San Antonio Children's Museum

If it seems like I'm just going from one children's museum to the next...Well...I guess I am. Visiting the children's museum in every town you visit seems like a wonderful way to travel. In San Antonio they had a program for toddlers (that started just when we arrived) where we played musical instruments, then played with play dough, then painted.

They had a little grocery store right outside the room where the program was and when we left all the toddlers grabbed a cart and started running around the room with them at once. Mayhem!

They have a front loader that kids can "drive" and an airplane and a huge tree. The biggest hit was the ball factory. It was a huge contraption with colorful gears and cranks and tubes. The kids feed balls into the machine and they get sucked into a ducts system that collects the balls and then drops them all on everyone's head. Good times.

Houston Children's Museum

Margaret and I took Calvin to the Houston Children's Museum. She hasn't been there since Ryne was a little baby. We spent most of our time up in the tot lot, where they had a lot of ramps and toys and little ball pits, and after playing for a couple of hours Calvin fell asleep, os we went home.

But downstairs there were a lot of things that looked like fun. There was an art studio with easels and paints set up, and a street that was like a miniature town with a police station, an ambulance where they could use all the stuff, a grocery store and a news station. We'll be going back soon.

Calvin and the Snowy J

Waking up from my musical hibernation

I don't know what's wrong with me (OK, I admit it, I can think of at least five things that are Wrong With Me) but it's been a very long time since I've played trumpet.

But I talked to some trumpet players in town and they said that nearly everyone in the Community Winds have had a time (5-20 years) where they put the horn down and came back to it. So they won't make fun of me.

And for a long time I thought it would be too hard to play with Calvin around. Because I'll wake him up if I play when he sleeps, and when he's awake he's always trying to get my attention. When I have a babysitter I usually want to make the most of it by writing, particularly if I might get paid for what I'm writing (because it's refreshing to know that I'm making more than the babysitter every now and again).

Anyway, I started practicing the other day and Calvin loved it. He was entertained. I played a song he likes from Fraggle Rock. Then he wanted to play. I think if I start to play my biggest challenge will be that I'll have to fight over the trumpet with Calvin.

But either way, the Community Winds is rehearsing tonight and I'm going.

Dance! Run Run Run! Upsiedown!

Calvin's 21 months right now. At certain times of the day, he likes to sit down with a book. But he has so much energy right now that it seems like times when he learns the most is when he's running around, playing and dancing. That's why I love the music classes that he's in. He learns a ton of words and songs, and gets to play with other kids. Here he is at Music and Movement, and the Mesa Public Library.

Next week we're going to join a tumbling class at the YMCA.

A Quilt to Remember Grandma and Grandpa

Ever since Mom died I've wanted to make a quilt using her clothes, so that I could have something that was soft and cuddly to remember her with. Once my sisters and I went to the store for supplies and were planning to have a sister quilting club. At our first quilting meeting Melissa had big plans, but was mainly chit chatting. Katie was incredibly efficient, making a ton of perfectly matching squares with the measuring/cutting device that she bought. I was more of a gimp, and cut out several lopsided squares using a CD case, while trying to fend off Katie's curious cats.

I don't know whether Katie and Melissa tried again. I managed to sew two of those squares together and realized that I am a terrible quilter. But I love my parents and I wanted to have a quilt that I could give to Calvin. So I took all my fabrics (my moms bathrobe and pajamas, my dad's pajamas and a shirt, a dress that mom and I made together and a sarong that they brought home for me that time they went to Jamaica and a dress that I wore to my mom's funeral) to a local quilting shop and told them my ideas. And here is the quilt!

It says "Grandma and Grandpa Audette Love You."

Finger Painting