Snow Day!

Thursday, February 21 was the first big snow storm to hit Missouri this year. Actually, according to the news, it was the first big snow storm for the Columbia area in the last two years.

 Justin was released early from work, which allowed there to be enough daylight for everyone to get bundled up to go play outside. We even put Westyn in a snowsuit...yes, it's a few sizes too big but, hey, it works.

  Garytt couldn't wait to get outside in the snow. Poor Westyn had no idea what he was in for.

  Justin got on our sled to make a trail for Garytt.

  As it turns out, Garytt really didn't want to sled. He was more interested in walking around in the snow.

  So, Justin took Westyn on the sled with him.

  Unfortunately, that didn't go over well with Westyn. It was probably a combination of being a little nervous and all the snow falling in his face. So, Westyn and I hung out on our covered porch and watched Garytt and Justin for a bit.

  Garytt continued to just walk around and dig in the snow for quite a while.
 
  Finally, it was time to come in and warm up.

The University of Missouri stayed closed on Friday as well. And the first thing Garytt wanted to do after breakfast was go out in the snow! However, the rest of the family wasn't really ready to go play out in the cold. So, we bundled Garytt up, gave him a bucket and a shovel and sent him out on our deck...I really love that deck! He was happy as could be out there with his sand toys playing in the snow!
 
  Garytt definitely loves snow days!

Aunt Shira's Visit and a Trip to Science City

Justin's Aunt Shira came up to visit us from Texas a few weeks ago. Upon her arrival, we showed her Columbia's downtown district and the University of Missouri campus.

Saturday we decided to make a trip over to Kansas City to visit Science City. She actually gave the boys a year membership pass there for Christmas, so it only seemed appropriate that she get to experience the first visit with the boys. And we were able to meet up with my mom as well. We started in the musical park.

  Just outside the music park, there were blocks in the floor that would change color as you walked on them. Garytt was highly entertained by this and even broke out some dance moves.

  I took a short video of him playing on these blocks too.

  Then it was time to move on. We found an area that had a scarf wind tunnel and some balls being held up with air. Garytt enjoyed pulling the balls out of the suspension and putting them back up.

  The novelty of that wore off a little faster. So, me moved on to the little kids area. There were more musical instruments, some building blocks, a crane, and an area to build an obstacle coarse.

4   Garytt jumping off the tower onto the beanbags was a little scary for my mom. She was really nervous about it but Garytt enjoyed it. You can see that my mom is standing pretty close to Garytt during this video...just to be safe.

  I wasn't too worried about this activity until some older boys came in and started doing it as well. Then I felt like it might get a little too wild. But it was time to move on to the next room by then anyhow.

Our next adventure was over to the dinosaur dig. It's a pretty cute area where the kids can dig with little shovels and paintbrushes. They even have goggles for them to wear. Here are my little scientists in training.

  Westyn's time in the dig zone was a bit limited because he tried to eat the "dirt," which I fully expected. You see him put it in his mouth at the very end of this video.

  So, Aunt Shira walked him around for a bit.

  We headed for the train exhibit next.
 
I tried to get a picture Shira, Justin, and the boys on the train but G wasn't that interested. Then we saw this old rail car that I thought they could all sit on. Again, Garytt wasn't interested in sitting. Instead he wanted to use his super strength to push them. Shira and Justin played along...it was pretty cute.

  While making our way out, we stopped to check out the live animals. They were mostly reptiles and birds but they had a few bunnies too.

  We played on the alligator stature in there. We tried to get Garytt to sit in the alligator mouth, but he was pretty unsure about that. So, we did it with Westyn instead.

  By that time, it was definitely time to head out because the boys were getting pretty tired. There are still a lot of things we didn't have time to check out at Science City but since we have passes, I have no doubt we will go back soon.

The rest of Shira's visit was pretty low-key because she, unfortunately, wasn't feeling well the next day. So, we mostly just hung out at the house...but don't worry Spider Man was there to entertain. (Shira brought Garytt this awesome mask!)

  We had such a nice visit with Shira. And I'm so glad we made it to Kansas City while everyone was still feeling well! Thanks for visiting!