Tag Archives: Children’s Museum

January 12th, 2019

Des surveying the accomplishment of putting his new dinosaur puzzle together

Everyone gets in a good Wii run before lunch/nap

A rare evening visit to the Children’s Museum for Star Wars night

But it’s a surprise, as the kids have no idea

But then Ella spotted her friend! Darth Vader and other assorted characters make their way through the parade

“CHEWBACCA!”

Des isn’t sure what to think, but waves reflexively…

“…!!!”

It’s time for pictures afterwards and of course these two pick the “dark side” first

Eleanor was surprisingly composed when holding the hand of her idol (each morning when asked what she dreamed about while she slept and she answers “Darth Vader” every time)

Why waste an opportunity to collect balls?

She ended up being a bit more of a hoarder than actually playing

Des scaling the rock climbing wall with confidence

Playing in the old Gordman’s Zooland animals mom and dad too played on as kids

Des really getting the “hang” of it

As usual, Eleanor is much more interested in gathering and arranging cones than actually kicking the soccer ball 🙂

From a distance Des spots two other characters standing idly by- “DAD! … REY! … KILO REN!!” So of course Des wants to get a picture with his new friends.

Back home for dinner, Des opts for the “combo cookie” treat

Ella’s post-piggy tail hair may or may not resemble a famous clown-

Absolutely no drinking bath water…

December 22nd, 2018

Daniel Tiger and friends laying some early morning mind grapes on healthy expression of frustration and problem solving. And the kids just think they’re watching cartoons…

Oddly enough, Des thinks the frog blanket is his (Ella got it at pa’s union hall when she was an infant and Des annexed it). The construction truck blanket actually was Desmond’s, but Eleanor has clearly claimed it as “her” blanket. A surprising symbiosis has emerged, possibly their first successful trade.

The good kind of buttons to push…

Ella, pizza artist

Des and Cal busy as beavers building damns

“Beep beep!” (as all tractors go?)

Ella getting in on the water play action, getting only slightly drenched

Pushing the button to talk, Cal respectively asks “Please give me some of your money.”

She’s definitely got part the bottle part down…

…giving medicine is a different story.

Likewise, the boys nailed their blood pressure testing

Slide! She sprinted back to go again about a dozen times.

Ella doing her signature dance move with mom

He’ll play with legos with a mouse, in a house. Or on the floor or a wall-

The crayon equivalent of dumpster diving

After Des is done assembling his creation with wood, nails and tape, Calvin quietly turns to suggest, “Uh, but it doesn’t look like an AT-AT walker” That’s ok.

“Game on!”

As he grows taller beyond the toddler days, a real Mavs hockey jersey puts it all in perspective

Game face.

Some kids like to kick around the soccer ball. Others enjoy collecting and stacking field cones 🙂

Excited to stop in and see aunt Kelli and uncle Mike at the restaurant

New favorite past time

A spaceport crane, naturally

Movie night: How the Grinch Stole Christmas

Rest well, little pretzel dough balls

September 15th, 2018

Sunrise after campout #1. Desmond and dad go hunting for donuts for sister.

Just pursuing some periodicals after breakfast

Morning trip to children’s museum, ahoy!

Slinging a few slices

Blanket ALL the things

Des checks mom’s cheek (for something)

Nailed it.

Ok, maybe she’s into dolls

While her lower half is soaked from water play, dad gets the traditional fruit sorting picture for comparison

Des pulling on a Newton’s cradle constructed with bowling balls

The faster you spin the platform, the stronger the water tornado

Milliseconds before lost grip and control of her emotions :/

Dad’s best attempt at face painting. Not too shabby.

In the construction room, each child lives out their fantasies

Des hammers and screws to his heart’s content

Eleanor let’s it rip and yanks off a few dozen feet off tape. Bliss.

That’s one arm around her llama

July 14th, 2018

The mini-adventure to Lincoln for mom’s upcoming birthday started with a show at the Morrill Hall planetarium

Ella got a little restless and hung out in the lobby for a bit until the show was over

On to the main attraction- dinosaurs! Des points out the woolly mammoth to Eleanor

Des’ first encounter with a T-Rex (yup, lots of pointing)

In awe of the allosaurus

 Big mammoth, tiny Des and Ella

Having a slice at the institution of Yia Yia’s

Skipping nap (gasp!) in favor of a visit to the Lincoln Children’s Museum

Right after or before Des sent a small lego plate up and jammed the conveyor lift

Really cool interactive, hands-on topographical projection (e.g., Des gets to play in sand and it looks really cool)

Desmond’s closest “sportsball” exposure to date

Ok, that’s a bit bigger the dad’s motorcycles in the garage

Lots to explore

Brother and sister sharing the pet washing station at the vet’s office

Capt. Desmond Shreffler reporting for launch and space exploration (barefoot, naturally)

If you look closely, this Cessna is piloted by two small llamas

Napping at 75mph

April 19th, 2018

Morning book club

With daycare/preschool closed for inservice, dad starts the morning at the preferred diner. Eleanor appeared much happier when the pancakes and hash browns arrived…

Perusing the musical selection

Des’ pick for the morning was the children’s museum. New smocks for water play meant Ella actually stayed mostly dry.

A perennial favorite-

While Des quickly moved on after dad reminded him what the plastic food was, Eleanor hung around to play with the oven knobs. Feels like this play area represents more of a safety regression than entertainment :/

Of course Des decorated himself as an astronaut.

Des blowing a kiss. Assume he was aware that dad and sister, in the car directly behind him, were joining him on the very same train ride?

Ella’s first train ride, loved it

The family that wrenches together, stays together

Some light dancing before Des began what can only be described as “slow-motion breakdancing”

New scenery during nap time, having framed the painting for mom and dad’s five-year anniversary

March 3rd, 2018

The morning started as a house divided, with mom and brother getting a haircut with aunt Megan. Eleanor and dad head to the children’s museum for some rigorous fruit sorting-

Ella was surprisingly cooperative while donning her smock for water play

It took a while, but she finally got to take her turn pushing around one of the carts. Now she was on a mission.

Driving tractors like a pro

Desmond and mom joined us, where Des was quick to overcome his fear of walking over netted surfaces (this part of the playground and zoo hasn’t traditionally been his favorite)

Sign now reads, “Days without arm-stuck incidents: 0”

Des is getting old/tall/strong enough to play with the big-kid gizmos

Meanwhile, sister doesn’t quite have the weight to actuate much of the gadgetry

Balls + columns of air = magic!

The seasonal winter display included a “sledding ramp” (think air hockey table) and snowball-throwing zone

Eleanor, the Fearless Climber

…and carousel chicken rodeo wrangler

Desmond predictably opted for the train ride, though auditioning a new seat rather than his familiar caboose spot

Eagerly waving to brother, “Hello! Good-bye! … “Hello! Good-bye!”

A nice weekend lunch out, Des gives the Ethiopian restaurant “two pieces of injera up!” Or maybe it was just getting to eat with his hands?

After naps, it was both warm and windy- prime kite flying weather (for early March anyway)

Eleanor joyfully exercising her newfound freedom of running through fields

Not shown: mom’s large box kite proved too much to navigate in the high winds. Comedy ensued.

We weren’t the only ones with the kite idea-

Eleanor showing great restraint with not eating the play-doh. That did not last long.

November 11th, 2017

Escaping a drizzly morning checking out the new Forests exhibit at the Children’s Museum

Desmond could move around the logger, but it was way too heavy for a toddler to actuate

Showing off his catch, though just like the game at home, he circumvented the challenge by going done the stairs, nabbing a fish, then bringing it back up to the platform before attaching to his fishing pole 🙂

Plenty of activities Eleanor is getting old/tall enough to enjoy

Happiness is riding on the train by yourself, in the caboose

“Hi brother!”

Happily crawling around to nab balls

Ever the crawler, Ella insisted on riding on the crane

Des engrossed in the ball tubes, hair blowin’

Pretty much sums up the end- Ella ticked off mom won’t let her put her mouth on everything

Nacho movie picnic night, with The Lego Movie

Eleanor in disbelief at the plot twist!

October 7th, 2017

On a drizzly, cold autumn morning, Desmond and dad head to the children’s museum. We’re not going to say he shops like mom, but…

Riding the train by himself, like the almost-three-year-old he is

Got a few balls to reliably launch out of the cannon this time

During a prior visit, Desmond scanned in a coloring and got to watch it animate into a 3D world. This time dad was less confident that the original drawings made it into the system. Thinking he found plane similar-enough to call Desmond’s, Des later began doing this: 

Can’t tell if he’s just trying to mentally reconcile seeing his drawing projected on the screen, or if he caught on and was dubious of the match or…

Stop. Blocks time.

And then it was nap time

Eleanor and dad came down after nap to find brother beginning to watch an episode of Beat Bugs. Eleanor joined on the couch for just a moment, though apparently shocked to be watching

Yup, thrilled

Evening shopping for upcoming family photos, Des models a nice two-button suit jacket. For fun.