Mommathon

We started our day in Tacoma at the Museum of Glass. It was a gorgeous sunny day and I am pretty sure that made the glass both inside and outside the museum look even better.

They happened to be having a workshop today where you could make a fused glass project. It was so great. I loved watching the boys go through the process of designing and executing their projects. Colm had just gotten done telling me how much he doesn’t like art, but he sure was concentrating and awfully proud of his work when he was done. 🙂 Their projects went in the kiln today and will be mailed to us when they are ready.

This is the sketch Colm did of his idea before he made it into glass.

The boys didn’t use this which I was a little disappointed with since I would have exclusively used it had I designed a project. It’s glass glitter!

(Project 365-3/30/2013)
In the kiln and ready to go! I love how Colm made a sunset and Liam’s is abstract. They are both great and we can’t wait to see them when they’re done.

Then when we were done touring the museum we got in the car and headed to Olympia to the Nisqually National Wildlife Refuge. We had gone to another wildlife refuge that is closer to our house last year for Father’s Day. I think the one we went to today might have been a little bit bigger (i.e. more walking).

It was a beautiful day and this place was busy! There were a LOT of very serious birdwatchers.

Can you see Mt. Rainier peeking out above the trees?

The boys knew that we were going on a trip, but they just thought we were going to Tacoma. We never really gave them any of the details. Our first stop was to Fort Nisqually. It was used by the Hudson Bay Company. We have also been to Fort Vancouver which they also owned. Both of the forts look very similar.

Learning about the role of the fort’s store in the life of the fort…the things they bought, sold and traded. We also learned that the person who ran the store also had the job of keeping a sort of journal of the fort and the people who lived there. The quality of the journal varied greatly from year to year depending on who was running the store.

Lookout tower…things didn’t go so well between the British and the natives

They had a bunch of games for kids to play that would have been typical for children of that time period. Colm and I played graces which involves each person holding two sticks and then you use those two sticks to catch and throw a decorated ring back and forth to each other. They both gave the hoop and stick a try and Colm tried jumping rope…not something he normally does. We also put on a Punch and Judy play, played badmitton with wooden paddles and a birdie that had real feathers and practiced writing on a slate board using a primer.

(Project 365-3/29/2013)

After we were done with that we headed to our hotel which was GORGEOUS! Each floor featured a different artist that blows glass. The lobby was stunning and the view was beautiful. We also went to a great Japanese restaurant where the boys each tried several new foods (oysters and sushi included) and Colm tried this fun Japanese soda that has a marble in it.

Sean and I decided several weeks ago that we were going to surprise the boys over spring break and take them to the Great Wolf Lodge. We’ve never been and one of the boys told me several years ago that EVERYONE in their class had been but them. 😉 We decided to go for one night since we figured it’s the kind of kid haven that parents want to get out of as soon as possible.

We had a GREAT time! I almost wish we could have stayed a little longer. Liam had a great time in the wave pool and going down the water slides upteen times and Colm became a Magiquest expert. Don’t know what Magiquest is? It involves buying a ridiculously expensive plastic wand that the kids use to solve riddles all over the hotel. It’s actually very cool, but holy cow we ran up and down those stairs about 7,000 times.

The room we stayed in was super cool too. The boys had their own little room within the room that had bunk beds and was supposed to look like a cabin.

The Magiquest wands

Frozen yogurt tastes better when a robot makes it.

(Project 365-3/28/2013)

When I asked Colm to climb up into this tree he knew exactly where I was going with it…he was ready and willing to strike a pose. We even ended up trying various trees because he wanted to make sure there were enough flowers showing in the picture too. 🙂

We try and meet my friend Christie and her sweet pup, Luke, at Manzanita at least once a year and today was the day. It was a chilly, rainy day, but we persevered and made a great day of it.

(Project 365-3/26/2013)

The boys spent a lot of time playing baseball on the beach, but I don’t have any pictures of that since I was in the game too. They did still spend some time digging and building.

The boys also spent quite a bit of time racing each other on these bikes.

We always end our Manzanita trips with a trip to the ice cream store.

There’s an empty spot on our counter where the toaster should be. It all started with a rather large hunk of a bagel that broke off and got down under the coils that heat up. I tried everything I could to get the hunk of bagel out. It was stuck for good so I figured I would just try and use the toaster with the hunk stuck in there. BAD IDEA!!! The hunk became a smoking hunk.

I have been wanting to by a toaster oven for a while so we could use the microwave less and also heat up our big oven less…you can cook a LOT in a toaster oven without having to heat up your whole kitchen by turning the big oven on. I took this as a sign and doubley took it as a sign when I researched toaster ovens and found the one I wanted for less than $30 shipped.

Sean and I got to go out to dinner at a restaurant that’s been on my radar for a while. Sean had been there a few weeks prior for a work dinner and gave it two thumbs up. We had a nice dinner out by ourselves while the boys stayed with some friends.