Tuesday, April 1, 2014

It's the Little Things: Best Friends Part 2

Somehow it is already Wednesday. No complaining here though because in blog world that means It's the Little Things link-up time! I am still loving linking-up every week and reading about the little things you all are cherishing! Big thanks as always to Ashley over at Words About Waverly for hosting this get together :)

I know I already did a post about Myles and his best friend Cameron, but they are too cute to not share with you all! So this week my post is Best Friends, Part 2. I love taking these two places together: they have so much fun and so do we! A laugh is guaranteed when these two little ones get together. They both have minds of their own and come up with some pretty great things. They are still more into parallel play, but it's obvious they love being around each other. I mean of course they fight over toys and such, but it's pretty rare and are over it in a matter of seconds. 

 About a month ago, we took them to the Exploratorium at the pier in San Fransisco. I wanted to take Myles somewhere fun for his half birthday and this place has rave reviews.
It really is so awesome with tons to explore and learn from. You definitely want to plan a whole day to spent there. One of the best parts is the location: it's right on a pier with a stunning view of the bay! Myles and Cameron were too young for most of the exhibits, but they did find enough stuff to keep them entertained for a couple hours. I would say ages 6+ would get the most out of all this place has to offer. If I wasn't trying to wrangle my tornado of a toddler the whole time, I would have loved to check out all the exhibits myself. Definitely a must-see for your family if you are around the Bay Area. 

Left: Myles trying to grab the light that Cameron was controlling. 
Upper right: A whole room of xylophones, each made out of different materials. Myles wanted nothing to do with the wood ones, he only liked the metal one.

 This was one of those Ames Rooms. It is an optical illusion in which the people/objects in the room appear larger or smaller depending on where they are in the room. They saw it as a big, empty room to run around in. I guess we will save the science for another day :)

I'm not really sure what this was, but the boys loved it nonetheless. It reminded me of the circus for some reason. The top spun in a circle, making the plastic pieces move around.
 Left: Myles going to check out what Cameron found.
Middle: Myles on the ground, Cameron trying to figure out what he is doing.
Right: Cameron joins Myles on the ground. Boys....

Myles very quickly found his favorite part of the whole museum: a floating ball! This was too hilarious to watch! As I've talked about before, Myles is wildly obsessed with balls. Well this floating beach ball was no exception to his obsession. He spent a good 5 minutes trying to reach and catch the ball. The cone funneled out the air and moved back and forth, so I got a kick out of lowering it towards him and then bringing it back straight up. An older gentleman was watching him and laughing. He came up to me and said that watching Myles try to figure out the ball was the best part of his trip to the museum! I wish I would have gotten a video because it really was a riot!


The weather in our area has been amazing lately: 70s and sunny in March! (Something I am so not used to, as I have lived 98% of my life in the Midwest.) One of the main reasons we moved to California was for the weather, so we try to take advantage of it as much as possible. With our rambunctious toddler, we need to option to get outside everyday or we go crazy!! When we are able to get that outdoor playtime in, it does wonders for our moods. Anywho, last Sunday was one of those perfect days and we knew it was only right to have a picnic at the park. We packed up our snacks, toys, and 'flippy' (skateboard) and headed to one of our favorite playgrounds. 

Pre-picnic nap on the bag of food, duhh:
And of course, the day wouldn't be complete without our best friends Cameron and Leesa.

They had too much fun playing together this day. Half of the time, they were following each other around randomly picking things to play on... the other half was spent wondering off on their own trying to find from trouble to get into to :) Whenever Cameron would go his own way, Myles would yell something and point at him. I couldn't figure out what he was saying at first, but then Leesa realized that he was calling him "Cammy." Leesa calls him Cammy a lot and Myles must have picked up on it. I'm guessing Cameron is too hard to say because he hadn't said it yet, so Cammy was the next best option for him :) Cameron has been saying Myles for a while now, so I am happy that Myles finally said his name back. 

 Myles was all over Cameron's push-car; he loves that thing. Myles has his own bike, push bike, and 4-wheeler, but he insists on dominating this car every time he sees it. Myles had to make this one-seater into a two-seater by cramming himself next to Cameron and then when he realized that wasn't comfortable enough, he decided to just sit on top of him!  

We also brought Myles' "flippy" (what he calls his skateboard). Cameron tried the flippy for the first time too. Both of them were so cute playing on it. Myles will only wear the helmet for a couple of minutes at a time, so we don't play on the flippy that much. (I won't let him play on it if he doesn't have his helmet on). We found this board at Toys R Us for only $10. It's perfect because it really doesn't move much at all, so he is able to stand on it and work on his balance without it moving. He has even done a couple tricks on it (pretty sure it was on accident, but hey, it still counts)! And of course, no ride on a flippy is complete without holding a football just because.

What kinds of activities do you do on playdates? Does your little one have a best friend?

12 comments :

  1. Desiree @ Macke MonologuesApril 2, 2014 at 12:06 PM

    The Exploratorium looks so awesome! The xylophone room is amazing. I have a feeling if we were ever to enter a room like that we'd never leave. :)
    Isn't this weather just the greatest? Like you, I grew up with blistery winters, bone-chilling Springs, and down right cold falls. Our play dates always involve a park or the aquarium - anything to be outside!!

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  2. What a fun science center. I haven't braved one near me yet. I'm sure it would be a mama work out haha =) The ball is hilarious! Too bad you didn't get a video.

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  3. HAHA! I love the floating ball too. It's so cute to see him reaching for it. Entertainment for hours! Yes! Our weather is the bomb, but Hawaii is better. That's where I'm moving...after I convince my husband. I'm so jealous Myles has a bff! Dylan needs one desperately. Otherwise I might need to pop out a kid and I dont really want to do that lol And that little thing looks like a circus to me too

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  4. I wish my little one had a best friend! How cute are they together!

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  5. aww so adorable!! :) My girl has a few bffs though most of them are boys lol @Sarah Benson our girls can be bffs. Well, penpal bffs ;)

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  6. Myles didn't want to leave either. But when he did venture out, he kept trying to take the sticks with him! The weather is definitely the best thing about California with having a toddler. When we went back to Illinois for Christmas, it was hard to keep Myles entertained. Having the option to be outside is a must with him. He gets bored and whinny if we are inside the house for too long. We are park lovers too! I wish all of the museums and such were a little closer though. I always think about going but the 1 1/2 drive keeps me from doing it too much.

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  7. It really was a workout! I pretty much just followed him everywhere he wanted to venture to and then had to spent half of the time redirecting him away from something he wasn't supposed to be into. The children's museum is probably a better option for his age, but it's fun to just check places out to see what they have to offer. I so wish I would have gotten a video too!

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  8. I feel you on the other kid thing. It does make me sad when I can tell Myles wants someone to play with or when I see how much fun he has when he gets to play with someone else. In the perfect world, I would love to give Myles a sibling, but I just know that I can not do it. I guess the only solution is for you to buy a mansion in Hawaii, we move in with you, and then we communally raise our boys!

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  9. It is nice for him to get that interaction. I don;t plan on having any other kids, so I think it is important that he still gets as much interaction as possible. I wish we lived closer to our family because he has lots of cousins, but you know how life is... Have you found any girls her age in your play groups?

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  10. Myles really likes older girls too! He would pick an older girl over a boy his age any day! That is actually a really cute idea: have our kids be pen pals! How fun.. I think I might have to look into making that happen! What do you think?

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  11. Hi Julia, you'll find me at http://ourlittlehouseinthecountry.com, please stop by anytime! :)

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