Yet Another - But Much less Crowded Children's Musuem

When you are on vacation and you are needing something to do because of the rain, a children's Museum is the thing that you want at your disposal. It is common knowledge that I am not a fan of Children's Museum, due to the crowded nature and the overall rudeness of little kids.... but I must say that the Museum of Discovery in Little Rock is the exception. We took Cooper, Katherine and Lauren and everyone had a great time. They had a ton of hands on activities that were enjoyed by the young and old (if you can consider 4 yrs to be old :)) They had exhibits ranging from silly ( they had the traveling show Grossology) to atmospheric. I am very glad that we made the trip and would do it again.

Auntie Kim showing us tectonic movements

taking our turns dropping balls onto a plate

The most fun of the day was a tube system that would spit out handkerchiefs 

Looking up

Watching the handkerchiefs fall from the ground is much easier

Mom trying to make sure everyone is having fun

Sooooo much fun

Had to stop at the climbing wall. - Kate was a natural(love that smile)

Cooper really likes this balence game 

Finding out how long our intestine is  - is a group effort

I would recommend this museum to anyone with time in Little rock. It was interesting, educational and fun.

A great place to spend on a rainy day

Fishing Cousins

Since last fall, when Cooper first tried fishing, he has been very interested in trying it again. He was unable to actually catch one, so this is the goal of our trip to Grammie and Grandpa's house.

Checking out the water

Wetting our line

Girls trying their luck

Getting pointers from Grandpa

Now seeing what Grammie knows

Grandpa keeping Lauren entertained

Look at the bend in the pole

Success

A hiking we will go

Justin, Kim and Katherine try to come see the rest of us that live in the lower 48 once a year, so they made the trip to Arkansas this spring. The kids and I were able to go see them, sadly ( or if you ask Joel, thankfully) Joel was not able to make the trip due to a VERY busy work schedule.
 We landed on Sunday night and the Northern most Lovejoy's were a little late, so Dad and I took the kids to get food and head home for a bath and bed. Justin and Kim are coming into the house and I notice something strange. Kim's tummy is a little bigger then the last time I saw her. My brother and Sis in Law are having a baby... in 10 weeks !! I am thrilled for them, but not very happy to be kept out of the loop. I will eventually get over it, but still... not cool on their part . ( and of course to make it worse they did not find out what there are having :) ).
   We had planned on going over to the Buffalo River for a few days. Sadly rain came and made things a little more complicated, but we decided to head up anyway. We arrive early afternoon on Monday and thankfully it was not raining yet, so we get out for a short hike. We went over to the Lost Valley. It was a very beautiful place and kids loved running around.

Walking with GrandDad

Granddad with the Girls!

Checking out an Old Tree

Happy to be out

After the hike we headed back to the house for dinner and bath. Lauren learned a new trick.... to get out of the pack n play, making my life more difficult, so after books we had about an hour and a half of her getting out of bed.

Books with Uncle

Books with Grammie

With it raining the next day we went into Jasper, AR to the wildlife museum. It was not to big, but a great distraction on a rainy day. The kids loved the animals and being able to run around.

Lauren smiling in front of an elk

Walking with the animals

Enjoying the display... trying really hard not to touch anything... but not being extremely successful

Had a nice lunch in town and enjoyed the afternoon and the rental house. The next morning we checked out the steel river before heading back to Hot Springs Village. 

Family Photo at the river - sorry no Kim since she was taking the pic

Hunting for Eggs

The last few years with Cooper, we have held may an Easter egg in our own back yard, but we have not yet ventured out to the big public Easter egg hunts. My friend Megan suggested one that was happening at the Boulder CO fairgrounds, so we agreed to meet up. Megan's son is in Cooper's gymnastics class and she has a daughter just a few weeks older then Lauren. So we have great playdates :).  They had games and a bounce castle that were a great hit. Cooper, Matthew, Lauren and Anna all had a great time. It was also great to get some adult conversation with Megan and her hubby Andrew.
Cooper ready to find those eggs

Lauren has her basket ready to go

Cooper happy with his hall of eggs

Lauren just eating the candy

What do you have ?

Megan offered to take a family photo - chaos as usual 

We had a good day with good weather and good friends. Looking forward to spring and more days spent outside.

Sunflower Farms

A few months back a mother of another child in Cooper's gymnastics class mentioned her daughter went to Sunflower farms once a week. So thinking it would be great to give Lauren a little more attention I started looking into it. Sunflower farms is a small farm located just a few miles from where we live on the South side of Longmont. The have a program called Sprout house where little ones can come and play on a farm, feed animals, and just enjoy the great outdoors. So Cooper started last week and he has been talking about it non stop since. I was able to take a few photos at the end of class. So here are a few shoots from our first day.

Crossing one of the rope bridges

The only time he would stand still for a photo

Why walk when you can run

Cleaning up our toys before leaving

Still running.....

Tractors and lots to climb and play on.

Cooper will go once a week through May. Once we get a few more weeks in we will see if he would like to try and continue through the summer. I think this will be a great experience for Cooper, Lauren and myself.