A Grands' Trip to the Children's Museum of Houston

A Grands' Trip to the Children's Museum of Houston

(with cousins on holiday from their home in Switzerland)



Daniel and HeyYea wait for tickets and cousins.

Here come Mia, Dodo, and Zoe!
Nana parks the car.

Zoe, Daniel, Mia
6, 2, 4

Let's pose in front of the purple one!

Uncle Steve starts the teasing.



One
 



Two
 



Three
 

Zoe talks to a member of the Justice League
while all of us are assaulted /enveloped
by the colors, sounds, and motions.

A game explained--roll the dice and fill your fingers
with spider rings.  First one to 10 wins.

D's turn.  Put down your cars . . .
 

Four spiders and a race car



Zoe has six now.

The girls spin golf balls into a vortex.
D collects as many as he can hold.

Round and round and round

 

Nana tries to help with Zoe's hoist.

Dodo and Mia are a good team.



See the Giant Phone Man
in the background?

Daniel gets a boost to study
the Giant Phone Man up close.
Entire body is covered with all kinds of old phones.
Hair?  Phone cords, of course!

 

HeyYea shows D how circuits work.
Awesome!

Lights flash and propellers spin when
positive red and negative black get plugged in.
They stop when disconnected.
I've got the power!!

Exploring how a guitar makes sounds
with a moveable fret and a pick on a crank.

Lots of boys building



How about a conveyer belt and shape sorter?

So many moving parts

Testing weight, mass, and density,
D pumps some steel.

A thoughtful look at fluorescence

Spin the discs and watch
centrifugal force at work.

Who knew science was so much fun?!

Make steel shavings climb up
inside the jar with a big magnet.

Texans Nana and Dodo enjoy their Swiss grandgirls
over a hand-pumped rocket launch.

BTW--so many activities didn't make the photo stream . . .

I was too busy helping a dad build castles with heavy foam blocks so our guys could launch balls from a catapult to knock them down.  And you know it takes four hands for a two year-old to cut paper.  D kept saying, "I'm playing with scissors!"  He's been taught well and remembers too; but I encouraged him that it was ok when a big person helped.

At one point, I confirmed the source of that oh-so-familiar, um, odor; I gave D a 2-minute warning to say goodbye to the circuit boards so we could break for the change that refreshes.  Out of the corner of my eye I saw a young mom with babe in arms next to me.  She was holding him across her arm to check the back of his diaper.  I turned to reassure her.  "It's not you--it's us!"  She and I chuckled.  Ah, the things that strangers find to connect over . . ..

Objects were launched, bikes pedaled, atoms built, train gears manipulated, pinwheels constructed, boats floated.  We were all worn down from the assault of wonder.  HeyYea had waved the white flag about 45 minutes in.  D and I found him 'saving us a table' in the hall just outside the labyrinth of exhibits.  People-watching and iPhone Solitaire had kept him patiently and comfortably occupied.

Though the girls wanted to stay and finish constructing a cardstock cube, I told them that Nana had forgotten to eat breakfast (the truth--it happens a lot when herding cats) and was really, really hungry.  Immediately Zoe put down her scissors and was ready to go without a peep.  She and Mia love their Nana!

Team Bingham and Team Beatty parted company at the Pay Station in the Children's Museum garage.  We had a DEFCON 1 Hyundai backseat meltdown over the. missing. red. racecar.  [It was apparently one of the seven D could not possibly hold at the same time].  This was exacerbated by the torture of being safely strapped into a comfortable car seat in a shaded, air-conditioned vehicle.

In all fairness, everyone has an expiration date.  It didn't negate a bit of the wonder-filled morning we spent with family.

Our Friday afternoon agenda:  home and lunch and quiet naps complete with visions of spiders, golf balls, flashing lights, red positive/black negative, spinning propellers, launching objects, guitars, blocks, boats, trains--all floating down from the curly head of the Giant Phone Man.  Awesome!!

Cows and Cars and Scary Green Monsters, Oh My!

Hola! Hello!  It's me, Daniel. I have a story to tell you.  Ready?  Once upon a time . . .

 

Since I was just a baby, Mamae has taken me to the Library for story time and books.  I like books.  You need to be very quiet when someone reads a book to you, so I put my finger up to my mouth--shhh.  We don't have to be still all the time.  We sing songs and dance too.  It's really good free fun.

 

Mamae went to work this summer.  She cannot take me to story time any more, but Papai can!  One day, he invited GiGi to come.  The Library at Lone Star College is very close to GiGiHeyYea's house.  Papai and I were late, but when we went into the Children's Library, GiGi was there listening to a story about monsters.

 

There was a crazy song that GiGi had already taught me called Skinnamarink.  Our storyteller showed us some ways to move our arms and sing faster and faster.  Crazy!

 

After a few more stories and songs, our storyteller showed us how to make a scary green monster face.  My friend Eleonor was there, and I gave her a hug.  Then we made scary green monster faces together.  Together is lots of fun.  I like together.

 

When it was time to leave, GiGi and I walked up to thank our storyteller and show her my scary green monster face.  GiGi taught me to say, "Hi, my name is Daniel.  What's your name?"  That's what I did, and guess what?  Our storyteller's name is Ms. V.  I said, "Thank you for the stories, Ms. V." and then Papai, GiGi and I all went to GiGiHeyYea's house to play with cars.

 

  

 

It's OK.  It's just me--
not a scary green monster.

I had to stop and watch a butterfly
in GiGi's garden.

I shared my scary green monster face with HeyYea
so he wouldn't be afraid.

Ms. V's monster had a blue nose
and only two yellow eyes with black inside.
With a blue tongue and 4 crazy eyes,
mine is scarier.  Rrrahhhrr!!!

Next time on Tuesday, Papai took me to the Library to meet GiGi so she and I could go to story time.  I think Papai had to do some work.  We were late again, but Papai and GiGi knew there was another story time in a little bit.  GiGi said, "Let's have an adventure and then we'll go to story time."

GiGi showed me how to find a magic button that opened doors.  While we explored, we found a place that had ginger tea and muffins.  I picked chocolate!  GiGi laughed and said, "The apple doesn't fall far from the tree," but I didn't understand.  Apples are in grocery stores--not trees!  And anyway, what does that have to do with my chocolate muffin?

GiGi let me tell the café lady what I wanted.  Then I got to hand her our moneys.  I gave her just one green and white paper and she gave me 2 papers plus some shiny moneys.  Awesome!  Then I picked a table so we could have our treat.   

Ginger tea is my favorite GiGi drink.
See my chocolate muffin?!

So good!

We played I Spy and talked about the lights on wires up high near the ceiling.  Then we explored outside.  We saw a lake and a fountain and a waterfall.  Guess what?  There was a turtle in the water.  He swam over to us, but GiGi was saving our chocolate muffin for HeyYea.  So he turned into a rock and floated away.


It was a breezy cloudy morning.
We had fun walking around the lake.

This is the first time I've been to college.
Maybe I'll go again some day.

Our adventure took us right to the Children's Library where Ms. V was waiting to take my ticket.  GiGi asked me what the stories would be, and I thought maybe cows.  Ms. V read a book about a pig that said moo and a cow that said oink and how the pig was sad because people laughed at her and how the cow taught the pig to say oink and the pig taught the cow to say moo!  They were friends.  Everyone was happy.  Every time Ms. V finishes a book and closes it, she says, "And that's The End!"

Here's Ms. V

That day we made a cow puppet.  The next time Ms. V read books about rabbits.  And the next time we got to honk! honk! beep! beep! with books about cars.  GiGi and I try to guess what Ms. V will read about each time.  Just last Tuesday Ms. V read fish books.  And we always get to Skinnamarink faster and faster.  It's really funny.  My GiGi said she likes story time just as much as me.

After story time I'm always ready
to go see HeyYea
and play cars.

One day when Papai picked me up
from GiGiHeyYea's house,
he was dressed just like me!

And that's The End!

The Dog Days of July

On a hot Friday morning, I picked up my adventurer and set out for The Dog Show.  Indoors.  Air conditioned.  Furry four-legged fun.

Bunny and Beagle are excited about
going to The Dog Show.

A good idea for transport from the parking lot
and around the huge exhibit halls at NRG Park.

 While waiting in line for my ticket, Daniel and I saw a dog in a stroller with ears that looked like a shaggy black butterfly.  We spotted a pair of white Scotties sitting expectantly with their owner.  Then two shivering Chihuahuas poked their heads from the pockets of a purse.  It was going to be a silly day.

We watched the Flyball competition, which involves lots of high-energy dogs running relays.  Tennis balls, hurdles, and celebratory barking made it exciting to see.  D wanted to get on the course, but it was only for dogs.

So we watched Field Trials.  That's the one where the handler guides his/her dog through a course of hurdles, tunnels, a big ramp, and a seesaw.  Of course, Daniel wanted to get out there and play, but it was only for dogs.  However, my sharp-eyed explorer spotted something across the hall.  "Wanna' go see the red and lellow?"  And he guided me to an idle ramp and seesaw right there in the hall.  No warning signs anywhere, so D took them on while I watched carefully.

Trying out the red and lellow doggy ramp.

 After at least five minutes of conservative dawdling, I was severely reprimanded by a passer-by for allowing a child to play on the equipment.  She growled through closed teeth, "It's only for the dogs."

We moved on.

The wagon made a good platform for access to water fountains.
Daniel acted like the Three Bears, trying out all the sizes.
I was pretty sure these were for people.

Every possible breed of dogs was represented by a rescue organization with booths lining one hall as far as the eye could see.  Good!  Hands-on snuggles with sweet little (and big) rescued canines.  Not so much.  At GiGiHeyYea's house Daniel has been spooked by one too many neighborhood yappers; and at this point I realized he wanted nothing to do with up-close fur on four legs.  Not the pugs in matching tutus.  Not the curly blonde cocker with soft brown eyes.  Not even the 40+ pound old basset hound who rolled over on her long back to beg for belly scratches.

So we moved on.

How great is this?!
Bins of dog toys are lots of fun to explore.

We poked around in bins of every kind of doggy toy from those loosey latex squeakers to a singing mouse to grunting wart hogs the size of personal watermelons.  In the middle of our Christmas morning experience, there appeared an Ichabod Crane-ish teenager whose apologetic demand went like this--"Please don't squeeze the squeaky toys too much.  You'll wear them out."

Okay.  a) We weren't squeaking that much because GiGi would have become crazed.
            b) He just lost a sale, because D was enthralled with the singing mouse.
   and   3) Wear them out.       . . . REALLY?!!!?!

What was I thinking?  These were only for the dogs.

So we moved on.

The next thing that my partner-in-crime spotted was baskets full of balls.  He made a couple of folks stutter-step when he struck a bee line for the big purple unit that must have been designed for a Bull Mastiff.  They didn't bounce like D thought they would, what with that big rope looped through the middle.  We moved on.

Tug toys for Great Danes and Bull Mastiffs

The Texas Collie Rescue Booth had an eye-catching wheel to spin for a prize.  The lady happily took my dollar, Daniel spun the wheel, and the dark green wedge earned him a plastic slinky.  Hooray!

The Wheel of Collie Fortune

 It was time to make our way to the arena where dogs would be dancing and exhibiting their Frisbee skills.  Down the exhibit aisles Daniel trotted, with me bringing up the rear, wagon and all.  D veered slightly to catch a peak inside a small trailer whose door was open to the aisle.  A stern-faced woman lurched to block my buddy and shriek at me, "Children are not allowed in here!"  You know that scene in Monsters Inc. where the monster is discovered with a child's sock stuck to his back and the alarm sounds for the hazmat crew to lock him down?  Yep.  By the look in that woman's black eyes, that's what I thought was going to happen next.

BTW, I assumed that people who love dogs would also care about children as well.  With the exception of  a couple of the folks manning those rescue booths, there wasn't a dog's water bowl full of hospitality to be found.  Maybe it was all clustered next door at the Ringling Brothers Circus.

But I digress.  We found the arena where the dogs would dance and play.  We had plenty of time to have a picnic of sorts while waiting for the show.

Annie's Cheddar Bunnies--that's what's for lunch.

What a hoot!
This dog actually sat in a seat and watched the entire show.

This pup, however, hardly ever sat in his seat.  :~D
See the black shape with blue neon lights in the top of the picture?

 From across the arena Daniel could see a big shiny black truck, and he was done with dancing dogs.  So we went to explore the tricked-out van on our way out of NRG Park.

Checking out the stats on this vehicle

Here's my partner-in-crime.
We had a good time.
And I learned an important lesson:
The Dog Show is only for the dogs.