This poor baby wants table food SO bad.
Unfortunately, he has no teeth, and mama is still working him through trying through different baby foods to check for allergies and stuff.
That doesn’t stop him from wanting it though! I thought he was going to overturn his Bumbo seat trying to get the food off Jordan’s plate!
The next day he forced me to give him babyfood for lunch instead of just his bottle. Six months old, and already a man of influence!
Mom and I took the kids to the Huntsville Space and Rocket Center last week. I always have reservations about the Center (it’s kinda blah to me) and the Space program in general (don’t even ask if you don’t want to hear me go on another social justice rant) but the kids seemed to enjoy it….and that’s the important thing.
They have redone the center and the tour now starts in the new Davison Building with the Saturn V exhibit.
There isn’t much ‘new’ there. They have moved some exhibits from the other building over. Jordan enjoyed showing Celia how the astronauts sat during landing.
Next we hit the space station exhibit. I was sorely disappointed in it…honestly, I think it was older than the space station itself. But again, the kids loved it.
Celia demonstrates how the astronauts had to hold on while using the bathroom so they didn’t float away (this was one of four different displays on how to pee in space…how much about that do we really need to know?).
Jordan in the shower:
A wax woman with freakish spider lashes demonstrating how to sleep:
We stopped at a little OUTDOOR play area (that’s right, outdoor, in Alabama…..) for the little kids. Really, the only ‘little kid’ thing around there. First, Celia got stuck and scared in the tube play area. I had to climb up a tubular plastic slide (that had some really difficult vertical twist) and help her out. Fun times, fun times. Fun, sweaty times. Then Jordan talked her into going on a mini drop kind of thing. She held me personally responsible for her dislike of it.
After that, we went back to the older center, which was visibly run down, with several areas taped off for repairs. Highlights were the climbing wall and gift shop.
I do have many more photos to post. My camera battery died at the Space and Rocket Center, and I need to charge it before I can upload them. I left it at home, but lucky for me we are meeting Chris in Atlanta tomorrow and he’s bringing it!
We went to the Botanical Gardens today, which was pretty fabulous. Very kid friendly. Their new exhibit is called ‘Big Bugs’ and they are indeed big. Huge wickerish laquered bugs. Gorgeous. I loved the ants best. They were big enough for the kids to walk under….four huge ants marching across a field.
It was really hot, and Celia was being beastly…plus I had baby Allen in the stroller so I missed the dogwood trail and the 120 year old dogwood. Even when they aren’t flowering, I think those trees are beautiful, so I’m a bit sad about that. The path was thick gravel though…and I simply didn’t have the energy to try and push the stroller through that and dead with Ms. Crabby Pants.
They had a vegetable garden with tips for local gardeners (and a community garden next door) both of which I would have loved to spend more time at. I’m WAY into the community garden thing and would love to start one both in my neighborhood and at the CNI in Honduras.
The children’s garden was also lovely and educational. There were several preschool field trips playing there too (plus the oppressive Alabama heat) so we didn’t stay too long there either).
The last stop was the nature center with the butterfly house. It was fabulous, and I could have sat in there for hours. It was the one part of the garden that Celia actually semi-behaved. It had a huge waterfall, all kinds of butterfly friendly plants, tons of butterflies fluttering everywhere, even a window for viewing an active beehive.
I am about at my wits end with Celia today though. I let her stay up late last night to shop with mom and I…oh what a mistake that was. She has just been so…..well….BAD today. First, while I was showering, she threw all of the baby’s stuffed animals in his crib WHILE HE WAS SLEEPING IN IT. Eek. Luckily I heard her going in there and ran in to see what she was doing before anything bad could happen.
Then there was the horrible whining and crabbing at the gardens. We came straight home for lunch and an early nap. I thought maybe she’d be better after nap, but I walked past the stairs just in time to see her opening my brother’s bedroom door (aka, sanctuary of the old crabby cat) and shoving Bennie inside.
Loud fight ensued, I had to chase the dog out of there and sit her in time out again and talk about how badly either of those animals could have been hurt.
Surely after the huge time out for that one she’d be done, right? No. During dinner she got a huge mouthful of food chewed up and rudely (sassily, with purpose) shoved her open mouth in Jordan’s (the queasy kid) face. I made her leave the kitchen until everyone was done eating then go back and eat alone.
She seemed truly repenetent. Like she really changed her attitude. We took the baby outside to experience the pool (he loved it) and after everyone went in, I offered to let her water Aunt Theresa’s flowers with the hose. We reviewed hose etiquiette….no spraying people, the house, the dog, or anything but the flowers. I walked the dog around the yard for a bit and came back to find her watering the bucket of chalk.
I told her to hand over the hose. She turned, looked at me, pointed the hose, and sprayed me.
Nice.
I made her sit in time out on the porch and mulled over it for a while as I finished the flowers…and I decided that the most appropriate solution was to spray her with the hose. Not in the face or anything…just her legs and stuff. Call CPS. She was hysterical. Hated it. We talked all about feelings….how she felt, and how that’s the same way other people feel when she does mean things etc.
I don’t think it made a bit of difference.
I offered to let my mom keep her for the rest of the summer, but I don’t think she’s down with that. Not that I could really do it…I’d miss her terribly. For the most part she’s my little sweetheart and I love her dearly, but days like today…..ugh!
Yesterday we took the kids to a waterpark and they had an awesome time. Celia tried out all of the pools (though she loved the kid’s area the best….and watching people come down the big slide in the Olympic pool.
Jordan spent his time trying out the slides….then jumping off everything there was to jump off of. I honestly could not believe that my chicken little launched himself off of not only the high springboard, but also the platforms above that!!
Testing the waters….
There he gooooooes…..
And goes…..
Splash!
He also mastered front flips off of both springboards!
Obviously, I’m loving that many picture option on the camera. On my computer, I can flip through them fast and it’s almost like an old fashioned flipbook. I can’t believe I didn’t think to get video of it!
Unfortunately, they don’t allow boys to wear swim shirts. Bah! And with him spending so much time flipping and jumping in….I just could not keep sunscreen on the boy. He got sunburned. 
Just some photos I’ve taken of the kids this week. More to come later!
What a big boy! Learning to sit up!
We braved the heat (the extreme heat….96 degrees!!) and went to the Nashville Zoo this weekend. Even though it was so hot, we had a great time. Celia is coming out of her whiny and defiant streak, so she was pleasant and had WAY more fun this time.
First up was the gibbon exhibit. Honestly, I liked this zoo better than the Pittsburgh Zoo. The animals seemed to have more room, it was more natural, and they seemed happier.
The whole family checking out the meerkats.
They also had a tunnel so the kids could go up into the area with the animals.
Check out the legs on this stork!
Wingspan too. This guy was just prancing back and forth, giving us a real show!
Some alligators, sunning themselves.
Showing baby Allen the snakes. Honestly, he preferred people watching to any of the animals this trip.
Celia absolutely LOVED everything in the Unseen Creature building. Snakes, frogs, spiders. She made me read each description to her and then lectured everyone around about the animal.
They had a really nice petting zoo too. I think these table goats should meet my lawn chair chickens.
Awww, baby Allen and a baby goat.
Sibling rivalry.
The kids loved brushing the goats. The goats didn’t seem to mind too much either.
We did wonder about these amazingly fat ones. Are they pregnant…or just fat? We felt it impolite to ask…but I did feel this goat up every which way (but not the way a vet would) and could not feel any for certain little baby goat parts wiggling around.
Six month old white tigers. They looked full grown, but acted like kittens.
Zebras, Elephants, and Giraffes completed the tour.
Took the kids to a science center called Sci Quest here in Huntsville. In WV, we’re spoiled by the well funded Carnegie Science Center and the brand new Avampato Discovery Museum. So to me, Sci Quest seemed a little…run down.
But…the kids LOVED it, and that’s all that matters. They did have some really cool exhibits…one of which gave me a cool idea for this Christmas.
It’s a container of iron filings and two strong magnets. Celia really loved playing with that ‘black sand’. She got a real kick out of styling it’s ‘hair’ and laughed when I showed her how to make it look like the iron was poking through her hand.
I also liked the suspension bridge building project (though I had to show Jordan how to do it…read the instructions dude!)
If was fun..and air conditioned. I got really thirsty though and the only options they had was a soda machine. Yuck!
I think they are in the running for a cover shot or something:
It’s really hard not to envy hanging baskets like this. Seriously, aren’t they something!?!?!
Photos like these make the south look beautiful. Like you might want to move here and have lovely gardens to be envied by your short seasoned northern neighbors.
It’s a lie though. It’s not nice at all. It’s HOT. Oppressingly, unimaginably hot. I don’t know how people survive in this! It’s only JUNE!!!
The children are much abused when visiting family.
Jordan was put to work mowing the lawn:
Celia had to sweep the porches:
They both had to wash grandma’s car:
It’s truly a hard knock life around here. Especially for my brother and mom, who discovered that sometimes letting these two ‘help’ with a project is more trouble than it’s worth. My brother had to go back and fix all the unmown patches of grass, and my mom ended up finishing washing the car by herself after Celia got squirted with water and quit….then Jordan fell off the car. He was unhurt, but she almost had a heart attack.
