bulding with nana and then some

daddy, papa and uncle derek left early in the morning to go golfing. the kids and i got ready and went to pick up nana from the hotel (we could not fit any more people into the apartment!).  first stop was lowe's to build binoculars.

we were a little early, so we did some posing pictures to pass the time.  madelyn was extremely excited to spend the day with nana (and to build binoculars).

nana was a trooper and helped madelyn build hers while i helped mason.  mason is quite skilled with a hammer.  all i did to help was to get him the proper pieces when he needed them.  he would put in the nails and hammer them right in.  and he did not want my help at all.  he even hammered his fingers a few times - hard.  he cried, got a kiss and went about the task at hand.  and when he got my thumb pretty good once, he gave me a kiss and a hug before getting back to work.

after lowe's we had lunch at mcdonalds (thanks, nana) before going to the akron art museum.  we had seen that they were having a quilt exhibit right now and thought that nana might enjoy it.  since i had never been there before, i wasn't sure how 'kid friendly' it would be.  on their website it said that not all strollers would be permitted, so i wore maddux in the moby wrap.

mason had a really rough morning and i wasn't too sure about how long he was going to last.  i stressed that there was absolutely no touching.  if they wanted to touch something, they needed to ask first.  i can't even tell you how wonderfully everyone did!  not that we didn't make the room monitors (i don't know what they are really called) follow us around very closely. there were no barriers between mason and the art work. i am happy to report that we left without a single finger print!

and i think everyone enjoyed it too.  i explained to madelyn that not everything looked like something.  sometimes it was just about how it made you feel or what it made you see or think of when you looked at it.  it was neat to hear what she thought about each piece and she was usually able to determine the emotion the artist intented (i.e. she said that a painting was "sad" and the title was "the eviction" - probably meant to make you feel sad).  even mason would pick out his favorite in each room.  i would ask him to find realistic things when possible (i.e. find the dog, find the car).

but it wasn't a perfect trip.  maddux spit-up all over the floor right next to one of the room monitors.  thankfully, i had brought extra burp cloths for just an occasion and was able to wipe it all up.  mason started to get a little bored towards the end and was tossing/dropping his brochure in front of him or holding one of our hands and pulling us in circles.  when he stopped being a good listener, i took him out of the last exhibit.  he fell asleep the second we got in the car, so that might have been part of the problem.  i look forward to taking them again!  so fun! 

and we weren't done yet!  next stop was to meet up with the boys at a huge farmers' market/flea market/restaurant/hardware store that matt has heard a lot about from co-workers.  i must say that it was quite an impressive property and way nicer than it sounds.  another destination that we will definitely go to again.

the consequence for mason's earlier behavior was that he didn't get ice cream (a treat) and he didn't question it for a second - he knew he had not been a good listener.  but he is no fool, he sat between papa and nana!

it isn't very far from the new house so we swung back by there for matt to do the last little bit of painting while we took the kids to the park.  i was also really excited to finally see the kitchen counters in the day light.  they are even better than i had hoped.  so happy.  love.

uncle derek walked all three kids over to the park so that i didn't have to buckle them all in for the short drive to the park.  such a sport!