A picture is worth a thousand words (and is a lot safer)

It's air conditioned, has security guards, and a play area. What do I have to lose?

Annie felt like these signs put too many constraints on her ability to explore.

Annie refused to cooperate for a group picture! She didn't have any intent on staying still!

See what I mean? The other kids were growing weary of posing so that Annie could pout!

Here's another attempt at a group shot where Annie decided to show her ultimate attitude look! I'd bet money that the big kids were hoping the jaws would snap down on her and hold her there for a while!

Grant could have stayed in the gem panning area forever. It was actually pretty calming.

Well, Annie splashing and playing in the sand wasn't very calming but she stood in one place and let the big kids "work" for close to 30 minutes! It was miraculous!

Grant also enjoyed "digging" for fossils. I don't think he cared a thing for the rest of the museum. He would have rotated between the gem panning and fossil digging for hours!

And then, there's Annie! She liked the fossil dig, too, but she preferred to throw the "sand" and use the paint brushes to paint other people!

Can you see Annie behind Grant in another attempt to avoid a group shot? She has a stubborn streak like no other child I know!

Annie was really interested in the prisms, though. Maybe she was just signaling the Mother Ship to come back and get her away from these people with cameras!

Dasha also enjoyed the section of the museum about light. She wanted to read every single sign and really got frustrated when we had to move along before she was finished.

After Tellus, we went home and napped and then headed to Cracker Barrel for dinner. I can't tell you when the last "sit down" dinner was that we had. Oh yeah! It was the last day of school for the big kids' graduation dinner! Wow! Anyway, some dear friends gave us a gift card and it was the perfect thing for today!

After dinner, we headed to the park to run off some of the energy that everyone had regained from their naps!

The park was empty! It creeped me out at first! We were the only ones there but the kids loved it!

Dasha made it to the top of the climbing tower for the first time ever! She was so proud of herself!

Annie was Annie and tried to conquer every piece of equipment that was there!

The girl has NO fear! She scrambles up to the top of just about anything and just GOES! The only time I've ever seen her be a bit apprehensive was the week that the older kids were at camp and we ran into Godzilla at the play place. I can't blame her, though!

This is where Grant spent his park time. Parked on his butt. Someone obviously put something in his dinner that made him have a nasty attitude so I was quite satisfied that he was staying in one place! Whew! This is one of those pictures that I'll make sure appears in his wedding video!

Goldilocks has to try every single swing at a park. We tell her over and over again that they're all the same but she doesn't care. I guess the view from each swing is a little different but it's a very predictable pattern with her!

And then, there was the blank stare which indicates that she's heading into the exhaustion phase and signals that we can now depart from the park and head home for bath and bed!

However, she suddenly popped herself back into Energizer mode and decided that she didn't want to go home! She had to be chased to the van! Poor Dasha took the hill side while Grant and I worked the parking lot and sidewalk. I wish I was kidding! It was like rounding up a crazed cow!

Today was a fun day. We were busy and enjoyed our mini-staycation. I really don't have any words to wrap around my emotions tonight that are worth trying to weave into a comprehensible pattern. My thoughts kept revolving around how much Annie is like Eric. She's adventurous, social, and persistent. I'm really not any of those and I'm struggling with knowing how to parent her. My mind wandered down lots of miscellaneous trails that all seemed to merge back in the same place.

Casting all your anxiety on Him, because He cares for you. 1 Peter 5:7