Dog Days of Summer

The entire month of June was terrible here at the Craig homestead, (with the exception, of course, of the one week we spent in Georgia.).  It rained, it poured, old men snored.  It rained more.  Then, when it was finished raining, we had a tropical storm.  A whole month of rain messes with stuff.  It messes with the grass, and makes it grow at warp speed.  It messes with the mowing, because you can't mow if the ground is soggy.  It messes with the garden because some plants don't like to swim.  It messes up swimming because the pool doesn't actually like rain water.   It messes with trips to the beach, because who wants to go to the beach when it's raining??  Most importantly, it messes with my head.  I get so depressed when it rains all the time.  I honestly don't know how the people who live in the Pacific North West do it.  I was ready to hibernate under my bed until the sun came out again!  Needless to say, except for the trip to Georgia, we didn't do any of the cool things I wanted to do with the kids in June.  Oh wait, that's not true, we went to the MOSH at the end of June, on a rainy day. 

July had a slow start for us because we were still shaking off the effects of a month of rain.  This past week, the second week in July, has been really fun!  First of all, Gabriel had been invited to go with his friend, Nick, and Nick's family to Disney World this week.  He left on Monday with them, and will be back tomorrow.  I was very nervous about him going and even more nervous about him being gone so long.  He's never been away from home that long, except to visit my mom and dad.  Germophobe me was terrified that he wouldn't wash his hands before he ate, and contract some hideous disease.  I got over it.  He has texted me every day this week telling me things he's done, rides he's been on, things he's seen.  He is having a BLAST!!  He's going to hate coming home tomorrow!  I can't wait to hear about everything all at once, instead of in tiny text messages.  I think the coolest thing he's experienced so far, according to his texts, is a ride called Expedition Everest.  He texted me right after he got off it, and was soooo excited about it!  He told me to look it up so I could see how amazing it is.  Here's what I found:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2qoTcnVcM0c

While Gabriel has been enjoying the Wonderful World of Disney, Annalise and Nathan and I have been having our own adventures.  We went to the zoo.  Yeah, I know, yippie, the zoo.  The Jacksonville zoo has some pretty cool things though.  Besides the animals, there is a train, which most zoos have, and a carousel, which some zoos have, and a full size play ground, and water park, which only a very few zoos have.  Nathan has never been to the zoo before.  He's also never been on a train, real or zoo, and he's never been on a carousel.  He loved the animals, because all kids love animals.  He loved the times I let him run around instead of being locked in the stroller.  He was terrified of the carousel.  The one thing he loved the most was the train.  We rode the train last, so the entire time we were there, all we heard about was riding on the train.  "I wanna ride the train!"  "Ride the train!!" Over and over.  The one and only picture I managed to get at the zoo was of Annalise and Nathan on the train. 

The next time we go to the zoo, we will go with another adult so I can take more pictures. 

We also went to the Cummer Museum of Art and Gardens.  That place is incredible!  The gardens are gorgeous!!  Unfortunately, they were also filled with mosquitoes, another byproduct of too much rain.  Next time we go, we will pack bug spray in the stroller!  We didn't spend nearly as much time in the gardens as we wanted to because of the mosquitoes, but the few minutes we were there were very nice. 

Inside the Cummer, there are two parts.  The first, biggest part, is the art museum.  Nathan was less than interested in this part, so Annalise and I only got to see a couple of collections.  *sigh*  I told her I'd take her back without him and we could look at everything.  The second part is the interactive kids section of the museum.  Here, kids can create using all sorts of mediums.  There's even a little room where music plays, and the screens on one wall show your movements with different light patterns.  Nathan liked that part best of all!  He loves to dance, and he thought it was cool that that wall changed with things he did.  Annalise was shy to show her dancing like that, but after a little while she warmed up to it. 

 Pool noodle sculpture.

 Music and movement

 Virtual painting

 Puzzles

 Working with cutting and pasting.

 Wooden block sculpture building

 Drawing on dry erase boards/glass.

As we were leaving, we found something very interesting.  There is a kiosk in the lobby next to the gardens that is full of what looks like over sized first aid kits.  They are art kits.  On a shelf at the bottom of the kiosk are stacks of blank paper.  There is a note on the kiosk that says something to the effect of: Take an art kit and some paper out into the gardens while you explore.  Be sure to put your art kit back in the kiosk before leaving the museum so others can create as well. 
Is that not the coolest thing???  I promised Annalise that the next time we go, since we will have bug spray, she can take an art kit and some paper and draw pictures of whatever she is inspired to while we are in the gardens.  I wonder what's in the art kits??  I guess we will find out next time!