Splashdown!

Today's outing was to Splashdown Waterpark, a little over an hour's drive away (though a lot longer on the way back in rush hour) - this is a great waterpark - just the right size - we went another time we were in the US and the kids (including the larger, older, Daddy-type kid) were very keen to go back. We went with some friends who have a daughter Olivia's age - she is actually Olivia's penpal, so Olivia has been thrilled to be able to meet her in person and hang out.



Alex crossing the lily pads...



Olivia and her friend digging in the sand.

It was a lovely day (except for the traffic coming home, which was just boring) - actually almost cool out (for DC in July) - I think it was only about 83F (28C)...

Down on the Mall

As the weather for today was thunderstorms predicted, we decided to do something that was at least in part indoors - a trip to the Mall to visit the (relatively) new National Museum of the American Indian.

This was a truly gorgeous museum, both inside and out, though hard to photograph. I love the layouts of more modern museums - they really are a pleasure to be inside.

The content of the museum was excellent as well, though as I had to keep an eye on the kids and make sure they weren't getting lost or being too obnoxious, I didn't get to read quite as much of the information as some (male) members of the party. Still, I was able to read quite a bit and look at most of the items in the display cases in the three main sections of exhibits.

We did get our promised rain as well, though we managed to stay inside the museum for long enough for it to tail off to a gentle drizzle. Unfortunately, it doesn't seem to have cooled things down very much!

Aw, shucks...

First, there was the shucking of the corn...




...later, there was the eating of the corn. Mmm.

Seal enclosure

Part of project on animal habitats. Alex did most of his project as a powerpoint presentation, but he also built a model of a seal enclosure like in zoo or animal park. The pool part was easy - the hard part was the ramp and steps on the upper level. He did spend a lot of time working on this, though of course Mummy, Big Sis, Medium Sis and Friend of Sis also helped out.

Guide Sports Night

Nothing serious, just some races in the park.... And a whole lot of goofind around and being silly... Here's the sprint being set up - one girl from each patrol nominated, and of course, both of mine have to compete - to be fair, they are both fairly fast. The girl in the middle is also fast, but is still recovering from a dislocated knee, so is a little handicapped (but not much, as you can see below!)...



Sarah wins it, but only just. And they were both on the last leg of the relay, but Olivia just pipped Sarah to the post on that one, getting her toe over the finish line just a tiny bit first...




Olivia also placed well in the long distance (once around the park - approx 1700 metres - 3 times around the park is about 5K) - she was the second runner in, but she was a fun runner rather than one actually competing - her patrol's chosen long distance runner beat Olivia by about 10 seconds...

Scouts' day in the park

This afternoon, the local Scout group had an afternoon in our park, as a pre-cursor to their AGM. We couldn't make the AGM, but did manage to pop along to the park for some (free to scouts) mini-golf. This park is very local to us - in fact, you can just see our house to the right of the tree - it's the one with the small dormer windows poking out of the roof!

Crafty kids

Some model making - I keep forgetting to blog as it often seems our lives are busy but nothing interesting to show. Olivia made this model Punch & Judy show (the box is a single-serving size cereal box) for part of a project on Victorian inventions.




Alex made his own mummy from a kit, with a bit of help from his other Mummy...