The girls and I finally got a chance to check out the brand new “Discovery Place Kids” museum that opened a few weeks ago right here in Huntersville. The museum is targeted for ages 1 through 2nd grade, and, I must say, they covered the spectrum pretty well! I’ve been SO excited about this, and bought a year’s membership for the family without even checking out the place. Today, we made it by for a visit, and it was AWESOME! (Unfortunately, my pictures are pretty bad, since “Uncle Todd” borrowed our good camera for the weekend to go watch Leigh kick butt at an IRONMAN…GO LEIGH!! I’m in so much awe of that girl!!) We’ll have plenty of opportunities to get better ones…
Anyway, as usual, my shy little munchkins were a bit unsure of all of the craziness at first. We went in the first little area, designed especially for those under 3, and just sat in the floor together so that they could take a look around.
Macy was pretty quick to get moving, but Makayla took a little bit longer…however, before too long, they were both checking everything out on their own!
There were SO MANY things to see and play with, it’s going to take SEVERAL trips before we really cover it all, but there were play houses,
water tables, riding toys, an airport, a bank, a firetruck, a
gym area, a
barnyard area – complete with a “milkable”
cow, a tractor,
silos and
chickens, a pretend (and very well stocked) grocery store, a pretend deli, an “
Under the Sea” exploration area,
an art center, a stage where they have regular story time and puppet shows, a huge slide/jungle gym for the older kids, and quite a few other things we didn’t even cover! It’s pretty unbelievable! Since it’s all so new, it’s all so CLEAN too…what mom doesn’t LOVE that!?!?
Anyway, we timed it perfectly, arriving at about 9:30, right after they opened at 9, and the crowd was fairly small. We played until we couldn’t play anymore, and left at about 11:30. By that point, the crowds had begun to pile in…I was kind of glad we were leaving, but there’s so much to do, even with all of the craziness, it still wasn’t too bad! The girls were adequately
pooped, so we came home, grabbed lunch, and now they’re sleeping peacefully! I’m probably as exhausted as they are, but it was so much fun for all 3 of us! We missed having Daddy along for the ride, since he’s away in Phoenix for the weekend, but we will take him back soon, and will DEFINITELY make good use of our membership this winter!
In general, I had an awesome realization this weekend…something I’ve been aware of for a while, but haven’t really processed…life with 15 month old twins is…FUN!!! Having twins has always had some element of fun, but that’s been mixed with a tremendous amount of stress, a dose of exhaustion, a touch of frustration, and an amazing amount of ANXIETY. I’m not saying that all of those other things have completely disappeared, either, but what I AM saying is, I’ve had a darned good weekend with my little ladies! Of course I hate it when Gary is gone, and I wish he didn’t have to leave for days at a time…but a year ago at this time, I was living in the most stressful few weeks of my entire life, and every trip almost made me throw up due to anxiety, stress, and hormones. I believe we’ve been blessed with pretty “good” babies, but even the best baby is a lot of work at such a tiny age, and double the babies meant double the work…now, the girls are so interactive with us and each other, and watching them kiss, hug, and pat each other gives me a sense of pride like I never knew existed! They’re even learning to share (sometimes less eagerly than others), and tell each other please, sorry, and thank you. It’s so awesome! I feel like I just need to put every ounce of energy into soaking up this fantastically fun stage in life!
