Mu-see-ums

 So! I had another one of those moments where I feel incredibly guilty because my second kid is not doing something that my first one did!
(I do not have them that often, but every once in awhile I realize what Ollie is missing...)
On Friday, we visited the Wonder Wing Children's Museum at Brookdale Community College. The museum, which is geared for children under the age of six, is small and hands-on. There is an enormous pirate ship, a huge whale with a slide inside, a raft, some dramatic-play stuff, and even real water (with fake sea-animals in it). Right up Oliver's alley ;)

 He had an absolute BLAST climbing into this blown-up raft and tipping over backwards, effectively jumping ship each time. It helped that Mommy was rockin' it like we were in the middle of a roaring storm.

Then we played hide and seek for quite awhile. Best spot was when Oliver chose to hide in the coat rack. I actually had a few moms say to me "He's in there" because they knew it was odd, and that I'd never find him ;)  He loved climbing up into this tree house and requested that I take a pic and send it to Daddy.
(PS Daddy: Remember, we're building a real clubhouse this spring ;)

 Neat window-walkway, revealing an ornate sand castle below. We laid on our bellies and played I Spy.

 He made a friend who was 3 and did not know how to write his name. So Ollie wrote it for him. They both created chicks. Ollie noted that he didn't want to color the feathers or beak "Because that's what they really look like". Yup.

 Catching a picture of the fish behind us...

***
Now this week is Spring Break for Trenton!
So we headed on over to Jenkinson's Aquarium in Point Pleasant.
It was my first time in Point since Sandy. And each time I re-enter one of these familiar beach towns, the sights take my breath away-- literally. There are still many, many homes that were clearly damaged, some trying to recover, some just throwing in the towel. The boardwalk itself was fixed in certain areas, and still under construction in others.
The aquarium seems to have made some improvements (new penguin tank wall), but otherwise, most of what had always been there was still there.

( Trenton maintains that he is the deep sea diver in the picture above.)

The MOMS Club that I am a member of actually adopted one of these penguins. They have little beads on their wings that note their names, as well as their parents' names, so that they can keep track of them all. Luckily, we were there for feeding time. Trenton made it a point to notice how fairly the fish were spread around. He felt bad for the guys that weren't getting any. 

 There were sea urchins, sea stars, and horse shoe crabs on display for touching.

This is actually what it looked like in our town on Monday morning:

 Hello? Spring? Three inches of snow?
Final picture of the boys playing Telephone with their buddies. We've been having a few playdates this week, trying to keep everyone busy... it is supposed to warm up soon!