exploring | The Mahogany Way

Let’s see….we’ve been to the Nauticus Museum twice in one week. They really like that there’s a museum so close to the water, and that they can go on a real ship.

Inside is a mini aquarium, a little shark pool, and a horseshoe crab hang out. You can step outside to look through the scolded and watch people working on cargo ships across the water. We also spied several smaller ships and sailboats passing by.

The Battleship is amazing! We got to check out the mess hall, the executive officers room, see the tiny shower stalls and bathrooms. Oh, and the cannons, those things are huge! I was Oohhing and ahhing right along with the kids.

Right next to the museum are apartment complexes with walking trails. The girls called it the Japanese trail, because of the restaurant and the Koi we spotted in the ponds.

There’s been lots of puzzle play, especially this alphabet puzzle. An almost 3hr trip to the library. We have three libraries near us. One is closed for renovations, we haven’t been to the other one yet, and the one in the picture has a fantastic children’s area. We like it a lot.

Kiah bridged from a Girl Scout Daisy to a Brownie on Tuesday. It was a really cute and sweet ceremony. She’s so happy and proud to be a Brownie now.

A couple weeks ago, my friend Erika gave me a big bag of all kinds of seeds, and plant food. She gave me the cinder blocks to finish my raised bed, and I’m getting some soil from her garden. I planted some collards and purple cabbage in containers from the seeds she gave me. My cabbage has sprouted already….it had been less than 5 days. The raised bed garden is taking longer than I expected to get going. I’m trying to be ok with that.

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I did Kiah’s hair Tuesday, mine last night, and Ava’s is getting done today. There are three baskets of laundry waiting to be folded and put away.

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Kiah has her very first sleep over Friday night. Soccer is out for the summer. She’s excited to hang out with her soccer sisters again. We were hesitant about her sleeping over….but we’re taking Ava to get her ears pierced, and possibly catch a movie. The plan is to hang out near the sleepover house long enough to see if Kiah will really stay the night. The house is about 45 mins from where we live…..no one wants to make that trek in the middle of the night.

I need to pick up almost all the decorations for Samuel and Ava’s Luau party Saturday. Ava turns five on Sunday! I can still get away with having their parties together. I’m sure Ava will want her own party as she gets older.

There are cupcakes to be made, shells and sand to gather, laundry to do, and a house to finish cleaning.

As you can see our done is pretty big. Our doing is small, and our to do is on the longer side…..it’s going to be a busy, and wild few days.

Can you believe we’ve been here for three years, and last week was our first time visiting the museum? I’m glad we were able to visit before this sickness swept through the house.

It was well worth the wait! We enjoyed it just as much as the kids did. We were all fascinated with the train area, especially Samuel. I love how detailed the exhibit was.

The bubble room is pretty amazing. Being able to stand inside a bubble as your making it. Then they had individual stations for your regular bubble blowing fun.
Samuel would have none of standing inside the bubble. I think some parts of the museum may have been a little too much stimulation for him.

Then there’s the boat where the kids can wear life jackets and fish. Then they toss them back into their correct spot….each slot had a little information about the fish.
I checked out the bank not too far from the boat. Wrote myself a $4000 check….I’m still waiting for that money.

The grocery store was another favorite. The kids could be cashiers and customers. They were so cute with their tiny baskets, in a store just their size for shopping.
Off the store was the Doctors and Dentist office.

There was also a music room, a fire engine room, which I thought Samuel would love…but he was scared of that room. You could put out the flames and pretend to ride on the life size truck.

Kiah couldn’t wait to check out the upstairs. They had all kinds of experiments for the kids to play with.
Energy and static electricity exhibits.
We probably spent the last hour up there. We weren’t done, but a certain 4yr old was becoming either tired, hungry, or both….there was a tantrum and small disappearing act, so it was time to go.

I left out a ton of the museum. So much to see, do, and touch!
We will definitely go back.