granmolly

February 12th I met Kristina, Julia, and Noah at the Cedar Hills Community Center open gym. Kristina got me oriented before she said good-bye to the twins and left for a busy schedule of errands and appointments. The gym is well stocked with preschool play equipment and makes a wonderful indoor park. Noah and Julia love the alligator see-saw.

In this busy “park” setting. A third child sometimes joined them.

Julia chose a “station wagon” to drive.

Noah managed to find a fire truck available.

Of course there was a lot of other equipment Noah and Julia used before we headed home for lunch and naps, but I didn’t get any good pictures.

Lillie and I have been going to a Friday morning “gymnastics” class since the first of the year. Every child has a parent or grandparent with her to be the individual “coach”, but since most of the kids were close to 16-months old when we started the class, skill levels were pretty basic. It was hard to get pictures, because I was helping Lillie with her “routines.” The first couple of classes the only things she really liked were playing with the balls, jumping on the tiny trampoline

and getting stamps on her hands and feet at the end of class (and she wasn’t too sure about that).

As the weeks went on, the trampoline remained a favorite–even sometimes shared with a friend.

Somersaults became a favorite (but I could never take a picture because my help was needed.) Lillie even liked doing back flips with the instructors help.

Catching bubbles was fun.

So was chasing balls through a tunnel.

Lillie didn’t sit back and wait when it was time for hand and foot stamps (each week was a different stamp–star, flower, butterfly, etc.)

I didn’t go to Portland yesterday because I had a cold and the Portland crew is finally all well, but last week Noah, Julia, and I had a good time at the Children’s Museum. Jason and Kristina have a family pass so it gets visited frequently in bad weather (of which we’ve had lots lately.) As soon as we arrived, Noah headed for the room which holds a large table with Brio wooden trains and tracks, but Julia quickly drew him over to the Tri-Met bus mock up with its dashboard of switches to flip, buttons to push, and a steering wheel to drive.

When we tired of the bus we moved on to the marimba that manages to sound melodious however it’s struck.

We stopped at the “health center” so Julia could “drive the ambulance” while Noah “directed emergency responses” on the the computer keyboard, and then moved on to the “dig pit.” It’s amazing how many of the little rubber rocks come home every time in Noah’s clothes.

We had brief stops at a few more play areas but no more pictures before we headed home for lunch, naps, and then standing at the window watching wet snow fall (sometimes mixed with rain).

We woke up to a world turning white and snow falling steadily, and now at 10 am it is still falling. Shad’s family went to Portland for the weekend to visit Jason’s family, so there are no kids here to build snowmen or go sledding. I did go out for a walk and get some pictures.

Tuesday morning was sunshine and blue sky but too cold to play outside, so Noah, Julia, and I drove to OMSI. The twins have been to OMSI with their mom so they were eager to get to their favorite areas in the “exploration center”.

Julia headed straight for the balls and vacuum tubes.

Noah’s favorite place to start has little cars and helicopters, but OMSI was busy because of the cold weather, and he had to wait patiently for the car he wanted.

They both love the forest friends section. The Eagles nest has wonderful puppets.

I didn’t get any pictures of Noah and Julia running in and out of the animals cave, but when they slowed down to check out the chipmunks stash at the roots of the big tree, I had time to at least get a picture of backs of heads.

Julia checked out the balance.

Noah and Julia worked together with the computer to fill in the color on the butterfly.

We saved the water play area for the last thing before lunch because it’s hard to stay dry when you’re having fun with water.

Noah was too busy playing to hold a smile for the camera.

I managed to get where I could watch Julia work the pump arm.

Our last stop was the OMSI Cafe. Noah and Julia are charming lunch guests. They were happy to accept my suggestion of pizza for lunch, were great about staying with me when we had to wait in line, and stayed at the table we had chosen while I dashed across the room to get booster seats. They are also very good eaters.

Noah was hungry.

We had strawberry yogurt for dessert.

It was a great morning, but when lunch was finished two tired kids and one tired grandma were ready to head home.