Free July Outings

We had some great opportunities to go fun places this month. Lauren has a membership to the Cal Academy of Sciences and I used her guest pass. We went before Lincoln's 4th birthday so the kids would all be free, too.

I hadn't been since I was a little kid. My Girl Scout troop did an overnighter here and I was amazed to see how much smaller everything is now. The boys liked meeting Claude the albino alligator.

The museum was incredibly busy, but we waited our turn for the baby/toddler room and it was well worth it. The kids liked being able to run free and Lauren and I had a little break.

Jonah stopped watching the fish and intently listened to this man's presentation (which was geared toward older kids/adults).

John was learning Python at work, so I texted him this picture of the kids and an anaconda to tell him not to accidentally vanish the glass.

We went up the spiral ramp to see butterflies. These macaws started squaking and startled me and really scared Scott. 

Hand-holding buddies. It made it easier to keep track of them. It stopped raining and we had a picnic outside before seeing a few more exhibits then heading home.

Another morning we went to the Palo Alto Junior Museum and Zoo. Scott climbed the spider web.

It's a little place, but has free admission (donations accepted) and is perfect for toddlers.

Checking out the exotic raccoons. Lots of the animals they have are rescues--maybe all of them, I didn't read every sign. 

Just hopping through.

Jonah was fascinated by the tortoise. He kept asking my mom about her turtle.

Their favorite part of the museum section was definitely the ball exhibit. They stayed here until it was too crowded and we headed out for lunch.

We went to Ikea and Scott stayed in the play area for the first time for the whole time. He didn't want to and he stood by the ball pit alone for a long time (over 10 minutes) before starting to play, but he didn't cry. I think the promise of a hot dog did the trick.

Jonah was well-behaved for us while shopping, too. I don't buy them hot dogs and they work so well as a bribe because the boys love them. Plus, cheap lunch. It just grosses me out to think about.

My mom had tickets from work to the Children's Discovery Museum, so she and Amanda came over one morning and we took the light rail downtown to play for the day.

Jonah drove the ambulance with poor Scott in back.

Having more adults than kids was a welcome change after Lauren and I went 5 on 2 at the Cal Academy. 

Scott loved the farmer's market and kitchen area, but lost it when a big daycare group came through and mixed up all the produce. They really were being rambunctious and didn't clean a single thing up, but I tried to show Scott that he could still play with them being crazy around him. I hope he doesn't have too hard of an adjustment to preschool--hopefully they're better behaved there.

Jonah kept playing with this bowling ball pulley until his finger got between the rope and the plastic part that you can see was worn away from rubbing. It looked pretty nasty, but he was a brave kid and after getting a band-aid from the front desk he was back to playing.

Stopping his ball activity to check on his finger.

Showing Oma his boo-boo. It needed lots of kisses.

Helping Manda blow bubbles.

And their favorite and (purposefully) final stop--the water area. 

Jonah soaked through his clothes and of all the days all summer it wasn't super hot out. I thought he'd be fine, but we went to lunch at Ike's after and it was windy, so I was worried about him being too cold and ran into Ross to get him a cheap change of clothes.

While John's aunts were in town, they picked up lots of tickets to the San Jose Giants game for merchant night and we all went together.

The boys love baseball. We stayed until they were too antsy and we were ready to put them to bed. We had to walk for a long time to the car because we used free street parking.

Add the beach, parks, Happy Hollow and Pinecrest lake and we did lots of free, fun little trips this month. I'm grateful to friends and family for sharing with us!