Adventure Days

I love adventure days with my family!  And the older the kids get, the more fun we have!  Ryan didn't have to work on President's Day, so we headed to London to see my parents and check out a couple museums.  

We started at the Science Museum.  The kids favorite part was the bubble show.  It was pretty cool when the bubble explainer gave a girl her own carbon dioxide bubble to hold!  

I also wanted to make sure Rooke got to see the train pictured below.  His class had been learning about steam engines and talked extensively about Stephenson's Rocket, so it was fun to show him the real thing!

After lunch, we walked to the Victoria & Albert Museum.  I'll admit that design and sculpture museums don't usually peak my interest, but this place was worth our visit.  Especially with the kid activities they had going on and the activity backpacks available.  

Rooke was working on his hero/villain card they handed out to kids.  He turned the elevator into a bad guy!

Rooke and Gretchen picked the activity backpack that took us to the glass room.  Thankfully, everything was safely displayed away from our littlest explorer.  Kaye K and the kids worked their way through the activities and had a great time.  

A couple days later, we celebrated my birthday with another family adventure.  Ryan was able to come home after lunch and we headed to Cambridge.  First stop, a whole foods store to stock up on some whole grains and dried goods.  Banana chips for everyone!

Cambridge had a free family event on that evening with several museums participating.  We parked and walked a mile to the Botanical Gardens for our first stop, but were too early for the event, so we ended up just enjoying the gardens.  Again - great backpack activities for the kids!  And we were thankful for nice weather.

Several unusual plants were highlighted through the greenhouse rooms.  The rainforest room was our favorite.

We had hoped to explore the Polar Museum before dinner, but the line was way too long.  So we walked on to dinner.  Rooke was in the mood to chat.  Walking with him was one of my favorite things about my birthday.

We ate at a hole-in-the-wall Chinese place I'd picked out.  There were two ladies making dumplings behind the counter and most people were speaking Chinese.  I was so excited!  And the dumplings did not disappoint.  I closed my eyes and imagined we were back in China at our favorite jiaozi joint.  Yum!  The kids loved the steamed bread buns and wanted more of my bubble milk tea.  

Bridgette went straight to bed when we got home, but the rest of us enjoyed a special dessert.  It was a wonderful way to spend my birthday!