From Our Side of Life: A Treat For Us, A Break For Julieanna

Sweet little Hazel, who would think they would have her working nights? Oh well! They certainly do. Of course that means Julieanna has to server her every whim, all night long. That means they are both a.w.a.k.e. at night. Also, they are the only two family members on night shift.

Cora and Geoff are both on days. Geoff is self directed and pretty responsible so he is okay. Although Cora has been on days for a couple years, she can not be left unsupervised. That means Julieanna is on days too. Yes, this is a perfect formula for sleep deprivation.

The most we could do is take Cora for an outing and let Julieanna and Hazel sleep at the same time.

That did give us a little while to admire Hazel. And to obey Cora's commands to come see the baby and to pet baby and touch its tummy.

But she is "so cute" and tiny.

Cora is the big sister. She looks at Hazel so lovingly and is attentive to her every little whine.

Look at the little angel.

Grandma and Cora make stuff with Play-Doh. It is hard to keep up with Cora's demands. "Let's make a blue frog." Before you can get the lid off she has moved on to, "Let's make a green flower."

Then we 're off to the Kohl Children's Museum. Of all days, today Cora got up extra early. About 6:20. So a half hour in the car got her into her nap. When we woke her at the museum she was disoriented and a little disgruntled. Grandma wasn't the only one to think this was a great idea. The place was packed. It was a great time for Cora to engage with children of many cultures and to negotiate her turn at the various stations. She did very well. She had her share and was the nicest person there.

This station used air to shoot golf balls into a basket in the center.

She shoots! She scores!

Between the shutter lag and Cora's constant motion I took a lot of pictures of her leaving a station. This one has air blowing out of the cone. Cora put a plastic ball on top and the jet of air keeps the ball levitated. So I have a picture of Cora going after the ball.

Here Cora is sans jacket in her blue sweater and tan pants. If you put the ball in the tube by the wall and hold the flap shut, air will blow it up and over at the funnel and down to the tray again.

In the building area she climbed in and sat up front to pretend to drive the truck. It doesn't move and has no moving parts, so it held her interest for less time the it took you to read this caption.

Some PVC pipe and a few fittings intrigued children for a while.

And the pipe fits through the holes so that one can build something on both sides.

The lego table was okay. And the gears would ALL turn if you spin any of them.

In the construction area Cora collected tools to put away in the shop.

A place for everything and everything in its place.

This station escaped me as to purpose. It was about"each person's approach to their work." There was this divided bin, a screwed down hat and lunch box and a mirror. Huh?

These blowup tubes held a lot of people's attention. Some older ones too. There were pumping, push button and pedaling stations that caused the air to inflate the tubes.

Skipper the boat. Wait your turn to steer.

Following Grandma to the favorite place.

Water, water everywhere. Shoot water at the chimes

Or put boats in the "river".

Grandma pulls up the sleeves. There! That will keep them out of the water. Too bad we didn't do that before playing.

Look at that big wet spot on her front. Now we have to stay until it dries.

"Hand on House" was fun. Carpet squares, Panels of wood or wall paper and brush and roller to "decorate" the house.

Cora went in the "infant area" and read a book. The girl does love books.

Imagine that! This area had a book too.

Potbelly has a play store. Kids can "learn what it is like to have a job" . Well it sounded good in the presentation to the board. There were plastic props and pretend toasters and seating. The kids could put together "sandwiches" and serve their guests. Cora like to watch the "sandwich" go through the toaster with the red light.

The baby care room was interesting to Cora for quite a while. There were only two dolls and too many kids. Cora didn't get a turn with a doll but she looked with horror as the others whipped the blanket off and dropped babies. She found a book to read. And tried to listen to the lullabies from around the world; but some other little b girl pulled her hand away and pushed all the buttons and ran off . So Cora went to get one of the dolls and a little bast brat boy about 4 or 5 ran across the room screaming, "Mine, mine, leave that a lone!" His sister of about 8 told him to share; but of course that was ineffective. So Cora just went on to the clean up area to look at the sink.

This was community building. The plastic houses could be moved around the table and where ever they were pushed in they lit in one of the various colors. (I don't understand this one either.)

This was the transportation area roadway and a mock train stop and a picture puzzle on the wall. There were panels with holes revealing a part of a picture of some type of transportation. You were to guess what it was ans then lift the panel to reveal the whole picture.

I guess this was to teach children that it is okay for big brother to use surveillance cameras to see what you are doing. they were hidden in the posts and as the kid pushed the buttons it switched views.

This was the automotive area. There was a brake demo on the left. A steering demo that Cora kept wanting to get down on yellow base and crawl under the steering gear. But she is a very good girl. Every time we told her not to do that and to get up she would do so without hesitation or argument.

The car wash was interesting. You could crank or push buttons or turn wheels OR you could walk through it and experience what happens in a car wash. So I worked it and Grandma went through. She reported that it felt nice so Cora and I went through and Grandma worked it. Cora wasn't impressed.