys home to us!

Wordless Wednesday

Update from America

Alex and I have been in America for a week now. From Philly, we came down to my brother's house outside DC for a visit with them and coinciding with a visit from my mom. It turns out Ben's confirmation was this week too, so it's actually been pretty busy between that, Mother's Day on Sunday, and a lot of time on the phone and computer getting things ready for the closing.

Turns out the house has/had termites, so that added some excitement to the week, between ordering the termite inspection because that fell between the cracks, to the diagnosis of termites, to the treatment. All before Thursday. Crazy stuff. I am pretty sure the termite guy wanted to warn me not to buy the place. Let's hope it's all fine now.

Also, turns out all of Alex's blood tests came back fine. Her vitamin D is low but not low enough to be the obvious culprit for her broken bones, according to the very static-y message I listened to from the doctor. So I guess it's a good thing we didn't cancel the appointment with the orthopedist on Friday, and I expect he'll order a bone density scan as it was the next step after checking Alex's vitamin D.

We bought a dump!

Yes, friends, we are now 3 for 3 in our home buying ventures. Each abode we have purchased has led to a first weekend wander and "Why did you let me buy this dump?" "No, why did YOU let ME buy this dump?" conversation.

Of course, this is by far the most expensive dump. For the few of you who remember the Fanshawe blog, we'll definitely be documenting this renovation as we go along. You may even get to weigh in on paint colors or other fun things.

But, hey, it has a yard. And Alex can't get enough of walking out the front door and being in "green green grass".

Wordless Wednesday

Boys in Piter

It has now been almost a week that it has been just Zoltan and me staying back while Lynne and Alex went back to the States. So far things have gone surprisingly well. Zoltan has been amazingly well behaved during this time. He regularly asks 10 times a day when we are going on an airplane to see Mommy and Allie, but no major tantrums or fits.

Thursday and Friday were Russian Holidays so this has been a long weekend of just me and Zoltan. We spent much of the time going through our stuff and starting to organize everything for the packout that is coming soon enough. In addition we have had a chance to do some fun things. Here is the quick rundown of our long break.

Thursday: This was parade day (Victory Day in Russia) and half the streets are closed to traffic surrounding us so getting anywhere by car was difficult. We are close enough to the parade route that moving the car meant we are likely to lose our parking spot as well. So today was a spend the day locally day. Off to the playground we went. Unfortunately most of the parade was happening during Zoltan’s nap so we did not go to see it. After nap the weather was gorgeous so we went back outside to the playground.

Friday: Rain, Rain, Rain. Lots and lots of rain. I had planned on going by Metro to the Russian Museum with Zoltan but I didn’t feel like walking in the rain. So instead Zoltan and I decide we would go the grocery store. He does love going to the grocery store for whatever reason. At the store I bought him a Chugginton DVD so we could see what it was like. Turns out the whole thing is in Russian with no other languages. Many DVD sold here have both Russian and English and many have other additional languages. I let him watch one when we got home so I could do some organizing. From that point on all weekend all he has been asking for is the “Train Movie”. Not sure why these are movies and not shows since they are about 10 minutes long. After nap the weather cleared and back to the playground.

Saturday: Raining again. Today I had the idea to go to the Grand Maket since that was indoor activity and Zoltan loved it so much the last time. Once Zoltan heard the idea he went and got himself dressed to go. This was despite the knowledge that we were not ready to go. Boy O Boy was he ready. Like last time the Grand Maket was hit. Here is a photo of Zoltan enjoying himself. Also we found little items that I totally missed last time.

Sunday: Weather was decent. Zoltan agreed today since the weather was good we would take the Metro to the Russian Museum. He loves looking at the trains and riding trains so the Metro was a hit. Above ground we took some photos on our walk. When we got to the Russian Museum Zoltan was hungry so we sat on the benches outside and gave him a snack. After a snack and enjoying the weather Zoltan decide quite strongly that he did not want to go to the Museum. Since I just want to get him out I didn’t fight it. We walked to the canal and watch some boat come and go on the canal. Next he wanted to take the bus back to the house. So we jumped on a bus and got off near our house and went to lunch. On the walk home we stopped by the playground to let him play before heading home for nap. Busy Busy day.

Franklin Institute

One thing that's nice about America is that there's a wealth of personal and family history to impart to the kids. Alex is in a science museum phase, she begged to go to the one in Piter for a week or so and that's where Terry ended up going with her during their "special time" together our last day in Piter. So of course, in Philly, can I possible deny her the Franklin Institute?

We got there at 10am and I realized I think it was the first time back since the wedding. I showed her where Terry and I got married, standing somewhere near the precise spot. I showed her the exhibits where we had our snacks and drinks (aka cocktail hour) and of course took her through the giant heart. She went through a second time all on her own. The one downside is there were about a million school groups there so the noise level was deafening, we had to yell to communicate, and many exhibits were crowded.

There were a bunch of new additions, which were very cool, and some old favorites I was excited to show her. It was nice to stay longer than the school groups, as she wouldn't have gotten onto the train otherwise.

We are usually museum'd out by 2 - 2.5 hours, if for no other reasons than hunger and naptime. Today we ate in the cafeteria, decided to skip nap, and left after 4.5 hours only because Alex was getting tired. We managed to catch the planetarium show, which she loves, and as we were leaving a demonstration was beginning in the atrium so we stayed for it. We still didn't see everything. I forgot how super ridiculously awesome that museum is, and it was good to be reminded because after reading McCullough's John Adams I am way less in love with Ben than I used to be and of course nobody can think of the Franklin Institute without thinking of him.

Sherwin-williams

When we bought our first home, we bought cheap Home Depot paint for the first 2 rooms we planned to paint. We were cursing that cheap paint as the 4th layer dried and made clear we'd need a 5th.  Someone recommended Sherwin-Williams paint and we have never looked back.

Now we're about to buy a house - looking like next week (cross your fingers nothing bad happens!) I discovered there is a Sherwin-Williams paint store in a strip mall near my brother's, where we'll be next week, and have already planned the trip with Alex to let her pick out her very own paint color for her very own room. And ... taa-daaa, right this very minute there is a promotion with Sherwin-Williams and BlogHer and I am desperately hoping to win that $100 gift card!

Keep your fingers crossed for me.

Disclosure/disclaimer: I am receiving a sweepstakes entry in exchange for this post.