RAINED OUT

We had big plans today: playing at the "Little Choo-choo Park", going for a run together on The Trace with the jogger, lunch out someplace fun, grocery shopping at Fresh Market for Chinese New Year meal components, and swimming at the Y. We even planned ahead, packing the diaper bag the night before so that we could just get up and go. But we forgot our jackets. And we were all in t-shirts. And as soon as we had made it to the highway, the rain started. And the temperature began to drop. And then for the 3rd time this week we had to make an emergency stop on the side of the road for James to poop. Yes, I just said poop. Parents never get tired of discussing their kids' bowel movements, didn't you know that? Anyway, after about 12 minutes of that joy (Have you ever had to sit in an enclosed vehicle - due to the rain, otherwise we would have had the door open - while somebody pooped? It stinks. Literally.), Jay turned our frowns upside down by deciding to take us to the Children's Museum. So we may have missed the park (which James had been talking about ALL WEEK LONG) and the run, but we still managed to do everything else AND have fun at the Museum (which James has also been talking about all week, since the K4-3rd graders are going there next week and he's been hearing about it at school).

Cora was so brave on this trip. She did lots of "big kid" activities, including climbing all the structures (with our help) and going down the big tunnel slides, racing boats and fishing for catfish, and climbing through the huge "Digestive System" exhibit all by herself. When I went to show Jay, and convince James to give it a try since Cora could do it (he's always been too scared to go through, even when we offered to go along), a bunch of bigger kids came through. And one little boy rough-housed Cora in a section we couldn't see into, stepping over and on her, leaving a huge red welt on her arm. At which point Jay had to squirm his way in quickly to rescue her because she became terrified. Poor Sissy.

(That purple portion behind them is the colon, in case you're wondering. And this end slide that James is emerging from empties into the "toilet". Nice, eh?)

After that drama, we retreated upstairs and the kids helped one of the employees build a chimney for the house. Cora ended up inside the brick box repeatedly, and James was cracking us up with his towers of bricks. And he refused to put that little blue hammer down.

P.S. The swimming pool at the Y is not quite warm enough for our kiddos. Our swim session was cut short due to chattering teeth, but the kids still had a blast. They tried to jump in, they splashed, and they particularly enjoyed the lockers in the locker room. At one point, when I came back from drying my hair, James was missing. And when I inquired "Where oh where has my little James gone?" I heard giggles from one of the big lockers, where he'd shut himself in to hide from me. Silly boy.