I have so many little matters to tell you of, that I cannot wait any longer before I begin to put them down.
Sep 19th, 2017 by ECM
Take four eight-year-old homeschool girls (and their little sisters), and you’ll probably end up with a Girls’ Club, or GC for short. My girls worked hard yesterday to make perler bead club badges in the shape of dolphins. Today at their play date/meeting they all dipped their fingers in friendship potion so they’ll stay friends forever. Have I mentioned how great Iowa is???
Sep 15th, 2017 by ECM
Today we headed over to the Quad Cities again for another field trip date with Leah and the kids. I was a little iffey on whether Tommy would find the Family Museum too babyish, but he ended up loving the water table system and spent over an hour working on different ways to control the flow. We ducked into the library next door for lunch at the yummy cafe, and we helped put out a fire in the outdoor landscaping, where someone had tossed a cigarette onto the dry woodchips! Back at the museum for the afternoon, the girls raced around, dressed up, and pretend played to their heart’s content, we made fancy hats in the art studio, and Tommy even dressed up near the end. Everyone had such a great time that even after five hours, a child who shall remain nameless had a total meltdown at the thought of having to leave and had to be carried, kicking and screaming, from the museum in order for me to get back to Iowa City in time for physical therapy.
We sure are getting our money’s worth out of our Santa Barbara Natural History Museum membership–this is the fourth museum we’ve gotten into for free with its reciprocity since moving out here! That card and Leah’s Family membership both expire at the end of October, so we’re already making plans to come back one more time before then.
Sep 10th, 2017 by ECM
Well, the first week of school was a rough one, even with Grandma coming in to help for our first day! There were lots of tears and definitely a frustrated teacher. But on Monday, we took a nature hike with the Lashmits by Lake Macbride, we swam and played at the park before Grandma left on Tuesday, the girls started Irish dance lessons on Wednesday, we played with our friends the Havemans all afternoon on Thursday, and we finished up Friday with a trip to the Iowa Children’s Museum. So not all work and no play, but still a lot of adjusting to do…
Lots of good pretend play happening at the Children’s Museum.
Sep 9th, 2017 by ECM
Our second day in Chicago last weekend was spent at MSI, my all-time favorite museum! Tommy totally did not remember all the times he’d been there, but we tried to recreate a few classic photo ops. Everyone had a blast, and we’re looking forward to coming back sometime.
Sep 1st, 2017 by ECM
We are enjoying a mini vacation in Chicago this weekend, and today we checked out Adler Planetarium, which we last visited in 2010! Tommy was in space-obsessed boy heaven.
We checked into the hotel, recorded our adventures in our field trip journals, visited POSH (my favorite store in Chicago), and met up with Grandma and Grandpa Muller and Elizabeth in time to have Chicago style pizza at Lou Malnati’s. It sure is fun to be back in Chicago together for the first time in years!
Aug 26th, 2017 by ECM
Riding in a 1914 Model T!
Perfect weather for a day at the village.
At the milliner’s shop.
Thomas Edison’s Menlo Park laboratory!
Tommy was geeked out.
A small invention every 10 days, and a major invention every 6 months.
We went to the 400 year old Cotswalds cottage (brought over from England) for a tea lunch.
Making good use of our unlimited historical rides bracelets!
Janie’s favorite thing all day was the carousel.
You can’t blow out the light in a handmade tin hurricane lamp!
Tommy got to help out at the printing press!
His handiwork.
They were fascinated at the pottery workshop.
After five hours, our feet were falling off, and we ended with a train ride around the village.
Can wait to come back next time we’re in Detroit!
Aug 23rd, 2017 by ECM
The kids spent the night at the cabin with Grandma and Grandpa last night.
Aug 22nd, 2017 by ECM
The kids and I came down to Columbia this week to observe the total eclipse. It was definitely the coolest natural phenomenon I have ever seen! We had lots of fun with the funky glasses, and Grandpa made extra sure that the kids would be safe by adding masks on top.
Lisa (my first babysitter and Elizabeth’s grown-up BFF) flew out and brought her parents up to watch the eclipse with us! They are clearly as hilarious as we are.
We are pretty cool.
Up on the bluffs for totality so that we could see the horizon in both directions.
The clouds worried us for a bit, but they cleared away at the critical moment.
The eclipse was pretty neat as it got close, but totality was beyond amazing.
The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim His handiwork!
Aug 19th, 2017 by ECM
The Iowa Children’s Museum sponsored a great open-ended play party downtown yesterday. As you can see, it was totally our cup of tea!
Aug 16th, 2017 by ECM
In two weeks, we’ve been to the library almost a dozen times. Both of the city libraries around here are just so great! The Iowa City summer reading program is amazing, with daily events at the library (last week, the kids watched the Lego Batman movie on Monday and made veggie pizzas on Friday) and great prizes for completing your reading log. The big kids have already finished the whole thing, and the little girls are just a little behind because I won’t read aloud to them for hours every day. Everyone agrees that this is our favorite library of all the places we have lived!
But Coralville Library is pretty sweet, too. It’s smaller, but they have a lot of good books, and Iowa City residents can get a card there, too. Since most of the friends we’re meeting live in Coralville, it’s been easy to slip in there on our way home and fill up a suitcase or two a couple times a week.
