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Movies, Science, Smoking, and Late Bedtimes

This weekend has been fun. And with it, we have officially finished up with our Spring Happenings list for the most part. We have actually done just about everything we set out to do. The only thing we didn't finish 100% was visiting all the Disney parks. We missed Animal Kingdom and Magic Kingdom (with the kids as Steven and I went alone one day). Granted, we have a couple of weeks left before our blockouts begin but I don't know if we will have time to make it back. We shall see.

This weekend we had plans to make a Cinco de Mayo style dinner on Friday. We ended up making tacos, quesadillas, and Mexican rice. We all sat down to watch a movie together with our dinner. We decided on The Secret Life of Pets. I was curious if it would hold everyone's attention but it definitely did. Super cute movie. The kids loved it. We are finally moving out of the style of movies that have a lot of singing in them and onto "bigger kid" type things. The kids thought most of the movie was hilarious. Steven and I were even laughing pretty hard at some of the scenes. The kids ended up staying up fairly late to finish the movie but we figured it was Friday anyway.

Saturday morning we initially had plans to go back to Ponce Inlet. However, we woke up to 57 degree weather and crazy amounts of wind. After some discussion, we decided to not risk it. We knew it would be a bit warmer by the time we made it out to the beach but we also knew that with the winds that high, we couldn't use our tent. That meant that we wouldn't be able to stay as long because we don't trust the Florida sun enough even with sunblock and rash guards. So we wouldn't be able to make it long enough to picnic and we didn't want to drive all the way over there for an hour or so. We were all somewhat sad because low tide was lining up perfectly for a morning at the beach. Oh well. The good news is that we live in Florida so there will be plenty of time to make it back there. Since we couldn't go to the beach, we wanted to do something else. We initially had plans this weekend to go to the Orlando Science Center (OSC) because the first weekend of every month is free admission for Bank of America card holders but the beach was just too tempting so we initially wrote off OSC. When the weather was too chilly (such Floridians...), we changed our minds back and decided to go to the science center. We were so glad we did too.


It has been quite some time since we have been to the science center. In reality, we have only been once and it was the summer I was pregnant with Will. I remember being fairly pregnant and Kenzie being just over 2. We went with my parents to celebrate Joe's birthday, I think. We had a blast then and I think we had an even better time this time. When we got there, we "paid" separately because it let us both get in for free. Will is still free and Kenzie was only $14 so we were all able to get in for $14 total. Can't beat that! We started by heading downstairs to the wildlife area. I'm not sure what the exhibit is called but it houses small gators, fish, and a lot of other animals. Most of which are native to Florida but also a few invasive species so the kids could learn about those too. We chatted with an employee checking pH levels in the tanks for a bit. Kenzie seemed interested in what she was doing. Will was super into all the snakes. He kept hissing at them. Then he had to wave bye bye to the lizards he saw. He was quite into all the creepy crawly things.





We decided to go back upstairs to the Kidstown area next. This is something they had when we were there before but they have renovated it entirely. It is now way nicer. It was fun before but the set up wasn't as easy to navigate. Now there are separate rooms for different types of activities. And the sections are much larger and more involved. The kids LOVED it. I have to admit... Steven and I enjoyed it too. We started in the Florida groves section. This area let kids explore groves from the moment oranges are picked to when they are delivered to customers in a store and sold. You picked the oranges, put them through "juicers" or washed them to prep them to sell then put them in a truck and "delivered" them. It was pretty cool. Whoever thought up this concept was genius. Every kid loved it. They even had a small area sectioned off for smaller children that let them play and explore without being in the midst of all the bigger kids. Kenzie and Will just ran in circles trying out everything.






The next room was a giant climbing play structure. Right up the kids' alley. It didn't have a slide but it was huge and had a ton of random passageways. We basically lost the kids in it for 20 minutes. Every now and then we would see them wander by where we were standing or sitting and then they were gone again. Eventually I went up to retrieve them (yes, parents could walk through part of it without too much ducking... not like that time I had to climb the play structure at Chick Fil A to save Will) and found them at this area that shot balls out at them. It was basically these tubes that sent some balls to the bottom of the structure outside and some that let people on the bottom send them back up into the structure. I laughed way too hard at these kids. Kenzie was terrified she would get hit so she ran around trying to avoid the balls but pick up any that came up to send back down. The balls came out with some force. Will did get pelted in the stomach once. It was awesome. Eventually I was able to drag them away and we moved on.



The next room was a giant water table basically. Before I go any further, I have to admit that the coolest part was the baby area. There were little seats built into a small, super shallow water table that let babies sit in the table itself and splash some. So cool! There was a water table area in the prior Kidstown but this new one took it to a whole new level. The kids raced around trying everything out. Will was obsessed with bubbler type things that he could put balls or boats on and they would be pushed down into the pool area. Kenzie really seemed to like the irrigation type area where you moved pipes around to change the flow of the water. You could also "pump" water into an overhead bowl with holes that made it rain in the center of the room. Kenzie and Will both thought that was awesome. Despite both kids wearing smocks, Will was soaked by the time we managed to get them out of there and on to something new.








The next area was a stage. Kenzie nor Will were super into it until a bunch of other kids came in and then Kenzie wanted to do it too. It didn't last too long though and we were ready to move on. What's weird is that for as social and as much as she likes to put on "shows" all the time, she wasn't into it. Weird. She loves being on stage for dance competitions or at school programs but didn't want to do the stage. Oh well. The next room was a huge room with building type things in it. The kids tried to add onto a "car" that someone had started but didn't get too far. Really, Will just wanted to sit on it and have someone push him around. There wasn't enough room to go too far though. We built with huge blocks and "Monster" Will knocked them down like Godzilla. The coolest part was probably the scarf shooter. I have no idea what else to call that. You put these scarfs into holes in the bottom and they went through tubes then shot out into the air and floated back to the ground. It was pretty cool.






While we were in the building room we were told that Story Time would be starting soon so we worked our way back over to the stage. The kids both sat on beanbags and listened to the story. Both kids raised their hands and were sitting nice so they were each chosen to help put a dot on the board that the story teller was using. They thought they were pretty cool. After story time they used dry erase markers to create "art" like the girl in the book that was read. It was fun.







At that point it was time to eat lunch. On the way there we happened to hear someone calling my name and ran into Ryan, Jen, and Matthew. They were there too! They actually got an annual family pass but I told them that we will all need to go back the first weekend in a month sometime and do it all together. They were there with friends so we went on to lunch while they continued on their exploring of the science center. We remembered there was a Subway there so we planned for that. I actually brought some fruit pouches and uncrustables for the kids so we were able to start them eating while we ordered food. That worked out well. Both kids were pretty hungry. Especially Kenzie. We think she could be growing again based on how much she is eating and sleeping lately. Or maybe this is just the food and sleep energy level she requires to continue functioning at a typical Kenzie level. Who knows? After lunch we decided to go into the traveling exhibit. It was all about space. Perfect! Kenzie is obsessed with space and Will is obsessed with any sort of vehicle including rockets so this was perfect for them. We tried out a bunch of things like testing grip strength and completing circuits. Steven honed in on the space potty and showed Will how to use it... Things like that. The best part was riding in the space shuttle. We were able to simulate (in a very calm way) a launch. Will was iffy on getting in it alone so he rode with Steven. Kenzie definitely had to sit in the upper level though with an older girl. The girl and her were cracking me up. The girl was playing along with Kenzie as if they were astronauts (she was probably late middle school age) and they were giving each other thumbs up and what not as we prepared for launch. We tried to centrifuge too. Steven didn't want to ride so I took both kids. The max g force I could get us up to was about .4, I think. Not much at all. It was enough to make us all dizzy though.






After that we went up to the dinosaur exhibit. As it happened, we were at OSC on Women in Science Day. There were a lot of exhibits about women in science. They also had a special activity set up to get kids thinking about paleontology. We did a pre and post survey after seeing the exhibits and Kenzie was given real fossils for completing it. She actually answered the questions about what paleontology is and what tools paleontologists use correctly without help from us. I only read the questions to her. There was a dino dig section as well in this area. The kids could go in and use shovels and brushes to dig out fossils. Pretty cool. The only issue was that Will was really enjoying this part of the museum and didn't want to leave. Steven eventually removed him and he had to be taken out of the area to calm down because he was crying.





It didn't take long to calm him though and we went into the weather exhibit. All four of us got into the hurricane simulator. Will was definitely not sure and cowered in my shoulder but Kenzie thought it was cool. They also both tried the earthquake simulator. Then we all became meteorologists on TV. We decided before we left to let the kids stop for 15 more minutes or so in Kidstown. We just stopped at the orange grove because that is the first section of the kids area. They loved it though. It wasn't too crowded still because the way it is set up seems to keep everything in the kids' area from becoming too congested. They played for a while longer and at that point it was about 2pm and we were over an hour over naptime for Will so we decided to call it a day. We had been there for over 4 hours (on $14 nonetheless) and we were all tired. So we packed it up and headed home. Will fell asleep on the way home and luckily was able to be transitioned to his bed where he remained asleep until we woke him up at about 4:30.




We had an easy dinner and tried to start Homeward Bound with the kids but Kenzie became a bit bored. Will seemed okay with it but we don't know how long that would have lasted anyway as he tends to get bored even with regular TV after some time and usually just leaves to go play in the playroom if we watch too long. Some movies keep his attention but this one wasn't a cartoon and as colorful or anything so we don't know. We ended up turning it off to watch the Kentucky Derby. We then took the kids outside. Our neighbors and their little girl came out and we were all playing. Before we knew it, it was after 8. It just such a great day and with it staying late so much later, we didn't realize it was so late. We had to get inside to get the kids ready for bed since we had church on Sunday.

Sunday morning started as usual. Steven was volunteering at church again doing tech so he left early for church and I had the task of getting the kids bathed and ready for church. Luckily, they were cooperative. Church was good and the kids enjoyed their classes in GraceTown. Steven had to stay through the second service (as he does any time he volunteers) but we had plans to smoke ribs and invite our neighbors over for dinner so I had to go straight home to start the smoker. This isn't something I do very often but it is easy enough. The worst part was that Steven ended up running late so I had to prep and start the ribs themselves including putting the rub on them and then actually putting wood chips in the smoker too which is not something I often do by myself. We made it work though and by the time Steven made it home, everything was going and smoking nicely.

I ended up taking Kenzie out during Will's nap time to run some errands. We are just over 2 months away from her birthday which means that I need to start some planning. We make quite a few decorations usually and I like to spread the cost out over time so we start early when birthdays come around. Kenzie has decided on a Moana theme which is still fairly new-ish in the grand scheme of things and actual decorations aren't super common. So, we are making quite a bit. However, we are doing a similar party to last year and already ordered the water slide so everything will be outside. That means that I only have to decorate one food table basically which cuts down drastically on what we plan to do. I only have a few things planned and they should be fairly simple. Anyway, we ran up to the new Party City that just opened around the corner. They only had Moana plates, napkins, and cups so we decided against it because I typically use non-themed plates and stuff. We went to Wal-Mart too so we could see if they had anything. They didn't but we picked up some supplies to make a few things while we were there. We still have a few more stops to make and then in the next month I will start putting things together. I have to wait for a while because otherwise we have put together decorations taking up space in the house. Space we don't have to spare.

By the time we got home, Will was awake and we prepped for having our neighbors (minus one because he works Sundays) over for dinner. Ribs always make more than we can eat and we know the kids love playing with the neighbors. We need to plan a dinner though on a Saturday one of these days so the entire families can get together. The kids all played together and we ate dinner. It was fun. They didn't leave until around 7 so by the time we got the kids ready for bed, it was later than their usual bedtime. Mondays are not busy though usually so no worries. Next year should be interesting with Kenzie going to school 5 days a week. We are considering pushing her bedtime back a bit too but that is something we will play by ear as we see how her school year progresses.

This week is fairly quiet. I had a dentist appointment (that I had to take both kids to) but luckily they were really good... Kenzie has her kindergarten screening tomorrow afternoon but they said it will only take about 10 minutes, Kenzie has dance tonight (and I'm super excited because the recital dance is finally finished and we are allowed to go into the studio itself and record it today so that the kids can practice it), and that is about it other than the normal school week. There are only 3 weeks left in the school year. I can't believe we are almost to summer. The next few weeks working up to Kenzie's last day of school are pretty packed. There is a post in the works about her school year as a whole and what will be going on next year for her. She is super excited about all that her new elementary school will have to offer her.

With this weekend, we have officially finished our Spring Happenings list. Like I said, we technically never made it around to visiting Magic Kingdom or Animal Kingdom so unless we end up with a random Friday that we can make it down there, we are done. It's been a fun spring. We are all ready for summer. More beach trips, pool visits, and other fun things are planned. We will have a Summer Bucket List again this year which I will blog about once we have some more activities finalized. Should be in the next week or two. So much fun!

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