I was so excited! I made it home just as Lucy was waking up for the morning. (Praise the Lord for no traffic days! That would never have happened on 75!)
I brought home special birthday donuts from Cowboy donuts, since we will have birthday pancakes another day. Lucy was so super excited to see fruit loops on her donut. (Oh boy, I hope we won’t all pay for this later!) I cannot believe our little munchkin is 4!!! already!!! This time has gone by so very fast. Lucy loves that she is getting older, but I don’t like it at all. Today she was telling me and William about all the things she can do now that she is 4. She’s taller. She’s faster. She has gained new super powers, like “extra super star vision.” And… the killer of the day…
“Mom! Why are you putting me in this car seat!?! I’m four now! I don’t need to be in this anymore!!!” Wow! I thought I was going to die! Who knows where she heard or how on earth she came up with the idea that her car seat was no longer needed at 4, I have no clue! I quickly debunked that idea though, and let her know she’d be in one until she was 9! At least!!! (And if she followsNatalie’s growth rate (which at this point, Lucy is even smaller than Natalie was at this point) it will be even longer.)
At 4, Lucy still loves books. She loves to visit all the libraries, and she’d check out everything if she could. It has been SO nice to get our own books back too! I forgot what we had until we brought them out of storage. Lucy is reading and writing on her own, and has been doing wonderfully with it. She gets so excited when we are out somewhere and she can read all the signs. Lucy LOVES to dance as well. If she is not reading, or playing dolls, she is dancing. She even dances with her dolls. She really believes that she can do a Grande Jete like Felicie. I just love her imagination! Although it does make things interesting when she changes who she is. We walked down to a friend’s house the other day. The mom said, “Hello Lucy. How are you today?” To which Lucy promptly replied, “I’m not Lucy. I’m Vanellope. Lucy is in the hospital with a broken bone.” I’m not sure where she comes up with these things! Lu still loves to go to bed listening to Piano Guys Jurassic Park! Yes, 4 years after that song came out, it is still part of her nighttime routine. Usually by the end of the second time of it playing, she is out.
I am so very proud of Natalie. She has worked and dedicated so much of herself to her school work this year, and it has really showed and paid off. 
I really hope she will continue this way and do well for herself into her senior year. I really think she can. She is one amazing young lady. He teacher had so many nice things to say about her, as well as the vice principal.
William was all for that, and helped her along the way.
She was great at mixing.
Only a few time did I catch her trying to sneak a bite. “Lucy, you’re not eating the dough, right?” “No Mom! I’m just making sure we have mixed it enough.”
It was Beautiful, but the water was much too high and fast to wade in the river.
We enjoyed skipping rocks from the shore…
…and checking out all nature’s creatures.
Sam found a daddy long legs spider on a branch, and everyone had to come to check it out.
Lucy was so sweet and kept climbing up the banks ahead of me so that she could lend me her hand and “pull me up” at the end.
She kept making me so nervous because she wanted to get so close to the water. Last summer, we were able to climb underneath the caves and stand in them:
…but definitely NOT today!
We just took time to take pictures, 
watch Lucy pose over and over again,
and make “chocolate milk.”
Brie found a really neat darkling beetle. It rolled over and played dead when we came up to it. Super funny to watch this big just flip over on its back. I enjoyed it from a distance. Just can’t stomach having a beetle crawl on me!
William really wanted to fish, so we headed over to the ponds. There is something about William’s luck with fishing and rainstorms. They don’t work very well together!
Lucy wanted to play in the sand, and THAT she did! We’ll be washing this out for a LONG time!
At least she thoroughly enjoyed herself!
Of course, after a bit, the rain really started coming down! There was quite a bit of thunder and lightning, so we decided it was best to leave. We tried, but as we were heading to the car, the kids ran over with a terrified soaking wet dog that they found under our van.
There was no way that I could leave it in the pouring rain. So, we called animal control, which of course was closed. Then we contacted the non-emergency police number. They were super nice. As we waited for them to come and pick up the dog, another dog from across the street joined us.
They kids were begging to keep the lost wet dog. I think we have plenty of critters! Finally, the police came and we were happy to know that the dog would be somewhere safe until it found its owner. Always excitement on family outings! 🤣
I didn’t even realize she was in the basement until she came and showed me her dustpan. She was SO proud of herself and told me, “Mommy, I’ve helped you out so you don’t have to do it all by yourself.” She must have heard that statement one too many times. I cannot wait until May is OVER!
Then, later on, she decided to get out of her dusty jammies and dress herself. Usually, she plays the youngest card and “can’t do it!” But today, she did it pretty darn well. 
Even if her jumper was on backwards.
We LOVE this program. (I just wish we could sign up more often!) Lucy learns so much from the museum explorations. And it’s just her pace. This week we learned about transportation and the railroad through Utah. We “travelled” down the halls like planes, trains, and automobiles.
We learned about how the railroad came through the west…
…and even got to create our own felt board trains.
We learned what it was like to travel from New York to Utah, and how many different people you’d encounter along the way.
We learned how many cultures say “Hello,” from bowing, to giving a lei, to sticking out your tongue.
Once the museum exploration was over, we went to the craft room to create our own art projects.
Lucy made a foam shape train mosaic and a train conductor’s hat. She had to have every part of the hat colored in differently, so we took a VERY long time to finish.
Everyone else was gone by the time we did. Brie was off work before we left, so she joined us for the last little bit.
The experience was great though. Lucy was very engaged the whole time, so i knew she was enjoying what she was doing.
Afterwards, we visited the Windswept exhibit. Can you believe these are all created by intricately weaving sticks one by one?!?
I know why our preschool group didn’t visit this one! It took everything out of me to keep Lucy from trying to touch the exhibits.
She was mesmerized by them. Thank goodness the floor kept reminding her too! Such a super cool exhibit!
There were princesses everywhere!
The main princesses that came to visit were Cinderella, Merida, Snow White, Rupunzel, and Ariel. They were Fabulous! Lucy was so excited to see them.
Each princess had their own station with an activity to do. It got super crowded, very quickly (since the activity room at the library is REALLY small) but we were still able to visit all the stations, gather our magic jewels, and creat our special crown.
Ariel had a fishing game. Merida had a bow and arrow challenge. (It was the most popular because you got to keep your bow and arrows. 
Rupunzel had a make your own wishing lantern station. Snow White read fairy tales. And lastly, Cinderella had the crown making station. Once you gathered all your jewels from each station, you could put them on a crown you could keep. 
Lucy was very intent on making a wish with her lantern. I actually thought she was crying for some reason at first. But then when I questioned her, I got, “Mom!! I’m making a wish, remember silly.” Oh this girl! 
When the party ended, Lucy noticed the incredible tulips outside the library. The flowers here are just amazing! I LOVE how they stay, because there is no hail to bear them to smithereens! 
Lucy was fascinated! I just had to keep reminding her to look with her eyes only. 
Lucy has a blast! I love that she can just explore wherever she wants and go at her own pace here. It was also a great day because the museum was not busy at all. Even with a couple school groups inside, we hardly saw them. There is so much to see, learn, and do. We visited the forest and dressed up like the bears in the cave. We marched and went on a bear hunt.
We searched for fish, then stopped for a “bite to eat” in the diner. Lucy is quite the chef.
We player chase through the Treehouse, rode bucking broncos, and played on the farm.
Lucy has to make sure to milk the cow every time we come. (Except today, the cow was dry.) 
Lucy LOVES the villages from around the world, and has learned SO much about other cultures in them. Today we talked about how in Japan people sit on mats on the floor to eat their meals. 
Then we went to Great Britain for tea. We read fairytales from around the world, made different crafts, and left with a feeling of great accomplishment.
It might be a while before we visit again, but this is one membership that has more than paid for itself!
William and Lucy had a great time together. I loved that he helped take over the teaching at some of the stations. I know she admires him so much and definitely listens to what he says. They built many creations together, and knocked many down. They got wet in Water Works and blown dry by the “hurricane.” 
They built pyramids that “reached the sky.” 
Lucy always loves to come to the Africa village to buy food and then cook it for everyone. Today, she even dressed the part in a kanga. 
We were able to color some leaf rubbings and even able to view a collection of special rocks from the museum’s locked cases. That was pretty cool because they do not take those out when there are lots of people. It was a nice day to just enjoy our time and go at our own pace.
Lucy and William climbed through the “scary temple” and the ropes temple. William does such a great job with encouraging Lucy. She even overcame most of her fear of heights on the rope bridges, except with the last one. We had to do a little more coaxing to get across it. (Once you’ve started the course, you can’t go back.) 
After our inside fun, we went out into the gardens. It was a bit cool today, but still a beautiful day to explore. I sure love these two, and I love to watch them interact together. Makes my mom heart happy.
These multilayered daffodils were gorgeous! 
Lucy has a blast with the koi at the pond. She kept making them come up to the glass, and then William would scare them away from above. They thought it was incredibly funny.
Lucy wanted to dig in the sand pit, but wanted me to clean out all the foliage debris first. I just laughed. I would have been there for hours. Finally, she just settled for the leaves and sticks in her creations.
Before we headed back inside, the kids wanted to try out the zip line.
I amazed that these don’t scare Lucy. I’m terrified that she will go flying off, but she loves them. The faster, the better.
These two are so silly! The sure love each other SO much! And I absolutely love to watch them.
Hardy's on the go! 