Mixing it up a little

      The kids and I go on regular adventures.  It is what allows me to stay sane as a stay-at-home mom.  I loathe the days that we do not leave the house.  I rationalize the adventures by telling myself that I am providing them with enriching experiences they would not receive if they attended daycare.
Despite my best efforts, we occasionally fall into a rut.  This month I have taken it upon myself to try some new activities to spice things up a little.
       Our first new adventure was to OmKids Play Gym in Wallingford.  I normally dislike toddler gyms at the community centers.  They are loud and chaotic and then become dangerous when the community center preschool enters for their recess.  However, at $3 they are hard to beat.  Om Kids was an entirely different experience.  It should be called Zen play gym.  It was so relaxed!  The lighting was dim with Christmas lights strung from the ceiling.  Gentle music played instead of a 70s dance mix.  It was a little pricey at $8 per kid (they do have a punch card), but it was nice to have something to throw into the mix.  The place has tunnels, a balance beam, rings, one large and several small trampolines, swings, and a giant pile of Love Sacs.  I definitely wouldn't attempt to bring Linus to the toddler time.  They do have a preschooler time but he may still have to much energy for the space.  I'd also like to give out a shout out to the bathroom.  It was spacious and equally zen and had a changing table.  There's nothing worse than going to a "kid friendly" space with non-friendly bathrooms.  Here's a few pics of Eileen enjoying herself at Zen toddler gym:

Over the weekend we went to the Seattle Aquarium.  This is actually one of our regular stops since we have a membership.  I've taken to going when I know they have something special going on.  We've seen all the animals and fish tons of time, so without something different the kids fly through in 30 minutes.  Plus sometimes the special events are really cool.  This weekend was a special Hawaiian theme (it's going on next weekend complete with a hula show).  We all got lei'd. Both kids got their faces painted. Linus enjoyed being an octopus.

        Today we finally got to try something I've had on my list of ideas for a little while--Baby Jam at Yanvalou Drum School (right by the Woodland Park Zoo).  It's $7 per kid, and has a punch card option.  Baby Jam consists of singing and dancing with instruments and scarves in English, Spanish, and Hebrew.  They also do storytelling.  One of leaders is always drumming, which really enhanced storytelling.  Linus refused to participate during the first half.  He was only interested in playing on drums with sticks.  Luckily,  there is a good 10-15 minutes of straight drumming.  Linus picked the biggest drum he could find and went to town.  Everything was better after that.  He even asked to come back again every time class happened.  The class was very feel good and the leaders were all great about letting the children explore the instruments.  The people running it were really cool.  We'll definitely go back.  It was a great way for the kids to let out some energy.

You will notice Linus is sporting a bow tie and suspenders.  He dressed himself the other day in a plaid dress shirt, dress shoes, suspenders and bow tie and asked me, "Do I look like a man?"  Since then he has taken to wearing the suspenders and bow tie most days.

Eileen, for her part, is more interested in being part of the Seattle hipster scene.

No one can say my children lack style or personality.