the playseum and some cute kid stuff

wow.
this place was AMAZING!!!

for those of you around here...it's in Bethesda, MD.
and was WORTH the drive!
{and worth taking the kids out of school!}

this was the dream of a mom.
and it's now a reality.
she made it happen.

{i spent a lot of time talking to Gina during our 3 hours in her Playseum today!}

this is going to be a LOT of pictures.
but i want those of you that live close enough to see what you can experience!

i'm going to share some cute stuff about the kids as we go...to keep this pictures more interesting.

the first room we started in was the bakery.

it all looked so REAL!


even an area to make ice cream cones! :-)

Bailey:
oh, sweet bailey.
lately, when she asks me a question and i say, "i don't know" or "i'm not sure"
she says, "YES, you DO! you're BIG!"

oh, and she cut her hair the other day.
thankfully just a little section.
it's not really noticeable in all that hair.
i was upset with her.
she looked at me with those big, beautiful eyes and said,
"i wanted my hair short. like rebekah's!"
right.

her favorite halloween candy were the pretzel bags!
seriously!
and she takes FOREVER to make a decision.
just learned that at halloween.
at every door she acted like she was deciding the most important thing in her life.

this room was AMAZING.
the idea was "climbing up in grandma's attic"
old dresses...hats...trunks...REAL stuff from HER grandma's attic!


at each end of the Playseum there was a room for babies.
with a gate at the door.
and a soft floor.
and an opening so that we could be close by and the baby could see us and feel like he was with us.
yet couldn't get into the "little" stuff we were playing with.

the grocery store!
this was MY favorite!
so COOL!!!

shopping carts...groceries...REAL boxes of it!

a scale to weigh the produce...

even real fridge/freezers!

and i got to check them out :-)

joshua counting his items...of course!

there was a pet room.
with real pets!
birds..bunny...fish...gerbil??

Joshua:
i think i'll always have some question marks in my head about this kid.
he's just so quiet.
i never quite know what's going on in that sweet head of his.
but i do know that he loved Skittles the best of his halloween candy.
and making his pinewood derby car for the Grand Prix in AWANA the last few weeks with his dad has been a HUGE highlight.
because of all that time near daddy's workbench, his new favorite activity is hammering nails into a block of wood. :-)

a dress up room...wigs...shoes...dresses...fingernail polish to paint nails...hair stuff...

there was a HUGE room with a stage and drums and a guitar and a foosball table and a game table and a trampoline and a train table...and some other stuff.

and this little baby room {and cute baby!!!} overlooked it.

Sawyer:
oh, this kid.
he can bring so much joy...and so much frustration into my days.
his smile is amazing.
but when he's not happy...ain't nobody happy.
thankfully it's not often.

he also loves skittles.
and can blow kisses.
and can live without a morning nap.
yet will take one if i want him to.

when he hears daddy's garage door opening he RUNS to the door...SO excited!!!
then, once he greets daddy, he runs to find the football and brings it to him!
it's HYSTERICAL!
then they play this game where they say, "set, hut!" and run with the football.
sawyer does the "set, hut!" motion {bending over with the football between his legs} and makes the intonation of the words {can't say them...but you KNOW what he's saying!}
it's amazing!

he's such a fun kid.

ok. onto the craft room.
seriously.
you painted on this board.
and then just squirted it with water and squigeed (sp??) it off.
cool.
there were shelves of craft stuff...feathers, bottle caps, clay, so much stuff....


rebekah loved this room.
international stuff...

rebekah:
{when we still had it} she kept giving me the chocolate out of the halloween candy.
so generous and giving that one...

her favorite candy to eat is a lollipop or tootsie roll.

i love that she tells me stories from her day.
my favorite one lately was when they were racing at recess.
around the track.
and she was the only girl with all the boys.
and she was only beat by a "little bit."

i SO don't relate to that.
i was NOT like that growing up.
but i love that she is.
i think it gives girls a lot more confidence in who they are {in a healthy way}.
and i love that for her.

oh, and she's the only girl that plays dodgeball with the boys.
{sometimes she plays "family" with the girls, too :-)}

i also love that she plays with different friends all the time.

and back to the grocery store.
we visited it twice.




and we painted nails before we left.

a tunnel between 2 of the rooms.

popped in this room on our way out...

and 2 seconds after this picture, sawyer tried to eat that scoop of sand :-)

on that note, we left.
we totally could have stayed longer...except for sawyer.
he was done.
and i didn't take pictures of so many more things!

OH! and if that wasn't enough...there were also bookshelves everywhere...filled with used children's books....and you could buy them!!!

you'll just have to take my word for it.

the Playseum was awesome!!!