A Pirate's Life for Me - a Rare May Day Off!

The family I babysit for took a couple of rare days off in May, so I gathered up the kids one day and met our good pals Lisa and Maya to explore the new pirate exhibit at the St. Louis Science Center.

It seems that some dude out on the East Coast had heard tale of a pirate ship being wrecked just off the coast, which no one had ever found. After a bit of searching he found the remains AND all the pirate treasure that came with it! At least that's what I think happened. I couldn't quite get the story down because a little someone who happened to be strapped on my back wouldn't quit screaming in my ear during the presentation explaining where and how all the pirate ship loot was found. Here is the one and only picture I got of the pirate exhibit:

the bell of the ship - captured illegally, I might add. That part about no pictures being allowed in the exhibit? Turns out that was a little snippet I missed. I got a 10 minute lecture on that one. (Thanks a lot, Claire.)

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After we toured the exhibit and spent our requisite seven bucks on utter crap also known as a plastic pirate sword thingy, we tooled around the Science Center for a bit. The dinosaurs are a recent hit - a couple of years ago Logan wouldn't go near them.

Logan doing some swashbuckling on a dinosaur track...

And who doesn't love the fake tornado?

Claire looks kinda ghostly in the tornado!

Afterward we went to Fitz's for some home-brewed root beer and lunch! Sadly, there was a 20 minute wait for a table. Happily, the kids weathered the wait much better than the pirate presentation!

Maya perusing the menu.....decisions, decisions!

The girls attacking their cream sodas!

Love you guys, even if you don't know how to act in public...

Mama

Miscellaneous May

Some snippets of other May activities:

My peony bush FINALLY bloomed! I've been trying to get this thing to grow for 4 whole years now. The first year it barely leafed out and then died back. The second year it was just starting to show some promise when something (rabbit? slugs?) ate it all the way back down to the ground! The third year it actually got buds on it! Then the buds all turned brown and fell off..... And now finally, FINALLY - the fourth year - it bloomed. So it only got one flower on it, but I consider that a win.

See, the neighbors probably think I am crazy because I am so obsessed with keeping rabbits out of my yard, but consider that I invested four years in one plant just to see one bloom - and got excited about it. I mean, it's a big, huge deal when a stupid bunny hops along and chews your hard work all the way back to the ground in one night!

I made a new flower bed along the back side of the fence. All those rocks I lined it with I actually dug out of the ground with my own two hands. That's the kind of soil we have around here - all rock and clay....which is why I compost (illegally, I might add - our HOA says we can't have composters. I hide mine.).

We have a tradition on Thursday nights after Logan's gymnastics - we go to Heaven Scent bakery and get dessert, plus Friday's breakfast!

mmmmmmm

A family finally came and built a nest in our birdhouse!! We were so excited to have babies this year - until yesterday when I lifted the lid to see the babies and found they had been attacked by a swarm of stupid red ants!!! All the babies except one were dead, and although I tried really hard to save the one remaining baby, he ended up dying in my hands. We were so sad. Dang ants! I cleaned out the nest and I'm buying some poison before the next family moves in.

BIRDS ONLY

NO ANTS ALLOWED

I will be more vigilant next time, Bird Family! My condolences.

Wine Country Gardens

We love going to Wine Country Gardens just down the highway from us. I have always said that if I could come up with my own perfect business idea, this is what I would dream up. Except it would be in Sonoma. But I have to admit, this place is as pretty as any place I know of out there.

They sell flowers....

Pineapple sage

Bi-colored salvia

They have lots of cool places to explore...

(Logan just took a time out to steal the camera...)

Mama

Grammy

Ahem....like I was saying, they have all kinds of cool places to explore...

Ummm, Claire? Where are you going with that wagon?

Oh! A stage! Why, it must be for dancing!

Hold it! Flower sniffing time!

And...where was I?

Oh, yes...

On this particular day they had run out of juice boxes in the restaurant. (Oh, I didn't mention that yet? Yes, there's a restaurant here too.) In order to avoid a near tragedy, a quick-thinking Grammy rescued lunch with some lemon slices and a sugar packet to make "lemonade." Logan was skeptical...

But oh no! During a moment of distraction Claire dove in to Grammy's yogurt and got it all over her cute shirt! This napkin addition was a moment too late.

Oh, and did I mention they also have a playground for the kids?

And a wine bar for the grownups?

Somebody pinch me!

The view from the wine bar...

....and back to the parking lot!

Food, fun, flowers, and wine!

What a perfect day!

Love,
Mama