I’m so glad we went without my guys because now I know what to show them when we do take them although I think they might still be a little young. (We have had a lot of circle of life questions since we went fishing a couple weeks ago and this would probably put them over the top.  I think King Tut might be more of a 5 and up type of exhibit.)   It was nice to get to see everything and actually read and take it all in without having to translate, explain or stop little hands from trying to grab things.  The movie clips and explanations scattered throughout the exhibit were entertaining and informative as well-we took a lot longer going through than I thought we would.  (I studied a lot about ancient Egypt when I was teaching so I found it so amazing seeing all these artifacts in real life!  And in my city! I was in my nerd element.)

Of course, the things I found most interesting were the necklaces and jewellery:

They remind me of some jewels I’ve had my eyes on from Baublebar.  (I can’t wait till they’re back in stock)

And these too!

And I couldn’t help but giggle over the ancient potty.

But I won’t spoil the exhibit with anymore pics.  I think you need to see it for yourself if you’re in Seattle and if you set the scene right for your little ones, (maybe this book will help?) they will probably find it entertaining too.  I’m still in awe of how lucky we are to have such beautiful ancient artifacts visiting us for a little while.  (King Tut will be here until January 6th.  Maybe by then we’ll be able to convince the scared one this is something very cool he might want to see.)

1) band-aids. (I’ve been tempted to cart around a cooler of ice too and a small medic kit, but I think that is excessive.)

2) a cup.  (The hubby wonders why I have all these old coffee cups in the car all the time.  I am not lazy.  When a boy has to pee, he has to pee.  These cups are car-savers.)

3) chocolate.  (self-explanatory)

But last week we had a morning where band-aids and the cup were both used before noon and I was one frazzled momma.  By nap time, which miraculously happened when I coerced/negotiated the duo to sleep in a fort we built,

I was so totally desperate for chocolate but the one piece of chocolate stashed in my purse had melted slightly into a kind of flattened unappetizing ball.  I didn’t dare move because I didn’t want to wake the boys so I ate it anyways.  (Yes, we do gross and disgusting things sometimes as stay at home moms.  Please don’t judge.  I was absolutely desperate.) And then I was in chocolate heaven until I bit down on something hard.  A little round ball.  How did that make it through the factory inspection?
A couple minutes later the the panic set in.  Something in my gut told me the little ball came from a packet of those little “DO NOT EAT” packets that had fallen apart in my purse a week before and I totally forgot to clean it out.  I rummaged through my purse and sure enough, there it was.  All of sudden I was on the verge of dying. Why can’t you eat these things?  Was I going to lose consciousness?  Should I call 911?  (Remember this was an overly crazy day and I am a bit dramatic.)
I frantically googled “Silica Powder” and “poison” and poison control came up.  I dialed the number and frantically told my story.

“How long ago did this happen? The packet is a choking hazard.  Did someone swallow the packet?” said a calm voice on the other end (let’s call him the “Voice of God”)

No, I just almost ate one of the little balls but spit it out.  Is it bad?  (crossed fingers, crossed chest, waited for choking feeling in throat to start caving in.)

“How old are you miss?  Or did a child eat it?” The calm voice asked again.

Um.  Not a child. me. 29.  (or a number close to that number.  I might have lied a little.)

“I think you’ll be fine.  Drink lots of water. Can I help you with anything else?”

Light at the end of the tunnel.  Glorious light.

No, that was all.  And then I remembered all the other times why I’ve ever called poison control.  The berries in the front yard-no the boys haven’t eaten them yet- but I was curious if they were poison just in case they did. The diaper cream that I accidentally brushed my teeth with because we left it on the bathroom counter.  And a few other things I’m too embarrassed to reveal but oh so thankful for the help poison control gave.

So I’ve now removed #3 chocolate(blech! ruined!) and added this number:  1-800-222-1222 to my list of things boy moms definitely need.  All this amazing knowledge a phone call away and it’s way too important to wait for google to find it.  ( FYI they do take your name, number and address.  Or maybe that’s just for me.)

(PS The boys slept through the whole ordeal.  So thankfully this was truly not one of those poison/choking/dying situations because there would be no 3-year-olds saving momma with a miraculous 911 call.)

(PPS there’s also another fabulous number/resource you can use in Seattle for non-emergency things but things you want to know about.  It’s the Ask a Librarian number/email and it’s 24/7!)

One trip we forgot it, so my hubby, a modern-day Macgyver figured out how to make a baby-monitor with the Ipad using the hotel’s free Wifi and facetime on our Iphone.  He set the Ipad in one room facing the guys and we kept the cell phone on our table in the other room and we were able to catch one guy getting up before he woke up his brother.  I heart technology!

(This post is part of a Travel Tip link up with Walkingontravels and Suitcasesandsippycups.  Hope it helps:) )

I’m doing my best not to use plastic bags anymore.  Hopefully every little bit counts.

It turns out that this is the perfect craft kit for a car trip travel adventure because it came with all the pieces, the glue, and crayons to make 4 animal crafts.  There were no scissors but for most 3-year-olds (like mine), this type of craft doesn’t really need that kind of precision.  When my guys woke up at 6am on a recent adventure I was thankful I brought it along: we were all entertained for at least 30 minutes after which the guys incorporated their creations into some kind of make-believe-game and left me alone to make coffee.

(PS. You could also make something like this yourself by getting a big ziplock bag, print out some animal pictures on card stock, throw in stickers, feathers, crayons, googly eyes and a glue stick but that would take a little more pre-planning.)

The other day I was shopping for summer clothes and I peeked up to check on what the boys were doing and I caught the eye of another mom who was glaring in my direction.  “You need to go and tell your kid to get his hands off my kid!  He keeps pinching him!”  And then all the eyes in the room were on me.  I was THAT mom with THAT kid and his momma bear was going to get me.

“Uhm. Sorry.  I’ll take care of it.” I mumbled and obediently, red-faced and robotically marched myself into the “glassed-in” area and talked to my offending child doing exactly what she had told me to do.

And then it hit me.  What was I doing?  This class is supervised by smart, talented individuals who direct my kids on how to behave and who probably saw the behavior too.  No one was crying, screaming or in obvious torture or pain. I could have talked to my guy after class like I usually do when I see him do things that are both positive and negative in class. I could have asked the teacher about my child’s behavior to see if it was outside of the norm. My immediate reaction came from the public spanking I received, my humiliation and the fear that my guys were going to get the ‘bully’ label.  But was this the best solution for the kids?

So what would you do?  If I had the perfect do-over what would be the best way to handle this?  Was that momma in the right?  Should I go in there and tell my kid to keep his hands to himself or would it have been okay to address the situation later?  I wonder what I would do if I saw my kid getting tortured by another.  Would I go over to his mom and make her deal with it, would I fix it myself or would I just let it go?  I never really thought to ask before what my role as a parent is with this see through/non-participation role in a classroom and I’m glad that I’m learning to figure this out now.

In my perfect world, a pedicure truck would have pulled up in front of the classroom after the whole awkward ordeal and somewhere in the flurry of moms frantically scurrying to get our toes fixed for the summer the only debate we’d have had on our hands is what nail color to choose.   Because seriously, it is so much easier to deal with mom drama when you have rose-colored toes.  (So please someone make a pedicure truck already-even one that replicates that old Lincoln toe truck would be a welcome site.)

(PS. this incident has prompted me to add some new books to our home library.  Hands are not for hitting , Feet are not for Kicking, and Making Friends are all books that should be arriving on my doorstep sometime this week.)

Before having boys I didn’t really have the same appreciation for these men in hard hats and all the work they do and I’m also really excited about something currently being constructed in the center house above the museum:  Mod pizza.  We finally went to the one in Bellevue a few weeks ago and it was quick and delicious.  The boys loved getting their own pizzas and I loved that they were under 4 dollars each!  I think the one in Seattle Center, (or the Armory as it’s now called) opens mid-June and having such a reasonable/yummy option on site will make “going to work” so much easier for me and my little construction workers.  Join us for lunch?

Leelee on the top of the slide at Mom and Me at Woodland Park Zoo.

The Bean with his first ever face-painting on his wrist from another zoo event.

Flowers my mom bought ME for Mother’s Day

Bunny shaped zucchinis that I cut out with my bento cutters and hid them in the rest that I made to entice the guys to find and eat them.  (Slice zucchini, drizzle with olive oil and salt and roast at 350 degrees for about 30 minutes on a baking pan.)  It worked:)

Impromptu picnic at the park where Leelee found a ladybug while eating a sandwich.  (Another boy saw him wearing the UPS truck hat and kept telling his dad my guys were going to drive away in a brown truck.)

My hair after it got swinked for a black-tie auction event for the hubby’s work.

The lovely centerpieces from said event.

The boys carting home packages after they convinced me to take the monorail to the toy store.  (But I seriously love Top Ten Toys!  Such a cool toy store and they have such a huge inventory of Playmobil-the guys current ‘it’ toy.)

Rock cookie batter: we used this recipe and switched in a quarter cup nutella because we didn’t have enough peanut butter and chocolate rocks because we didn’t have chocolate chips and the cookies turned out chewy and looked like we bought them at a coffee shop.  (We’re going to try with m and m’s or Canadian smarties next time.)

The boys chowing down on chips and guacamole on the patio after an late-afternoon paddle at Agua Verde.  (And this one will get it’s own post later.  No one ended up in the water, but I did manage to nearly beach Leelee and my kayak on the dock.)

Happy Weekend:)

After reading the book, the duo look at me with horrified looks on their faces and I thought”yay! they get it!”  But no:

“Mommy!  We need to cut down all our trees!”
Wait, no! Why?  Why cut them down?
“If we cut them down the Lorax won’t come. We don’t want him to come.”.
Oh.

I’ve since been reading the book and showing them how cute and cuddly the Lorax might be as a friend.  I figure if I make Truffala trees out of cotton candy there might still be hope.
Now the duo is on a Skippy Jon Jones kick.  I like the rhymes, vocabulary and cute Spanish sayings in the books we’ve read.  What do the guys like?

“You are not the boss of me!  We’re the bosses!!!”  They love to shriek at me as they streak down the hall in the opposite direction of whatever I’ve asked them to do.  Books are dangerous.

Despite their incredible cuteness, the boys sometimes overlook the penguins altogether in favor of this silly blowhole.  The other day there were no fewer than 10 little boys surrounding it waiting for it to blow.  But it is a fabulous structure and there is a pattern to it.  (When the waves in the penguin exhibit stop, the blowhole shoots.  This must be science, right?)

This exhibit (the boys’ favorite) is Woodland Park Zoo’s newest big project and the zoo is now working on a huge project (at least 3 times this size) for the tigers and sloth bears.  If you are an animal lover like me and would like to help a teensy bit, they are doing a 10 for tigers campaign. (I’ve joined Betty White and slapped down my ten;)  Here’s to a better homes for our furry friends who teach my children so much about life, the environment and why we need to protect it.

(PS if you do help out please leave a comment below, and we’d love to send you a postcard with some smiling faces.  This might not work on all of you, but maybe it’ll twist the arm of our grandmas and aunties.  Pretty please?)