Play Day

Last week was really busy. Babysitting for a friend all day, errands and stuff around the house. It had been a while since we'd really played or done something fun for Tate. By Thursday Tate and I were ready for a fun play day together. We decided to check out the butterfly center at the science museum downtown. He's been into butterflies lately, thanks to a couple of little einsteins episodes.
First we encountered this cool fountain outside. I'm pretty sure Tate could play in a cool fountain all day long.

Then we headed inside to check out the exhibit. It was super cool. Tate loved that giant caterpillar.And we climbed up some stairs (also a hit) to the big exhibit room where we met some huge bugs: spiders, roaches, grasshoppers and the like.

Tate was fascinated by the big butterflies coming out of all the cocoons. And loved to see the different food that all the different bugs were eating.

Then there were all the buttons to push. He didn't really have to understand what all the buttons were for. There were just so many of them! Kid was in heaven.

And a special thanks to this little exhibit for confirming my fear that a large spider just might be hiding in my shoe every time I go to put it on. After that big room we went out to the butterfly conservatory. The conservatory was enormous and looked like a lush rain forest. There were thousands of butterflies everywhere! It was very cool. Tons of butterflies everywhere you looked. All different colors and sizes and they were not shy. They'd fly right up and flutter in front of your face. That freaked Tate's freak a little. He was fine until one came right up to his face and then that was it. I was holding him and pointing to butterflies at least a few feet away for the rest of the time. It was amazing. I couldn't wipe the smile off my face and Tate was much happier too, as long as they kept their distance. Tate was especially mesmerized by the waterfall and frustrated that I wouldn't let him dive in.Then we had a butterfly treat on the way out. It was a great outing.

That night we went to the discount day at jumpalooza with Glenn. I told Tate that we could go when dad got home and he said, all excited, "Dad wants to COME?" Yeah buddy, Daddy is coming. For some reason, he could not get enough of Daddy that night. He didn't want anything to do with me. If he was climbing somewhere, Daddy had to go with him. At one point Glenn started punching these big things like a punching bag and Tate started busting up laughing. Then he said, "I can do it too!" and started copying Daddy. It was so cute. A very fun and full day. Glad we took a break from the daily grind to really play for a whole day.