taking full advantage

the weather this weekend was perfect. it was just what i have been waiting for, for months now. it was sunny and warm, but just cool enough to still wear a light hoodie and be comfortable. i love the spring and the fall, when you don't have to worry about slathering on the sunblock, or getting eaten alive by mosquitoes. we took full advantage of the beautiful weather, and spent most of the weekend outside. it was awesome. on saturday afternoon we drove out to lake crabtree park near the rdu airport.

danny and malcolm discovered their new favorite way to go down the slide:

step 1: climb the ladder

step 2: malcolm goes down and waits for daddy

step 3: Ka-BLOW!!

and again!

and a video! haha!

aren't we an attractive couple, haha?!

on sunday we drove out to the museum of life & science in durham. we packed a lunch, and spent the day playing and exploring.

we rode the little train

malcolm was super excited to ride it

our family snap-shot, courtesy of the friendly train conductor, tom :)

malcolm got a little scared when we went through a "tunnel", and all the kids on the train screamed


after the not-so-fun train ride, we walked along the new dinosaur trail

then we looked at the bears

after lunch, we went in the butterfly house, and malcolm got to hold one!

i'm not sure what type of tree this is (from brazil, i think?), but i loved how it was covered with these black bulbous berries(?)

there were birds down below it, eating the fruit that had fallen. very cool!

this moth was behind glass. it had just emerged from it's chrysalis that afternoon, and it was huge! danny pointed out that the tips of it's wings look like snake heads! so rad!

there it is above alanna's head

i loved looking in this window

ewww, my worst nightmare! :(

this cow liked to lick alanna's arm. he was cute, but he looked pretty sad in there.

we headed inside for the last hour, before they closed at five.

alanna and i liked watching this ant habitat. they sure were busy lil' workers in there.

and there was an area for little ones (under age 6), so malcolm got to play on his own for a bit before we left.

we had a great (and exhausting) weekend hanging out as a family. i am grateful that danny is able to make his own schedule, which usually includes lots of weekend family time.