Aunt Monica and cousin Cory come to town

Monica and Cory were in town for a gymnastics meet this weekend, and paid Chez Long a visit.

The girls weren't sure about Monica at first...



But they got into the swing of things soon enough, and were charming and delightful for our guests. Monica and Cory brought the perfect gifts for all the kids - Miranda got a little doll, which she went completely bonkers for, and Elizabeth got a stuffed dog and stylish carrying case.





The girls took turns trying on Cory's hat.




And then Elizabeth got Monica to help her put on every pair of shoes in the house.





Elizabeth took the opportunity to share some of her fashion ideas with Aunt Monica.




Parker and Corey were off playing so much of the day that I never got a chance to take their picture for blogging purposes. But it was pretty sweet to see them playing together, and how happy Parker was to have Corey here.

The Farm's Second Coming

The Farm made it's way into the rotation recently. Parker likes to get down really low and look inside it. Today he put some trains through the doors.

Memories...

Cousin Cory was in town this weekend for a gymnastic competition. Parker and I went to see the meet on Sunday. We missed high bar and the parellel bars, but saw pommel horse, floor, rings, and vault. Parker and I (and Ted) sat high in the bleachers with Aunt Monica. Parker seemed to really enjoy it all saying, I see the flippers!

It was strange for me. I was bizarrely emotional seeing the little boys with their outfits and numbers and scores. It brought back memories of watching my sister compete. One boy fell on the horse and started to cry. So did I. Not sure what that was about.

We stayed through part of the awards ceremony and then Parker was done.

Lion's birthday

It was Lion's 4th birthday yesterday. Turns out.

Rachel got some mini cupcakes for the occasion, and we all sang happy birthday to him, and then everyone had a cupcake, happily.

Dental hygene

I came upon Elizabeth in the bathroom yesterday sucking toothpaste out of the tube.

Clips

Like Parker at her age, Miranda has become intent upon clipping the chair clips every time she comes across them unclipped. Which means that every time you go to clip one of the girls into their chair, you have unclip both sides of the chair clip with one hand, usually while holding a squirmy girl with the other, and that ain't easy. But boy she sure loves it.

Friday with Parker

I took Parker to SFMOMA today. A friend told me there was a neat exhibit there (ie good for kids) so I thought, what the heck? Ebba and her girls joined us.

We took Bart over to the city both because it would be cheaper than parking and also because it would be more fun for Parker. Ted came along this time.




The exhibit we were there to see was on the fifth floor and when we got out of the elevator, I knew Parker would dig it. It was all about colors and light and shapes and images. Unfortunately, cameras were not allowed, but I sneaked these shots before I knew, and after I didn't care.





This was a giant round room with nothing in it. Just color on the walls that changed. It sort of made you dizzy.


Parker's favorite one was a dark room with mist flowing from the sky. As you walked by the mist, it moved. It was strange and fun. Fiona and Allison, who can now walk, seemed to like it too. We stayed in their so long, Parker was nice and damp.





Then we walked into this room with giant screen with lines waving across it. You pushed the planks on the floor and the lines moved. Ebba said we could see how it was made if we walked behind it. We walked around and before I could even see what was in the room, Parker had stomped in the water on the ground. A big No-No. The docent was pissed and gave us the nastiest look. I apologized and said that I didn't even know there was water there. She muttered something nasty under her breath while giving me dirty looks and I said loudly and in a rude voice, "Did you hear me say I didn't see there was WATER there????" I mean, really. They have an interactive water exhibit, encourage kids to come to it (there were tons there) and then get pissy that one of them goes in the water? Jeez.

After a few more rooms, we went to the gift shop where I was very good and only bought one educational toy for Parker. Ebba went home for naps and we went to Yerba Buena Gardens where there is a carousel, playground, more museums, water fountains, and more. We rode the merry go round first and then made our way to the playground.





The playground was great. We had taken Parker there before, but not for a long while and he immediately ran to the highest slide possible and zoomed down. It was fast and he shot out the other end. He then proceeded to do it over and over, sometimes shoving Ted down in front of him. He had a grand time.







Then we stopped for lunch (me tacos and parker a sandwich) at the Metreon. They were having some Gamers Conference across the street so the place was packed with scruffy faced gaming nerds. Parker enjoyed the interactive image projected on the ground.



After a fun day, we headed back to Bart and made our way home. Parker did great all day and I had a good time too.

More LHS

Took the kids to the Lawrence Hall of Science...a generally good rainy day place. But not today. Apparently every school in the Bay Area was there on a field trip.

We first played in the little kid area. Parker was showing Lion around as this was Lion's first visit. Elizabeth was hucking balls in the funnel and Miranda was sticking close to me most of the time.






Then Elizabeth wanted to check out the old time-y movies. She went up to these people there with their son and basically shoved one of the movies in their face. Luckily they thought she was cute and put it in for her.


Then she wanted to see a puppet show. Or more accurately, climb on the theatre.


I asked Parker to stick with Miranda, which he did. He is getting very good at holding their hands and helping them walk in certain directions. A handy skill, for sure.


Then the whole crew headed down to the block room. A terrible, terrible idea. Usually the room is pretty empty and the kids can play with the small rectangular blocks. But today, every older kid was building some complex structure and the vision of Elizabeth and Miranda, not to mention Parker, knocking them down was frightening.





So they got to sit in the stroller while Parker played near by. I let Miranda out to play on the ground at one point and she was fine. But when I let Elizabeth out, despite the fact that I warned if she ran away she would go back in the stroller, she ran away, laughing evily as she went. So back in she went. I gave them some blocks to play with in the stroller. And when I say 'play with', I mean 'eat'.