Day 1: Nature Scavenger Hunt, Bean Museum, Ice Cream, & Waterfall!

What a way to kick off this experiment. This morning I was really trying to think hard of what I could do today. I planned to go to the museum in the morning, however poor Julianne needed her nap desperately, so it got postponed till after lunch. So there I was with my two little munckins and at least two hours on my hands before lunch. What to do, what to do? Hey, I've got it...Nature Scavenger Hunt. I armed my little ones with plastic bowls and we headed outside to see how many different types of leaves we could find. You could see their eyes light up and off they went. I tryed to explain that I wasn't counting grass and they immediately went for the flowers. They seemed to enjoy themselves but it got a little chilly for us so we headed for the front yard where it's sunnier. We examined our spoils, but I could tell it was the act of picking something that was the most enjoyable part for them. Older children might like to identify them or do a craft with them.

After lunch (which took a lot of patience and persuassion) we went to the Bean Museum at BYU. I think they were a little nervous at first especially once they realized that the animals weren't alive. They actually behaved well and liked identifying the different animals. In case you haven't been there before, it's a taxidermy(?) museum with all different types of stuffed animals (not teddy bears folks...think elephants, lions, hippos). The cost is free and it makes for a nice outing.

We then headed for the BYU Creamery for some yummy ice cream. I think their cones were as big as their faces. They loved this part and so did Julianne. I'm trying to push the stroller with a cup of ice cream in one hand and Julianne kept looking back and yelling to give her another bite. We walked over to the waterfall near the Marriot Center and to our delite we ran into a mommy duck and her eleven little ducklings. Gabriela's my adventurous one and she took off for the waterfall, but I did find true joy in sitting on the grass with Sophia and Julianne watching the ducks and enjoying our ice cream. That was the moment I was looking for. Gabreila ended up wadding in the pond up to her bumm trying to catch ducklings, crazy kid. We made it back home and into the bed for a nap they went. I'm pretty proud of myself today.