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More Fun at the Museum: The Mystery of the Mayan Medallion

One of the things I love about living in Dayton is being near to such a great children’s museum – the Boonshoft Museum of Discovery. This weekend Bobby and I took the kids for an afternoon of family fun and learning. Bobby and Jonah enjoyed some of the areas for smaller kids while the big kids and I checked out what is always our favorite part of every visit; the museum’s latest and greatest rotating exhibit. Up and running now is a really fun one and probably the one I learned the most from: the Mystery of the Mayan Medallion.

Joshua was extremely excited to find that there was a Mayan glyph for “Star Wars”. The stars were a very important part of Mayan culture.

This exotic exhibit takes you into the rain forest of Palenque, Mexico to learn all about the Maya people and their culture – as well as to search for a lost team of archaeologists and their sought-after treasure! At the beginning of the exhibit, each participant takes a paper with questions identified by a symbol. Each station in the exhibit also has a symbol that will help you answer the specified question. I loved this because the kids and I had to really look carefully at each stop to get all the info we needed to answer our questions and unlock the Mystery of the Mayan Medallion!

Each station had loads to learn about Mayan culture – here’s Sophie absolutely THRILLED to learn the glyphs for Mayan numbers. She chose to make the number four:

After we went through all the stations, we figured out which four Mayan glyphs we’d need to unlock the Mystery of the Mayan Medallion and get a glimpse of the mysterious treasure! I won’t give anything away on that score, though! You have to go solve that mystery for yourself!

Joshua is re-constructing a Mayan pot

This is a really fun exhibit, and it is chock-full of information. Definitely plan to spend a good chunk of your time here; I’d say it takes at least 30-45 minutes to do it right!

The Mystery of the Mayan Medallion is at the Boonshoft through January 4th, so make sure and visit while it’s here – definitely on your kids’ holiday school break if not before. You’ll be glad you did!

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The Boonshoft Museum of Discovery is the sponsor of this post. All opinions about the exhibit are my own.

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Happy 6th Birthday, Sophia Diane.

Last night I wrote a really great 6th birthday post for Sophie.  I scheduled it for 5 a.m. today.

And it’s gone. Like it never existed. Not in draft form, it’s nowhere! I’ve searched and searched. This is the first time this has ever happened to me in the 5 years I’ve been blogging.

🙁

So I’ll try again.

Dear Sophie,

Happy Birthday baby! When you were born, I was SO excited to have a little girl. Of course, I also had no idea what I was getting into!

Maybe your crazy hair should’ve been a clue!

From the moment you were born, you brought us so much joy. I loved seeing your big brother’s love for you, too.

As you grew, you only got cuter, and sweeter, and more crazy! And I loved you more each day.

You’re exuberance and joy for life has brought light and levity to our family.

I wish I could remember every single moment of your precious life, my girl. You are growing up SO FAST! How did I get from this:

 

To this:

In just the blink of an eye? I can’t believe how grown up you are, my kindergarten girl!

Sophie, two years ago today, on your 4th birthday, I wrote you another letter. And I cried my whole way through. I was scared and discouraged because your very first IEP meeting had been the day before. At your evaluation you had screamed and cried and pretty much acted like a crazy person and so you gave your evaluators pretty much no idea of who you really were, what you knew, and what you needed to know. And so, they thought some things about you that just weren’t right.

But I knew. I knew who you really were, what you knew, and what you needed to know. And I knew what you were capable of. And I believed in you, sweetheart.

Two years later, you are 6! And so much has changed! You love people and school and friends and learning. You make it very easy for everyone to see who you really are, what you know, and what you need to know. You’re kicking kindergarten’s tail and taking names. You’re having fun and making friends and loving others in a way that makes me so, so, proud.

I love you, Sophia Diane. I love being your mommy!  And I’ll always believe in you, be proud of you, and love the crap out of you. No matter what.

Happy Birthday, baby!

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The Great Toy Purge of 2012

Toy Story

It is almost the dreaded the most wonderful time of the year, which means only one things…

Boatloads of toys are about to invade our homes. Whether we like it or not. And once they’re in? The multiply.

In an effort to get out ahead of this madness, my goal for the weekend after Thanksgiving is to GET RID OF A LOT OF CRAP. And then get what’s left organized.

Pinterest, of course, is full of ideas for organization… from the famous Ikea Expedit shelves…

…to walls made of Legos.

The ideas are out there, and they’re so lovely. But I need something that actually works, and I need all of you to tell me what that is. So, friends, clue me in – how do you keep plastic from overrunning your house?

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