July 2009
4th
of
July
!!!
For 4th of July, Kaira and I went to the beach. Kaira's best friend, Lokei, had never been to the beach and was excited to join us, along with her grandmother, Gayle. The four of us packed up and spent a couple of days and nights playing in the sand, the hotel swimming pool, and a nearby Children's Discovery Center.
On the Beach
Kaira and Lokei playing in the sand and in the water. They both made their own little 'castles' and also helped me with my big one. The water stayed shallow for about as far out as we could walk, which was pretty nice. They were able to splash and play without us having to worry about how far out they were going, and we kept floaties on them just to be safe.
Lynn Meadows Discovery Center
During the middle of the day, we escaped to the Discovery Center just down the road to beat the heat. They had tons to do and the girls had a blast.
"The Super Colossal Climbing Structure"
Playing around in the Mexico exhibit, dressing up in the cool skirts and sombreros.
There was play Mexican food to play with, play clothes, instruments (maracas!) and all sorts of other things to play with.
Pretending to be pilots in the play airplane
Playing in the dress-up area - the 'History Hotel', set to simulate a Mississippi city in the 1890's.
They had all sorts of 'tea party' clothes to dress up in - plenty of cool floppy hats, and skirts, and necklaces, etc.
There was also a table set with real tea cups and tea pots and play food to have a pretend tea party at.
There was also a play Market, complete with produce, seafood and bakery sections.
There were aprons for the girls to put on to pretend they worked there, and working cash registers so they could ring up everything they bought.
Simulator to show how the green screen worked.
And a play TV station that they could do 'live broadcasts' from, and see themselves on the TV screen to the side.
"The Port" where you could operate a crane and nets to catch your own
shrimp and crabs... the play train... and a bubble blowing station outside...
Blowing GIGANTIC bubbles... walking along a little stream outside... and posing on a baby bear sculpture...
Posing for a picture... and checking out the submarine...
Silly girls being gorillas... posing on the train outside... and enjoying 4th of July popsicles to cool down...
Watching Fireworks on the Beach
Kaira and Lokei - ready for 4th of July fireworks, waiting for the sun to set
Swimming in the hotel pool
Kaira and Lokei had a blast in the hotel swimming pool - it was hard to tell if they had more fun at the beach, or just hanging out at the pool.
And just hanging out inside the hotel room between activities one morning.
Lokei in Shreveport
The week after 4th of July weekend, Lokei came back with us to Shreveport for a few days. The two girls together are a handful - they definitely kept me busy! But we had a lot of fun.
Kaira & Lokei playing in Kaira's room... and going out for ice cream...
We decided to have a backyard camp out. We started by making s'mores over the fire of the grill.
Then it was off to the tent, with glow sticks and flash lights. The girls had fun in the tent for about 20 minutes and then decided that they didn't want to sleep out there and ended up in bed inside. In their defense, it was HOT outside and I didn't want to sleep out there either. It was still in the high 80's in the middle of the night and we were sweating out there. Will have to try again sometime when it cools down.
SciPort
And of course we had to take Lokei to SciPort...
Playing on the giant piano
'Hot Hands' - leaving thermal hand prints... playing with the building blocks...
Kaira and Lokei pretending to be ants in the opening of the giant ant tunnel...
and playing at the domino table where there are really cool trails to set up dominos and then knock them all down - over bridges, up spirals, etc.
Down at the Boardwalk - an open air shopping center that faces the river, and has lots of fun stuff to do, including a movie theater, a carousel, lots of places to eat, a fountain in the middle to throw pennies and make wishes in, and fun stores (like Build-A-Bear)
Looking over the Boardwalk, and looking over at the river.
Riding the carousel at the Boardwalk...
Painting
One of the things on the girls' wishlist to do for the week was to paint... so we got out the paints and some big My Little Pony coloring sheets and they got to work...
Fun at the Park
We also took Lokei to one of our favorite parks - this one has a 'sprayground' that sprays water - great to keep cool in the hot Louisiana summer. It also has a 'musical park' off to one side with a bunch of different gongs, bells, xylophones, drums, etc to bang on and make music. And of course, a cool playground in the middle as well.
Build-A-Bear
The Build-A-Bear store has become one of Kaira's favorite places to go. She made me a bear for Mother's Day that she named Sarah and dressed in scrubs. And she has been wanting to return to make one for herself, which we finally did... She picked out a dog, which she named Casey, who has since become one of Kaira's favorite stuffed animals.
