Cousin Fun!

I had the pleasure of watching my nephews this past Monday and Tuesday.  On Monday the boys played all morning together with the girls interacting with them every so often.  Right before lunch time we went over to our park.  It's within walkable distance but I decided to drive instead.  Here are all the cousins on the swings...

Kristin was so nice to push Alex on the swings.

Ryan didn't need any help and well, Megan needs help, just not with the swings.  :)

Alex wanted to do this spinny thing but about the same time I took this picture he was wanting down.  So he doesn't look too happy here.  It looks like we tortured him but we really didn't!

We played for about 30 minutes and then it was lunch time.  I threw a blanket on the ground in the shade (it was quite hot out that day) and brought out the food.  I love how Ryan and Alex drank their "juice" (it was flavored water) first.  Of course Megan's expression is hilarious as usual.

We played for a little longer but it was just too darn hot and the girls started whining about going home.  Kristin gave Alex a ride to the car...

The boys came home played for a little longer then Megan wanted everyone to watch the "Bee Movie."  That's pretty much how we ended our day.  Well, after a little more playing after the movie was over.

Tuesday morning not long after Ryan and Alex were dropped off we headed to the Delaware Museum of Natural History.  Tuesdays in August are $1 days!  To be quite honest, I don't think I would pay more than a $1 to get in!  I think that's mainly because we've been there so many times, every year since the girls were little, it's gotten kind of boring for us.  I will say that it was neat taking Ryan and Alex because I got to see the museum through their eyes.  They immediately spotted the stone sculpture animals by the parking lot and wanted their picture taken.  I love this one because Zach is standing on the turtle in the background!  If I had taken the picture from a lower angle  it would have looked like he was standing on Ryan's head!

So then it was onto the turtle.  I love this picture, all 5 cousins.

They were so cute oohing and ahhing over everything.  I finally managed to get them to pose in front of the dinosaur.

Ryan said to me a couple times that he thought he had been their before.  When he saw the dinosaur above he said it and then later when we walked over the underwater scene (you'll see a picture of that later.)

We visited the Nature Nook next.  It's specifically a place where kids can explore and touch things.  I really wanted to get a picture of the boys in the birds' nest but it was like pulling teeth to get them all in at the same time.  This is the best picture that I could get before giving up!

Ryan, Alex and Megan all touched the ball python that was brought out by a staff member.  Here's Ryan touching it.

I couldn't believe it when all 3 of them sat down to color a picture of dinosaurs.  I kind of figured Ryan would do, not completely sure about Alex but never did I think Zach would sit down and color.  He's never been a big fan of coloring.  I'm going to have to have his cousins over more often!

They stayed in the Nature Nook for quite awhile before we moved to the "Bugs" exhibit which is the museum's special exhibit at the moment.  I've seen much better exhibits in the past.  This one primarily just had huge bug sculptures on stands that you couldn't even touch. No one really seemed interested in them.

There was this board in the back where you could categorize the pictures of bugs.  That kept our group busy for a few minutes.

There was also this "Build-a-Bug" that the 3 of them had to themselves.  They each built their own bug.

Here's Zach's bug...

Alex's bug...

Ryan's bug... (he waited until the others were done and then took their bug parts!)

We found the fun parts but overall it was a pretty lame exhibit so onto the rest of the museum.  I mentioned walking over an underwater scene earlier so this is it.  It's a glass floor with a reef and fish underneath.  All pretend of course.  I wish they would do a real one, that would be cool.

I love Zach's face in this picture!  He had his hand in the "dung" from the dung beetle trying to feel how many eggs are inside.

Checking out the cheetah.  I tried to get them to do some funny faces near it but it wasn't happening.

We stopped in and watched a couple minutes of the movie that was playing in the theater.  Kristin and Megan sat with Ryan where as I got to sit with Zach and Alex.  Within seconds I realized that no way was this movie going to keep these two boys sitting still.  Ryan seemed fine but Alex and Zach were nothing but fidgety and playing with their chairs.  I think we lasted about 3 minutes before we got up and left!  It was no big deal because we still had outside to explore.  We went on the short trail that they had and then stopped to pose by these outside sculptures.

We came home, ate lunch, watched "The Lego Movie," played Wii and then went outside to play.  Whew!  Busy day.  But a fun one.