Last Two Days of Tar Pits for Mommy and Laura

Yesterday, we said good-bye to Grandpa and then headed off to camp. Laura and I went to the Hollywood Bowl to try to buy tickets for Summersounds next week, but they were sold out for the days and times that we want. Then we went to the Farmer's Market and saw part of a performance of Twinkle Time (see http://www.twinkleandfriends.com/). I was glad that we found something for Laura to enjoy while the other two were at camp. After camp pick up, we went to a Pasadena Branch Library to see the very animated storyteller Jim Cogan. The kids got to participate in the story by following his motions and sound effects, though Benjamin and Laura got impatient towards the end.

Both Benjamin and Joshua seemed to learn something from their camps. Joshua learned a bit about the culture of people living during the ice age as well as the animals. The last day they saw the excavations at Pit 91 and Project 23 and showed me some homemade "tar". Benjamin did a museum scavenger hunt the last day, but on Thursday brought home a hidden picture worksheet that not only seemed easy for 1st-2nd graders, but also had nothing to do with the camp topic. He also said that they watched Tom and Jerry cartoons everyday (I didn't send him to camp to watch TV--they do plenty of that at home!).

Friday, while Joshua and Benjamin were at camp, I took Laura to the Zimmer Children's Museum (see photo) which was nearby. At camp pickup, Joshua had a bead necklace and a clay pot (learning about ice age people) as well as the homemade tar. After lunch, we went to the Glendale Library to play with their wooden trains and get the summer reading club prizes, which were a tatto, pencil and book. Joshua and Benjamin both chose a Pokemon handbook that they hadn't read yet (the same handbook). Laura picked out Diego and the Blue Morpho Butterfly.

Grandpa and the Fossils

Today I managed to drag Grandpa to see the La Brea tar pits and museum because I thought that he would really enjoy it. After we dropped the kids we wandered around Hancock park looking at the tar deposits and the pit 91 excavation (which fortunately was being checked on by some museum employees, so we were able to go in and see it). Then we went into the museum. We were impressed by the variety of fossils and animals discovered. By midmorning the museum was getting very crowded, probably because it was "Free Tuesday", which I didn't realize in advance. In spite of the crowds (getting there early was a good idea!), we leisurely explored the museum and then hung around Hancock Park until the boys were done with camp. That morning Laura was again unhappy about not being able to go to camp. After she woke up, she said several times to me, "I am as big as Joshua and Benjamin", followed by, "Can I go to camp today?".

Then Grandpa treated us to lunch at the Olive Garden in Glendale. That was fun because the kids behaved and enjoyed the food. Then we had a short time between lunch and getting ready to go to the Free Family Night at the Kidspace Museum in Pasadena. The kids loved the museum, and even though it was crowded, the kids were still able to enjoy many of the exhibits. We started off playing in the creek area with the waterfall at one end. Joshua loved the waterfall, Benjamin loved splashing around in the water and Laura did a great job of getting herself dirty. Joshua also tried out the climbing wall and managed to ring the bell at the top. Then we went indoors to play on the climbing structures and check out the bugs and related bug activities. Creating their own bugs was almost as exciting as watching the live bugs (nothing beats seeing live bugs!). Finally, we waited on line outside to ride tricycles. Joshua and Laura decided to go on a double tricycle. The only problem was that only the front seat had pedals and both Laura and Joshua wanted to sit there. The tricycles were fairly big, so I had doubts about whether or not Laura could even ride them. She refused to try her own bike, instead insisting on driving Joshua around. Joshua was so amused that he didn't mind sitting in the back. Surprisingly, she was able to pedal and maneuver the double bike with Joshua on the back. She had problems with staying on the biking track, so she ended up taking turns with Joshua (but then she didn't want to leave the bikes when her time was up and we were ready to leave).