Rainy Day Off....

 

Oh, what to do on this rainy day with no school?  

Sounds like an excerpt from 

"The Cat in the Hat"...  

It's report card pick up day 

and the kids are off, yet again...  

I had grand visions of taking them to a museum 

until I was stricken with a bug which advises I stay close to home, 

if you know what I mean...  

So, what to do?  

Jack would rather stay glued to his IPad, 

ensconced in his headphones...  

Kate, as usual, wanted to be entertained...  

So, I turned to Pinterest for help in my efforts 

to be her Julie McCoy...  

Pinterest did not disappoint 

and I found a fun recipe for Jello play dough...

Thanks to The Play dough Chef, 

we stirred up a strawberry concoction in no time...  

I suppose if you have a plethora of Jello flavors in your pantry, 

you may create a rainbow of colors, 

but red was our choice today...  

Kate enjoyed the process 

and she got a good twenty minutes of tactile fun

 before looking at me expectantly for the next event in the

"Rainy Day Olympics"...  

Luckily, I was one step ahead of her 

and found another fun, 

and less messy idea from Pinterest...  

I discovered a great photo on Flikr,

that illustrated how to make 

a little homemade loom, 

but Made by Joel gave a much better tutorial...  

Of course I came across it after Kate 

and I struggled on our own,

 but in the end, 

she made a sweet and tiny rug for her doll... 

That craft probably ate up a good forty-five minutes, 

so we were to lunch time...  

The Swedish American Museum opens at one pm, 

so if I am feeling better, 

we may give it a go....  

To Be Continued!

So we have returned from the Swedish American Museum 

with mixed reviews...

Kate:  "It was awesome!  

Can we stay longer?"

Jack:  "Mom, did you really think 

I would like this place!? 

It's for little kids!" 

Bummer!  

I had high hopes both kids might enjoy 

learning about how their ancestors emigrated 

from the Old Country.

My dad's background is Norwegian 

and he would probably love this museum, 

even if it focuses on those damn Swedes...

 

You have no idea how many Swedish jokes 

 I have heard...

All in good fun, I suppose and heck, 

Norway is next door, so they are more similar than not...

Don't ya know...

Okay, so I batted 1 for 2 on this idea, 

but after Jack's whining, 

things improved in the immigration exhibit 

and smoothed out once 

they had double scoop waffle cones 

from George's Ice Cream...

There is nothing like rainbow sherbert 

to soothe the beast...

Despite Jack's opinion, the kids section 

of the Swedish American Museum 

is really cool...

It portrays Swedish life in the 1800's 

with log cabins, farms 

and the steamship that carried the immigrants 

to America...  

It is very hands on, 

with plenty of tools, pumps, 

cookware, crops and even costumes 

for the little ones to play with...

Had I brought Kate along with one of her friends, 

they would have been happily occupied for hours...

Note to self, good play date idea!

After the ice cream, 

we stopped by the school book fair 

so Jack could purchase a couple of his picks...

Now he is contentedly perusing 

 "The World's Most Extreme Inventions", 

or something to that order...

Next time we will hit the Museum of Science and Industry...

Overall, I'd say I put some effort

 into this rainy day...

Next are the teacher conferences...

*Gulp*