The first Tuesday of fall break

I came up with a calendar of events for every day of fall break.  I need to have things planned in advance otherwise we just mope around the house and watch too much TV and go shopping for things we don't need just to have something to do.

I worked yesterday.  It was finally the make-up day for when I took my birthday off.  I tried to do it the very next Monday, but that is when we were hit by the hurricane and school was cancelled.  While I was gone  Michael took the kids to the mall.  They went to the rock store and bought some rocks for Spencer's rock collection.  Then they went to Phoenix Children's for Spencer's weekly appointment with dermatology.  We have 5 appointments left.

Today's events included going to the IDEA art museum in Mesa, going out to lunch, going to the candy store to buy candy fish and making jello aquariums.

It was lovely and cool outside when we arrived so we actually spent a good amount of time playing with the outside musical instruments.  And yes, I picked similar outfits for them so all I had to do was scan the room for red shorts and dark tops (Elliott's was black, Spencer's is actually very dark grey).

We bought a groupon for a 1 year membership so we'll be going here a lot until October, 2015.

There is a new camping room since the last time we were there, about 6 weeks ago.  It was really cool, both literally and figuratively.  I used the flash for some of these pictures but it was as dark as night in there.  It was also cold and breezy, as if you were actually in the woods camping.  

There were dress up clothes before you went in.

Without the flash.

With the flash.  They were fishing for glow in the dark fish.

Elliott was very concerned about the fire.  He kept saying for us to not touch it because it was too hot.  He never did believe us that it was pretend.  He also freaked out when Spencer sat on the fake logs (that were actually soft pillows) and pretended to roast a marshmallow and eat it.  Elliott was screaming and crying that it was his turn to eat a marshmallow.  We had to show him our hands and inside our mouths to convince him that we were just pretending and that there were no marshmallows and he was not actually getting cheated out of anything.  Jeesh!

This was post meltdown when he demanded that his play clothes be removed.

Inside the train.  The screen that normally shows a movie of scenery as if you were on a train was broken.

They spent a lot of time rolling each other in this tube.  A lot of time.  Oh so much time.  Thank goodness for the pinterest app.

Once we were done we headed to my favorite breakfast place.  We would eat there way more if it wasn't in Mesa.

On the way home we stopped at the candy store to buy candy fish.  In my mind I thought we would just buy a box of swedish fish, but they actually had a variety of bulk aquatic creatures made out of sugar and gelatin.  We got sharks, dolphins and both big and small fish.

After Elliott's failed nap we made the jello aquariums.

Then we dropped Spencer off at his aikido class and Elliott and I went to Kohl's.  I had a $5 Kohl's cash that expired today and I hate when I lose those to an expiration.  It's like throwing a $5 bill away.  I also had a $25 gift card that Cathy gave me for being a part of her wedding in August.  I was somewhat looking for shoes for my bridesmaid duties for Monica's wedding and a dress for the rehearsal, but I didn't find anything I loved.  Well, I found some awesome shoes for a ridiculously low price, but a size 8 I am not (even though I almost convinced myself I could make them work).

So in the end Cathy ended up buying me this cute little pumpkin candle holder (I put the candy corn votive from the Yankee Candle factory in there), 

and this black top.  

I needed neither of them, but sometimes that's the best kind of stuff to buy with a gift.  I had to use $1.97 of my own money.  Not bad.  Thanks Cathy!

After dinner the kids had their jello aquariums for dessert.  It was a sticky, messy affair.

Up tomorrow.  Two doctor's appointments and a new splash pad.