A Trip to the Museum

The Children's Museum, that is!

Hi, Amanda here. Today Callum and I went with our friends (moms and kids) to the Children's Museum in Portland. What a cool place! There was so much to see and do, just like most museums, that we'll have to go back sometime soon as we didn't get to do everything we wanted.

Here is our little group walking from the parking garage to the museum. The kids were SO excited --- and so were the moms! Callum kept giggling and hopping along... He was the youngest of the group (except for the two babies, Lucy and Bode) so his little legs didn't move as fast as the others. That's why we're at the back of the group...

When we got there, the first exhibit we went to was a HUGE whale that you could actually walk through. Callum did NOT like this. At all. So instead he went to play post office. Please note his little mailman messenger bag. He had a blast mailing all of his letters.

While he was busy delivering the mail, his two girlfriends Mia and Emmy decided to take a little drive. This car was so cool -- you could pretend to fix it and put gas in it as well as drive it. Callum liked waving and saying 'hi!' to the kids who were driving the car, but that was about it.

Callum's favorite exhibit by far was the food store. Hannaford, to be more specific. He stayed here for about an hour - playing cashier, collecting food and stocking shelves, and getting money from the ATM (which really worked, although it only gave you play money, unfortunately). When he figured out which button to push to make the drawer fly open, he was in seventh heaven... He was surprised every time and couldn't stop laughing!

Here he is doing a little food shopping. He loves oatmeal.

They had a camping/outdoor exhibit on the 3rd floor which was really cool. A lot of the stuff was for older kids (you could set up your own camp with ropes and tarps, pack your own camp bag with food and other supplies, and play a virtual logger game where you practice sustainable harvesting) but Callum found this little stream that you could play in. He liked playing with the boats and the balls, throwing them into the water and watching the splash.

Here is Mia, getting in on the fun at the stream exhibit too.

We were there for a good 4 hours and Callum did really well, especially since he did not nap. But guess who was snoring and slumped over in their car seat before we even left the parking garage... After a quick stop to visit Uncle Jonathan at the Volvo dealership where he works (I said to Callum, 'See? Uncle Jonathan's work is just like the children's museum, except you can't touch anything!') we finally arrived home to see Daddy.

I was telling Jared that this age is bittersweet for me. I have the best time with Callum -- he can interact with me, he gets excited about things, he talks in (almost) sentences... But at the same time he is definitely not a baby anymore. I wouldn't trade it for anything, though. I love you, Callum Stuart! Thanks for a REALLY special day!