Thursday, April 30, 2009

One more Grandma and Papa Post

The day after the Pink Palace was Brandon's Birthday. While Hyrum was at preschool in the morning, the little kids, my parents and I snuck off to the "neighs" to get one more ride in. The kids were so cute patiently waiting for it to be their turn on the carousel. Like always, the kids really enjoyed themselves. After the carousel, my dad gave me two quarters to play Dance, Dance Revolution. I had a great time, but felt like a little kid.

You can read what we did for the rest of Brandon's Birthday here. I forgot to mention for Brandon's birthday we also had pizza for dinner at the park before soccer practice. The picture below was too cute not to post!The next day was spent packing and getting ready to leave in the afternoon. The kids (as well as myself) had a difficult time saying good-bye. Ben cried for over half of the way home for his beloved papa and grandma. Now when he sees an airplane he looks at me and says, "Papa, airplane." I think he is trying to tell me that papa came on an airplane. Also, if I tell him that papa wears a hat he will do it and tell me , "Papa, hat." The other day I heard him talking to himself and he said, "Papa, yellow." I think meaning papa like the color yellow. He is too funny. I think these pictures below show how much he really loves his Papa.We loved having my parents visit some of the highlights from the visit are playing football, wrestling, hide-n-seek, reading books, snuggling in bed in the morning, etc. I think the list also included having someone to cuddle with at all times. One of the days Ben was having a hard time taking a nap even though he was really tired. My mom asked him if he wanted to come and sleep by her and he got the biggest grin on his face and said yes. He then climbed on the bed by her and snuggled right up. She said he didn't move an inch and went straight to sleep.Hyrum also enjoyed snuggling with papa during his nap time and watching a movie instead of sleeping.Emmy loved being a little mother hen towards my mom while she was here. My mom has had many foot problems recently. Emmy was always worried about her boot and her owie foot. She was quick to bring my mom her boot if she didn't have it on. Grandma was the one who "saved" Emmy anytime she got in trouble which scored many points with our little diva. Emmy was also so cute with my dad. She would give him little kisses and climb on his lap just because. It was too cute. Emmy had such a great time with both my parents. Hyrum couldn't get enough of them. He always wanted to be with my parents during their visit. He would tell them over and over again while they were here how much he loves them and how he missed them. He even talks about now how when they will come again when it is his birthday and they will go to Chuckie-E- Cheese.We love you Gramaw and Papa! Thank you for coming to visit us!

Children's Museum and Pink Palace

After it started to rain at the park, we decided to check out Memphis' Children's Museum. The kids had a blast!

The first attraction of the museum that we stopped at had a large FED EX airplane for the kids to play in and explore. They even had a control tower that a person could talk back and forth with while pretending to be the pilot. While Hyrum was sitting in the pilot seat he was talking about all the different missions that he had to go really fast and complete. Even papa got in on the fun and played with the kids in the cockpit of the plane. I think that this was one of Hyrum's favorite parts of the museum.

My mom enjoyed watching the kids play.

After the airplane, we went to the water area. The water place was set up with currents in the water so you could put fish and other items in to float down the river. It was really cool.

Waiting for the fish to come

The kids really enjoyed fishing.
The next part of the museum we went to was the grocery store exhibit. The kids loved having their own little shopping cart to push around. Ben took his job very seriously and loved going shopping again and again. One time he filled up his whole cart with butter; there must have been a sale. I think the grocery store area was his favorite spot.
Emmy filled her cart up with fruit most of the time.Hyrum liked working the cash register. He had fun identifying the numbers on the different items and putting them into the cash register.He also love the receipts that would come from the register.
I love this picture because you can see my mom smiling
in the background while watching the kids play.

Some of the other exhibits we stopped at were the dentist, china, wood exhibits and a fun place to crawl in and out of. Ben actually got caught and scared in it. They had many fun things.
The kids also enjoyed the police and fireman area. Hyrum thought he was pretty hot stuff up on top of the motorcycle.Probably one of Ben and Emmy's favorite spot is the area where they have a van for the kids to play in. They love playing in our van much to my dismay and frustration.The area focuses on safety and the importance of wearing your seat belt and being in a correct carseat in the car.

The kids also enjoyed a certain area that look like a dance floor that you walked through. They had a disco ball going and strobe lights. Emmy loved walking through that spot over again and again. She would get this little cute look on her face when she did so.The kids had a very hard time leaving the museum since they were having so much fun.

The next day we took the kids to the Pink Palace Museum to the poop exhibit. The kids loved getting their outhouse picture taken. Hyrum enjoyed the poop guessing game with my dad. They would look at a piece of pooh and decide what animal it belong too. I am sure my parents have never known so much about pooh in the lives after that exhibit, but the kids had a great time.

The kids also enjoyed looking at the circus exhibit that depicted a circus from the early 1900's that would come to Memphis. The parts of the circus would move. It was very fascinating to watch. The kids also enjoyed looking at the dinosaurs with my parents. You can read about our other adventure to the Pink Palace here.