Greensboro Science Center

This past weekend we traveled to Richmond VA, for the UCI World Cycling Championships. Knowing that length of trip (6 hours) would test Callen's limits in the car, we decided to split the trip and drive to Greensboro on Friday and the remainder of the way to Richmond on Saturday. We left after Doug got off work on Friday and made our way to Greensboro. Cal has traveled a decent amount, but the only times he has stayed in hotel rooms has been when he was much younger. (He prefers to stay in a tent!) He was so excited about staying in a hotel! He loved riding the luggage carts and thought jumping on the bed was amazing. He was going strong until 11:00! Mom and dad were not going as strong and passed out as soon as he fell asleep!

Why is he always a blur in pictures?!

One reason we stopped in Greensboro (other than being half way between Greenville and Richmond) is that we looked ahead of time and saw the Greenville Zoo has reciprocal rites with the Greensboro Science Center as part of your annual membership. We thought this would be a great place to stop and explore for the morning before getting back on the road to Richmond. The Science Center has an aquarium, museum, and zoo all at the same facility. We didn't know what to expect, so we decided ahead of time we would visit the aquarium since Cal goes to the Greenville Zoo and The Children's Museum often. Once there, we realized that each component was fairly small, and easy to visit all of them in one day. We still opted to walk through the aquarium first. Cal loved watching the sea cats as they were climbing and walking throughout their exhibit. He looked at the penguins for about a second before he moved on to the giant tanks. He took some more interest in all the fish, but overall didn't seem to care too much about watching the sea life (he is much more hands on if you didn't already know that!!!). We watched a scuba diver give a talk in the large tank and this held his interest for a few minutes (we kept telling him it was Uncle Scuba!), but before long we were on to the next area.

He liked looking at the sting rays but had no part in wanting to touch them

The museum is very interesting. There are many educational opportunities for the kids with classroom talks, video presentations, and interactive exhibits. However, much of this area was for older kids and we found ourselves playing in several themed rooms that had educational opportunities but also play areas for the smaller kids. Cal loved being captain of the ship and pushing all the sound effect buttons in the submarine. The play food and food truck best captivated his attention and he was sure to give everyone a 'nack' before heading out to the zoo.

This is much like the ball tubes at the Children's Museum except that the balls or scarves put into the chutes come flying out above your head!

Waiting for the balls to come out and land on dad!

 

Safari exhibit

The zoo is great. The number of animal exhibits is smaller compared to the Greenville Zoo. However, they have a number of attractions that we don't have here, so it was nice to see different species of animals. Also, they have much larger open spaces for their animals. It was really neat to see the Gibbon monkeys walking around in an area that might really simulate their home environment. The tigers even seemed to have much more space than the lions at the zoo here. It was really nice to see the open areas for the animals to live in; it made it feel less like a zoo. 

Watching the monkeys

Go Tigers!

 

Watching the lemurs

Perhaps one of the coolest things the Science Center has to offer is their Sky Wild attraction. It is a separate fee, but it is a tree top adventure park with various ziplines, rope climbs, and obstacles that looks awesome. This would definitely be something we would like to take Cal back to when he is older. There were entire families out on the course together having a great time encouraging one another and helping each other through difficult areas. 

We were very impressed with the Science Center. One neat thing they do there is they have teen volunteers that man each of the exhibits. They learn about the animals and the exhibit, and are there to answer any questions you may have. They offered advice on where to go in the center as well as answered our questions about the animals. What a great way to get kids involved as well as help the patrons learn more about the zoo and its animals. 

On to Richmond...

Callen Goes To School

Callen started preschool this year!! He is going to 4th Presbyterian Church in their Little Folks of Fourth Program. He goes to school Monday and Wednesday mornings (9:00-1:00) in the 2 and 3 year old class. The class is a mix of kids with Cal probably being the youngest and few kids that are already three. The class follows a curriculum, but the biggest lessons taught in the class are independence and self care. They want the kids to be as independent as possible before moving to the 3 and 4 year old class. 

We prepped Callen for a while about school. He didn't really think too much about it until he rode with a neighbor to drop her little girl off at school. He saw the teacher take the child from the car (and away from her momma!) and not come back. That was probably not the best thing for Callen to see a week before he went to school. After that experience, anytime you mentioned school he would say no and often times started crying. It was pitiful. I knew the first day would not go well, but it was something that had to be done...get it over with! Doug and I both took Cal that first day. There was such a whirlwind of activity in the classroom that we didn't even meet two of the teachers. One teacher was so sweet and finally came over and took Cal from us to divert his attention. We left but I kept my phone close by waiting for a phone call to come and pick him up...it never happened! He survived his first day. 

This is the 'I'm not going to school today' face!

Cal has gone to school twice since then and still cries and gets nervous/upset when we pull onto the street the school is on. He cries most of the way into the school and as I am leaving him. However, the teachers tell me that he settles down very quickly and has a good time. He still gets weepy when I pick him up, but I think he is so relieved I am back to get him! Doug and I were able to join him for lunch and a mini open house today. It was so good to see him playing in the classroom and not wanting to leave. He does like it there...he just likes it better with mommy and daddy there with him!

Eating lucnh

Showing us where we go to leave

Get me out of here!

I was feeling a little frustrated after that first day of craziness and wondered if we were doing the right thing sending him to school. But after seeing him today and hearing that he does well once we are gone, I am glad he is going. He will learn so much and it will be good for him to be around kids his own age a few days a week. Before long he will be telling me he can walk in on his own and for me to leave!

Happy Birthday Daddy!

Whoa! How is it already September?!?! I feel like we celebrated Cal's birthday August 1st, and then blink, August was over! 

The beginning of September means daddy's birthday!!! Since Doug's birthday fell during the middle of the week, we decided to celebrate the weekend before. We usually go for a hike or do some sort of outdoor activity as a family to celebrate. This year Doug wanted to try hiking in Panthertown Valley again. We had gone up there about a year ago...we didn't look at the weather forecast for that day and it turned out to be cold and rainy the entire time. We were pretty miserable, so we quickly turned around and headed home. This time around we checked the weather often and knew it was going to be nice and cool (compared to Greenville). We made the hour and forty-five minute drive to the Panthertown Valley area (near Cashiers, NC) and began our adventure. We originally planned for a 2.5 mile round trip hike to Schoolhouse Falls. The hike in was nice but it was on a mountain bike trail that was fairly wide and mostly gravel. We knew we didn't want to hike out that way...we wanted more of a trail with more tree coverage and scenery! So, we took a 5+mile loop back to the car that allowed us to climb to the summit of Little Green Mountain and take in beautiful views of the surrounding area while standing atop large exposed areas of granite. Well worth the extra mileage back to the car!!!

This was a great hike with great views (and play areas according to Cal!). He absolutely loved our lunch spot and could have stayed to play in the water and climb on the rocks all afternoon. We admired the views from across the pond, but quickly found ourselves hiking over to the falls to get a better view of them! There was a great camping spot we would love to try out with these falls as their view!

Schoolhouse Falls

 

This boy loves to climb and loved traversing these rocks without any help from mom or dad

At the top of Little Green Mountain (not the best pic to show the view, but it's the best we could do without our tripod)

This is a great area and we look forward to hiking more trails around here. There is a PDF version of a trail map you can download from the site. However, we ran into a couple that had an actual map that showed more details on the trails and parking areas. They purchased it through the Friends of Panthertown Valley website (I'm linking to it so I don't lose it!), We will definitely take this with us the next time we go so we can park in a different area and explore more of the places that aren't as frequented by others.

Lots of learning to do

The paper was off this much and Cal already knew there was a drill in there

Sorry dad...this drill is mine!

I can help...I have my work hat on now!

Happy Birthday Daddy! We love you so much and hope you had a great day!