Monkey Joes - North Carolina Day 2 and 3

Sunday was another beautiful day - super warm, sunny and a great day to spend outside.  We headed out for breakfast at the Farmer's Market and then went for a walk though the stalls.  I loved it and while I am pretty sure I didn't eat as many samples as someone else did when she went (can you guess who?), I probably came pretty close.  We ended up buying some fudge (ate almost all of it by myself), some local jelly, fresh lemonade and a delicious local peach/mango salsa which I planned to eat as soon as we got home from North Carolina (unfortunately I was a dope and tried to carry it home in my carry-on so it wouldn't get smashed and it got confiscated for having too much liquid).  After the Farmers market, we went to the flea market and started to head back home when Ryan reminded us that we were going to go to Monkey Joes, a place he knew nothing about other than that Erika's kindergarten kids like to go there.   We decided to drop Jay and Richie off at home and Erika and I took the boys.

In case you can't tell by the picture, Monkey Joe's is basically an indoor collection of bounce houses, slides and mazes: In other words, paradise for my boys.  They could not get their shoes off fast enough and Ryan kept telling Dylan "follow me, follow me, I will show you what to do"  haha.

What first caught my eye was how high some of the slides went and wondered how Dylan would be able to do them.  I don't know how high the ceiling went in the building but the highest slide hit it and you can see that in the background of some of the pictures. 

Ryan did a great job navigating all of the ladders and climbing hills but Dylan was a little intimidated at first I think and some were pretty hard for him.  Erika and I both took turns helping Dylan through the mazes etc.  but soon enough, Dylan was wanting to do it himself.

 

I know Erika will agree with me when I say we got quite a workout and so did the boys.  They were dripping by the end and so were we.

There were a couple of birthday parties that day and Monkey Joe was on site to help those kids celebrate.  I think Ryan and Dylan thought that he was there for them though (especially Dylan) and they followed him around holding his hand.  

The kids didn't put too much of a fight when we left, I think probably because they were exhausted.  Guess they had a great time though because when we were going to bed, Ryan asked "Can we go to Monkey Joes again tomorrow?"  Guess we need to add Monkey Joes to the Must Do in NC list too.

(for full enjoyment, you should click on the pictures and enlarge them - some of the faces on the kids are hilarious and you will be better able to see what a fun time they had)

After Monkey Joes, we went back to Erika and Richie's house.  It was still light out so we hung out first on their porch, and then moved to the back yard so the kids could play and the adults could relax.

Erika and Richie: Thank you so much for a fantastic weekend.  You came up with such fun things for us to do and we can't wait to visit you again.   We love you so much and miss you already!

North Carolina - Day 1

I love going to visit Erika and Richie.  We have so much fun with them and I am always so sad to leave - I think that I have cried every time I have left there and Jay spends the whole time we are checking our bags in reassuring me that we can go again soon.  It seems like the visits are too far apart though.   The anticipation of this visit was huge though because Ryan understood we were going on the airplane and he talked about it for weeks (as did I)! (should have learned my lesson from Disney and waited to tell them we were going until the day before).  I think Erika and Richie loved it though because Ryan would want to call them everyday to ask if they had some toy/superhero/train and then tell them all of his plans of the games he would play with them when we arrived. I once heard him say to Erika 'You need to make a ecision immediately.   When we play superheroes, are you going to be a good guy or a bad guy".   The night before the trip, he packed his own suitcase, chock full of all kinds of toys and off we went to the airport.  After a smooth check in, we had time to check out some planes and have some coffee.  

I love flying Jetblue - the tvs in the seats are terrific for the boys and each one can watch whatever they want.  The kids were pretty good on the flight - they had breakfast and watched tv and we even touched down in Raleigh a few minutes early.  This was Dylan's last flight as a lap ticket (you don't have to buy plane tickets until kids are 2) and he definitely is ready for his own seat.   More than once, he told me to get up - lol.  (the mark on my head is ridiculous - I burnt it with a curling iron.   oh well, at least I matched Dylan and his bruises).

Erika and Richie picked us up at the airport and we headed over to the Mellow Mushroom for some pizza before heading over to Marbles Museum, one of the best places I have ever been to for kids.  Basically, it was two floors of different interactive rooms and every room we went in, Ryan said he didn't want to leave.   My favorite was the water area - the kids put on smocks to keep from getting wet, but they were pretty much soaked by the time we left.  There was a little pool of water that had rubber ducks and fish in it and the kids would just put there whole arm in to get stuff out - it was like they didn't even realize they were getting wet. This exhibit was for kids to learn what would sink and float, but all they cared about was splashing each other.  I think i also liked it because of the lighthouses - after last summer's experience at the Cape Hatteras lighthouse (I still despise you Emily Johnson), I would say this is the closest we will get to an NC lighthouse again.

Next up was the lab - Dylan had no interest but Ryan was happy to become a scientist and do some experiments.

The lab was short lived though (probably spent the least amount of time here) because Ryan saw the pirate ship and since "Richie loves pirates, we should go over there". After putting on their pirate costumes, the kids steered the ship, walked the plank, and kept a look out to see if any enemies were approaching. 

They did spot a garden outside so we headed outside. I could have stayed in the garden all afternoon - it was a beautiful day and it was just so nice to sit outside and chill.  

While Jay and I caught up with Erika and Richie, the boys played in the sand with the trucks and bulldozers. As usual, both boys played with one eye on what they were doing and the other looking around making sure nobody had something better.  Initially, they were concerned only with each other and then much to my delight, they began to work together doing "estruction".   I think Ryan recruited Dylan to help though more as his henchman. Within minutes, they somehow had commandeered all of the dumpers and trucks and one of the shovels, which Ryan was using.   Dylan walked up to another kid, about 4 years older to him, and grabbed the other shovel right out of his hand.   The kid followed, Dylan to try and get the shovel back and I heard Ryan say "That's my brother and he had that shovel first.  You need to find something else to dig with, that is his".  Oy!  Dylan had to give the shovel back of course and I told Ryan that it is not nice to tell a lie and that the other boy had it first and Ryan said "no he didn't, when we first came here Dylan had it before the boy was even here"  Guess according to Ryan's rules, once you touch something, you had it first FOREVER.

Ryan's favorite room by far was the Moneypalooza room, specifically the piggy bank.

Through a variety of tubes, suction hoses and pipes, balls are funneled into the top of the piggy bank.  When the bank if full, the bottom would open up and dumped the balls out.  Ryan thought it was hysterical and he, Dylan, Richie and Jay were more than happy to assist in filling the bank by whatever means necessary

Another favorite of the kids was the Power2Play area - an exhibit focused on sports, nutrition, exercise and teamwork.  Ryan really only wanted to play hockey, but he is seriously lacking skills and looked more like he was participating in curling. 

Dylan, on the other hand, wanted to try EVERYTHING else in the room.  He danced on the mini dance floor and even did a forward roll as part of his routine (pretty sure he got that move from Ryan), practiced jumping on the trampoline and acted like a monkey in the jungle.

I think that all of his exercise made him hungry though because it wasn't long before he headed over the kitchen to make himself a snack!

There were a bunch of other "exhibits" at the museum that we went to - the art station where Dylan made a sand art picture, the GO zone where they made simpe race cars and raced them down a hill, played in a fire truck and dressed as a fireman, and last but not least, coupled up some trains on a huge train table. I am sure I am missing some things that we did and I know that we did not even see some of the exhibits. I wish that the museum was in New York because the kids had a great time and would love to go back.  There definitely was not enough time in the day to do everything and next time we are in Raleigh, it will for sure be on our list of "Must Do" things. 



Cat in the Hat

I remember being a kid and watching The Cat in the Hat movie which I am pretty sure we rented from the library, and singing over and over "He's a cat in the hat, in French, chat chapeau, in Spanish, el gato in a sombrero"  - not sure why I remember that.    Anyway, March 2nd was Dr. Seuss's birthday and Ryan's class has been celebrating Dr. Seuss all month - they have been reading his books, they made Green Eggs and Ham (which Ryan declared "I do like them, Ryan I am") and each kid in the class got to spend a night taking care of the Cat in the Hat.  Ryan waited and waited for his turn to come and on Friday the 11th, he called me absolutely screaming (i could see the veins in his neck popping through the phone) "MOMMMMYYYY - YOU ARE NOT GOING TO BELIEVE THIS!  I-HAVE-THE-CAT"  How exciting we would have the Cat all weekend!

I let Ryan pick what he wanted to do with the Cat (gave him a few choices to start him off) and he came up with a busy day: go to a park, to the mall near Jay's hotel, visit Jay's hotel and go to Target, lol.    I decided to take the kids to the park by Jay's hotel and it was fantastic.  I had been there with Ryan before and every time we drive by there, he begs to go but we hadn't gone in a really long time. 

The boys are both daredevils and always want to do things that I think are not age appropriate (the boys are too young).  They amaze me all the time though with what they can do.   There was a rock climbing wall at the park and Ryan begged to try it as we were leaving and I told him that I thought it might be too hard.  Well, much to my amazement, he did it and said "I told you - I knew I could do it"  - I LOVE that he likes a challenge and even though he fell the first time, he didnt give up.

Dylan is the same way - he follows Ryan up a ladder, insists on going down the slide backwards, and anything he says Ryan do, he copies saying "Dylan try, mommy let go"

After the park, our next stop was the mall - the kids love going to this mall because there is a play area in the food court.  Ryan was very excited to bring the Cat there but there were two problems: 1. Dylan wanted to hold the Cat while he played and yelled "cat hat, dillie turn.  cat hat dillie turn "every 5 seconds and 2. Ryan wanted to walk up to every kid  there and say "look at what I have" while he waved the Cat in their face.  I decided that the Cat needed to take a nap in my bag and after a minor tantrum by Dylan, they were fine.  By the time we left 30 minutes later, they were both red-faced and covered with sweat from running around so much.

After a quick stop at Target because the Cat "wants to see some transformers", we went to pick up Daddy at work.  Jay's hotel is really pretty so Ryan wanted to show the Cat the "river" in the lobby.

Our final stop was dinner - the restaurant we went to had a huge fish tank and a sushi bar which Ryan found pretty exciting.  We also discovered that both boys like edamame and that the Cat wont eat your chicken, no matter how many times you try to shove it in his mouth. (the Cat took another nap during dinner)

On Sunday, we ended up just staying in, doing laundry and art projects.  I asked Ryan a few times what he wanted to do and he said he wanted to stay in - of course at 5 o'clock, he said "Mommy, you didn't even do anything for the Cat in the hat today.  He didn't go on any adventures at all." (insert eye roll here).  Then Ryan declared that he had a good adventure for the Cat - Ryan could teach him how to play Angry Birds on the ipad.  Crisis averted...I thought..until Dylan came over and stole the Cat and the ipad.  Time for the cats 10th nap of the weekend and a bath for the boys. 

We fun on our adventures with the Cat in the Hat but I was glad for him to leave and it is a miracle he went back with both arms and legs intact.   For as much as he was loved and fought over when he was here, once the Cat was gone, he was totally forgotten - the boys have not mentioned him since.