Playing in the leaves

National Museum Day

I've been running a sick ward around here this last week, so I am very behind on blog posts. We'll see if I can catch up while the girls are taking a much needed nap...

National Museum Day was a few weeks ago. We printed out our free passes and went to the Children's Museum downtown. We spent a lot of time in the 5 and under area. The girls had a fun time running around trying to see everything.

We finally moved upstairs to see what else the museum had to play with.

This was Elsie's favorite place to play. It was a big glass window with a tray attached to the bottom. There was a lot of paint to use on the window with spray bottles to clean the paint off when they were done. She happily played for a good half hour before deciding it was time to move on.

On the roof was an observation room with a microscope, local fish and reptiles, and a chicken coop.

The girls took some binoculars outside to look around.

Elsie: "I see the capitol building with the gold mermaid on top!"

We stayed until the building closed and they had to kick us out.

The difference a year makes

Blue Mounds Hike

We went for a hike on Saturday to see the fall colors while the weather was still warm (and the leaves were still on the trees). We headed down the road to Blue Mounds to walk their nature trail.

 Apparently Blue Mounds is the highest point in Southern Wisconsin. They had a little observation tower at the trail head that we climbed to see the view.

 We started out down the trial. It was a gentle hike, not even a mile and a half. This was Elsie's first time hiking (not riding in a backpack) and she did very well. This was our view for most of the hike: Elsie way out ahead yelling "follow me! Follow the Conductor! I'm the leader!"

 Trying to be responsible parents, we gave Elsie a whistle to wear. I explained what it was for and what she should do if she got lost. I asked her to repeat it back to me and she said "I will run and get lost and then blow my whistle". *Face palm*

I sat her down and thoroughly talked her through hiking safety and that the goal was NOT to get lost. That is tough to do with a 3 1/2 year old when all she wants to do is blow her whistle. We finally hammered down two rules: Stay on the trail and Stay with Mommy and Daddy.

 There were a lot of signs explaining the cool geological stuff about the rocks around the trail. We found plenty of "sparkly" rocks to look at.

 The trail started getting a little rough and steep near the end. Elsie turned around and said "Wow, this is tough. Good thing I'm like a Grandpa."
Alan: "How are you like a Grandpa?"
Elsie: "Well, I have this walking stick, and that makes me kind of like a Grandpa."
I don't know where she comes up with this stuff.

 A little picnic lunch back by the car, then we headed home for some well earned naps.