Sunday Funday

With the History Museum and the Library under our belts yesterday, today we headed to the Children's Museum!  We had only been there once before but Safta and Zadie got Riley a membership for Hanukkah so we checked in and are ready to make the most of our yearly pass!

You can't imagine how many things there are to do in just one museum - and we didn't even make it to the 3rd floor with the water tables!  There is building and climbing and cars and buttons and balls and arts and trains and lights and slides and noises and puppets and sand and... 

It is the perfect places to spend a rainy or cold afternoon and just like we got a ton of use out of our membership to the other museums last year, it will be nice to switch it up and learn every inch of this building.  Maybe we can switch off year by year to keep it fresh.

Even though I wanted to spend more time in the art room, Riley was on a mission to re-explore all the fun things he remembered from last time.  And boy did he have fun!  In a museum where you are encouraged to touch everything you possibly can, it is pretty much a 2-year-old heaven!

All of that and I can literally see him learning things in front of my eyes.  He was playing with a mini circuit and once I showed him to connect the red and black wires, he wanted to test them out on everything - trying to get all of the lights to light up.

He even took a pass at climbing up the "You Must Be 5 Years Old to Climb This" net.  This is about as far as he got on his own, but with a few pushes and shoves from mommy - who felt like a monkey - we made it to the top and Riley took the twirly slide on his own.

So thank you Safta and Zadie for this awesome gift!  I know we will have fun exploring the Children's Museum and we can't wait to show you around if you ever find yourself if the neighborhood!

Where in the world is our family?

With the whole family being in all four corners of the globe, Riley and I are finding things to do on our own to keep us busy until the troops return home.  We went to the library and what did we find but a giant globe!  We took a few minutes to point out where every single member of the family is and now Riley has a better idea.  On the way out, he even said "Daddy is on a long plane (ride)" which is kind of what I tell him every morning when he asks where he is.  We pointed out Israel, South America, Alabama, California and New York.

From there, we made our way over to the history museum - making sure to use up the last few months of our membership before our hanukkah gift from last year expires.  With the appropriate dinosaur shirt on proud display, we suited up, took to the dirt and brushed the teeth of the dinosaur bones that we found in the pit.  By now, Riley is a museum pro and knows exactly where he wants to spend his time, where the buttons are that he is allowed to push and which elevator he likes to ride.

On the way out to the car, we took our time enjoying the "warm" weather and the sunshine - both a true pleasure to experience on the last week of the year!

Happy Hanukkah!

Happy Hanukkah from the Herman family!  We have had quite a busy week celebrating.  We started with an early celebration at BiBi and Zee's before they went out of town and have been celebrating every day since!

Turns out, our Hanukkah miracle in the new house is that we keep finding places to put all of the new toys that keep accumulating throughout the eight nights!  And although there is absolutely nothing that Riley needs, that hasn't kept you - our amazing family members - from spoiling him rotten!

With the first half of the holiday already bringing Riley a guitar, a mini laptop, train tracks, a puzzle, a movie, a fork and spoon set, a soccer ball, I am a little nervous to see what the second half of the holiday comes with.  But as you can tell, he is loving every minute of it - so thank you all!

Cruising the Caribbean

Tell me this doesn't look like the face of a kid who is truly enjoying the new cruising lifestyle! Fresh off the boat from Riley's first cruise on Royal Caribbean's Independence of the Seas, we have a whole slew of awesome memories and pictures that will be shared when Riley is old enough to actually remember.

We had an awesome week of warm weather, fantastic destinations and fabulous family time that was made possible because we are part of the best family ever!  With stops in St. Maarten, St. Kitts, San Juan and Labadee, we had plenty of fun in the sun, warm sand between our toes and delicious meals. 

Don't get me wrong - there are definitely some challenges when cruising with a 2-year old, but with so many hands on deck, we were all able to enjoy ourselves to the fullest extent.  Thank goodness for a play room, movies on the big screen, all you can eat ice cream and pizza and a family who is willing to step in.

And with a few extra days to relax in Ft. Lauderdale after the cruise, we soaked in the last warmth of the season and prepared to come back home and brave the winter months.

This is a family vacation that I know we were all looking forward to and one that we will remember for the rest of our lives.  It was a long time coming but I am so glad that we were all able to carve time out of our schedules to spend Thanksgiving together.

And now that we are all back home, it's time to unpack, relax and look forward to the next family vacation (which will hopefully come sooner rather than later)!