Drama Queen...

We also spent a lot of time in the dress-up area of the museum, despite my mutterings that it had nothing to do with super heros and that Darth Vader was upstairs (whom, to be fair, is also not a super hero).  Vivi ignored the folk in costume in favor of putting on her own...

...AND BEING FABULOUS.

She immediately found a fireman's hat and turned it to the side so it became a Scarlet O'Hara-esque floppy brimmed hat.  She then ignored me for a good 20 minutes as she danced around the stage and sang.

Mostly by herself.

She made lots of faces at me, suggesting that I was perhaps not in proper character.

Either that or there was whiskey hidden behind the stage curtain.  I don't know.

I see an Oscar in this one's future...

A Day of Eddie

Eddie and Parker also attended Super Hero Day with us.  Unfortunately, Parker is a Children's Museum PRO, and scampered off to his favorite areas almost immediately.  Eddie and Vivi, however, had never been there before, and were quite interested in looking at the same things.

They also seem to share a love of driving.

Driving a tractor.

Driving a spaceship.

(this part was so unbelievably cool I wanted to climb up there with them)

Driving an airplane (life-sized, yo!)

Driving a train (which Vivi actually refused to let Eddie drive, forcing him to ride in the back while yelling "No Way, Jose!" until I reminded her that Eddie needed a turn, too).

And, perhaps my favorite...

...riding on ducks.  Because I caution you--if there had been adult sized ducks, I would have been right there with them.

Super Hero Day!

This past Saturday, Vivi and I went to a very special event at the Lincoln Children's Museum--SUPER HERO DAY.  Now.  I goofed a bit here.  I found about this magicalness a bit late in the game, and so Vivi was one of a very few children not wearing a Super Hero outift. Next year.

There were, however, a very, very large number of adults on hand dressed as Super Heros, making the dreams of a lot of little people come true.  Batman, Superman, Spiderman, The Green Lantern, and the Incredibles were on hand, just to name a few.  I don't remember the last time I saw that may excited little kids.  Which is why I love the Children's Museum.

Well, that and the fact that I was able to get this shot:

Yes folks, that's right.  That's a picture of my child blithely riding a pony while a Storm Trooper sneaks up on her.  And I encouraged him, bless his white plastic heart.

Although when he tapped her on her shoulder, it was even better.

Some may argue the "Super Hero" aspect of an Intergalactic Storm Trooper.  Not me.  He quite, quite made my day.

And Now, for the Main Event...

Swimming!  We did a LOT of swimming!

Swimming with Mommy...

Swimming with Daddy...

...exploring the activity tower...

...exploring the splash pad...

(this held A LOT of fascination)

...and, Vivi's very most favorite activity of the weekend...

...going down the water slide!  She would have gone down all day if we had let her.

And at the end of the trip?

A very quiet car ride home.  The next time you're looking for something to do in Iowa, I totally recommend Kings Pointe.  We're already thinking of perhaps a cousin trip this summer, when the giant Outdoor Water Park will also be open!  Stay tuned, blog world...

With the Buddies

It was great to spend time with our friends on our minibreak, as well.  Vivi got to play with tons of buddies!

She and Russ spent time in the waterpark with Kyler's cousin Jori, trying to shoot me with water cannons as I took photos.

Can you see the intense determination on Vivi's face?  I was very glad the canons did not shoot that far.

Then, she and Kyler turned Derek and Jori into their slaves, "letting" them push their floating tube around the pool.

Peel me another grape, Copernicus.

And, last but not least, Dawn let Vivi hold Baby Kella!  Vivi took it very seriously and was very gentle with her.

..and then in the middle of it, Vivi and Kella both seemed to realize what was happening and looked totally freaked out.  It was quite hilarious.

Note how long Kella is compared to Home Girl?  Keep in mind, Vivi is in the 79th percentile for height for her age.  I think Miss Kella is going to be a tall lady!  Too cute!

Minibreak!

This past weekend, we took a minibreak!  It was lovely.  We headed to Kings Pointe, an indoor/outdoor waterpark in Storm Lake, Iowa.  Our friends, the Grooters, were headed there to celebrate Derek's birthday.  It was a blast!

Now, let me tell you that Storm Lake is in THE MIDDLE OF NOWHERE.  Were driving through cornfields of North Central Iowa seeing signs claiming Storm Lake was 15 miles away, and I thought, "Lies!  There is nothing out here!"  I was wrong.  There is a giant lake and it is beautiful.

We were a tad worried, as we had never stayed in a hotel room with Vivi before.  Would she sleep?  Would she like it?  Would Russ's snoring wake her up?  She did not share our worries.  She was thrilled.  It didn't hurt that it was 80 degrees out and she could sit out on our balcony in a skirt.

It was beautiful.  We could sit out on our balcony and listen to the waves, which were right below us.  I love water, and Vivi seems to as well.

However, she was more intrigued by the fact that she would sleep in her very own bed, while Russ and I slept in a bed in THE SAME ROOM.  She kept sitting on her bed, and then very graciously inviting me and Russ to join her.

Mind you, Vivi has had her very own big girl bed since January.  Why this one was special, we are not sure.

She took to hotel life very well.

Lazlily hanging out and watching TV?  Check!  Room service?  Check!  Ah.  They joys of travel!

The Ides of March

No need to beware,here, Lincoln.  It reached almost 80 today.  I have a perfect bracket (!).  And I am far enough removed about this day that I can finally blog about it.

This day was the day it snowed something stupid like 10 inches in 6 hours, after raining all night.  We lost power for 4 hours.  I wanted to stab someone.

Then, right as about we were about to throw in the towel and go to my parent's house (thanks to my brother and his truck, since we COULDN'T GET OUR CARS OUT OF THE GARAGE), the power came back on.  So, we finally gave in to Vivi's pleading and went outside to play.

Russ demonstrated how to make snow angels.

Vivi was inspired, and made ones of her own, for the very first time.

We made a snowman.  The snowman was quite successful.  Taking of a picture of him was less-so, as the wind was blowing straight in their faces.

Secret to making an awesome snowman face?  Black olives!  I was really proud of myself.

Far more successful was taking Vivi sledding in the street.  It was totally safe--no one could have driven anything short of a plow through that crap.  In fact, you can see where one drove through and DID NOT PLOW OUR STREET.  Grrrrr.

She loved it so much!  She would have done this all day if we had let her.

 I know that it's only the middle of March.  the 80 degree weather will end, just like my perfect bracket (thanks a lot, Wichita State).  But at least days like this are behind us.  Fingers crossed.  It is Nebraska.

Dino Museum

We have been busy, blog world.

Vivi's dinosaur love has not abated, and so we have been exploring ways to help her learn more about them.  Believe it or not, Lincoln actually has TWO dinosaur museums.  One is a Lincoln tradition, Morrill Hall.  I cannot tell you how many times I have been there.  School field trips, college classes (yes, you can have class in the museum), and now with our little girl.  I have always loved it there.  I am a history geek.  And she loved it too.

Unnnnfortunately, this is the only picture I have of her first visit to Morrill Hall.  Her outside, gazing at Archie the Mammoth.  Someone "ahem" forgot to charge her camera batteries.  Parent fail.

We had better luck on our trip to the second dinosaur museum.  Located just outside of Lincoln, the Milford Dino Museum was actually pretty cool.  We met our friends Parker and Jill out there and had a really fun afternoon!  Parker loves dinosaurs just as much as Vivi does, so we knew they'd have a great time.  And the cool thing about the Milford museum is that their dinosaurs...look like dinosaurs.

 

Vivi was very impressed.

Russ helped her achieve what I can only imagine is a current life goal and helped her touch the teeth of a Tyrannosaurus Rex.

He was less successful at attempting to be a dinosaur.

Vivi does not think he is as tough as...which ever dinosaur that is.  I don't know.  Vivi could tell you.

The dino museum also features (intriguingly) also features a mirror maze.  Parker, Vivi, and Russ really enjoyed it.

   Jill and I spent a lot of time running into the walls and muttering about depth perception not having ANYTHING to do with dinosaurs.

There was even a place where Parker and Vivi could excavate dino bones.  They had a fabulous time being paleontologists.

It was a great day, and I think we'll be back for sure!