We checked out the Sheldrake Center in Larchmont (5 mins away from our house) on 4/16.  We followed the Leddy trail (0.5 miles) around Goodliffe pond and got to see some waterfowl and some dams.

On 4/10, we took the kids on their first trip into the city to the Museum of Natural History.  We got there right when it opened and headed straight for the dinosaur bones.  We even saw the titanosaur, though Blaine was most interested in the logistics of how they got the dinosaurs into the building.  We had lunch and then I drove Sarah home and Andrew and Blaine stayed on longer and took the train home.  A good time was had by all!

The kids and I went to the Maritime Aquarium in Norwalk, CT, on 4/5.  Apparently, it’s the top aquarium in New England!  Sorry, Boston.  We loved the sea turtles:

Blaine got to touch some crabs and starfish:

And we saw the seals being fed:

Here’s Blaine in the meerkat display.

Here’s Blaine working on Daddy’s birthday card leading up to the big day.  Blaine got really into cutting up bits of paper with his safety scissors, so we ended up doing a confetti thing.

We also baked a cake!

And there were presents, of course.

A few extra photos from March.  The kids love rinsing sushi rice.

Sarah wanted to try on Blaine’s conductor outfit.

Blaine LOVES the ukulele at music class.

Sarah has been doing a lot of teething.

Sarah tried sushi for the first time – she loved the pickled ginger.

We prepared for Easter by digging up our baskets and bunny ears.

The next morning Blaine was thrilled to find the Easter Bunny had left him some goodies, including this fire extinguisher squirter and some pinwheels.

I tried to find a local egg hunt but it seemed like many of them were the previous weekend when we were out of town, so we had our own little hunt at the house.

The kids enjoyed the fruit that the Easter Bunny had hidden in the eggs.

Then we made pancakes!

We enjoyed some playground time later in the day.

Here are all the pics from the second leg of our trip in Great Falls.

On 3/23 we went on a nature walk (I forget the name of the place!).

That afternoon Grand-dad took Blaine out to fly a kite.

On 3/24 we visited the Colvin Run Mill.

That night we had an early birthday celebration for Daddy.  Mmm, cake!

Thank you to Gram and Grand-dad for having us!  We had a great time.

We spent the week of 3/20-25 on a road trip through Virginia.  On 3/20 we drove from NY to Charlottesville to visit Great Grand-mom and Great Grand-dad.  Then on 3/22 we drove to Great Falls to spend a few nights with Gram and Grand-dad.  We all had a wonderful time!  Here are the pics from the first leg of the trip.  We stopped at a neat rest area for lunch on 3/20 that had a perfect kids’ area.  Sarah did not nap well in the car, so her mood went downhill rapidly after this photo.

That night we walked around Charlottesville before dinner and checked out this fun chalk wall.

On 3/21 we had a yummy lunch at a place called “feast” and then visited Great Grand-mom and Great Grand-dad for a few hours.

Sarah was thrilled to have this entire bowl of goldfish!

Blaine took advantage of Wendy’s kindness and got to ride around on this walker.

Sarah was up early both mornings so we found ourselves hanging out in the lobby of our hotel so Blaine could sleep later.  The hotel was a big hit — Blaine still talks about taking the elevator to the 6th floor.

On 3/22 we spent a few more hours visiting with Great Grand-dad and Great Grand-mom.  We enjoyed looking at maps, playing with their toy trains and animals, and reading books.

We all had a wonderful time seeing Great Grand-mom and Great Grand-dad — thanks for having us!

We bought a playhouse for the backyard and spent the afternoon on 3/15 assembling it.  It’s a “green” playhouse meaning it has all these fun environmentally-friendly features including a gutter and rain reservoir, an area for a little garden and a living roof (to grow grass), a working solar panel with LED light, recycling bins, and a working pump sink.  It’s been a big hit!

On 3/15 we drove over to Legoland in Yonkers.  It’s definitely better suited to older kids — we had fun looking at the replicas of NY landmarks, and the Star Wars exhibit, but Blaine was pretty scared of the one ride they had.