Weekends!

My weekends have been so much fun lately! I was a little worried on Friday night, truth be told. I'd had to leave work a tad early that day and pick booger up at the daycare. (He was running a low-grade fever. Do you KNOW how often we've been sick lately? UGH.)

Luckily, he rallied, and the two of us headed to NatureFEST! at the Mississippi Museum of Natural Science on Saturday morning. First, we had to spend about 40 minutes in the fish tank part of the museum. He LOVES watching the fish swim around. He kept pointing at them, gasping over them, and saying "Oooooh," and "Wow," alot. (When we'd swing by one of the really BIG tanks, he'd go right up to the glass. But if one of the huge fish came swimming his way, he backed up pretty quick! Too funny!)

After a while, I decided I was tired of looking at fish. I talked him into going outside to run around on the trails a bit, which he thought was the Best. Thing. Ever. We ran all over the place out there, and he got to practice climbing up and down steps and jumping on top of rocks. We even played some in the small maze they have set up out there. It was a gorgeous day and pure pleasure being outside. That was at least another 40 minutes.

THEN we checked out the "Sustainable Choices" exhibit. I'd really been wanting to see it, because my company sponsored it. Clay thought it was a hoot. He could push buttons and make lights turn on, open little doors to see what was behind them, and practice recycling. Time in there was something like 30 or 40 minutes.

So, seriously, I paid $5 to get into the museum that day (kids 3 and under are FREE), and it amused my kid (and wore me the heck out) for nearly TWO HOURS. A deal, I tell ya'!

That afternoon (after lunch and a nap), I tried (with no success) to have his picture taken. We got all the way to the studio, and he screamed bloody murder whenever the photographer got near with the camera. Ah, well. Next time, I guess!

Yesterday evening, I made a quick trip to Home Depot for PLANTS! Booger and I spent the rest of the night planting them in our patio pots in the back yard. I put a big pile of dirt out for Clay and gave him a few small hand tools to putter around with. He had the best time moving dirt from one spot to another, looking at all the flowers we'd gotten, and "helping" me fill the pots with dirt and plants! The back patio looks so pretty now!

We also put a few hanging baskets on the front porch and made a list of some perennials we can plant in the flower beds. Most of what we have looks pretty good, but we need to fill in a few holes with azalea, hydrangea, and a few lorapetalum.

Our back yard at this house has definitely been a work in progress. When we moved in, we had a tiny patio, no shed, and no plants to speak of. In the past five years, we've poured a large patio, had a shed built, and put in two or three pretty large flower beds. We still have some work to do, but it's come a long way!

Comments

When I was a kid the YMCA had a summer day camp at Riverside Park. They didn't have the museum and some of the other nice stuff but the trails they have now are basically the same ones they had then.

Riverside was built in the early sixties so we were the first generation to really get to enjoy it. It's pretty cool to now see Clay's generation in the same spots doing basically the same things we did.
Sandi said…
All the times I've been to your house I've never seen your backyard. It sounds gorgeous.
Nicole Bradshaw said…
Boyd - I posted a pic or two on Facebook. He reallyreally enjoyed it. I've been taking him there since he was itty bitty. Before he could even move around much, you could park his stroller in front of the fish tank, and he'd be mesmerized for a while.

Sandi - Well, it's not gorgeous (there's still alot to do), but it's definitely better than when we moved in.