Our State's Capitol for the Win

Knowing the "sun would come out" on Thursday (but it wouldn't actually get warm until later), I sweet-talked Christi into driving up to Salem to check out the Children's Museum and park nearby. 

I had found this little dress at Old Navy for dirt cheap and Whitley was a fan of the look and had to check herself out in the mirror before we left.  =)

There's a giant rocking chair on this porch at the Gilbert Children's Museum that we really wanted to have the girls pose in, but Whitley wanted nothing to do with it.  Okay, sit in the small ones, then.

Getting these two to smile simultaneously is like herding cats.

Because I had taken so many pictures of this place the last time Whitley and I went, I didn't pull my phone out to take a lot of shots.  Christi and I seemed to keep intersecting with the same "slightly more highstrung" mom and her kids in each room and had our hands full trying to make sure our kids didn't do anything inappropriate in her presence.  =(

I did get Whitley to experience the bubble inside the train tracks with me (too scared before) and Christi snapped some shots.  

The outdoor park at the Children's museum was a little overwhelming for our littler kids - not to mention the fact that a field trip of elementary students had just arrived (including Dawn and her daughter....SMALL WORLD!) - so we opted to drive a couple of blocks down the river front area to this locale. 

 We thought it would be fun to have the girls experience the carousel. 

Elsie was quite captivated.

Whitley was quite scared.  She wanted nothing to do with it.  However, I eventually talked her into just sitting on one of the benches on the ride.  

Elsie didn't struggle as much.  (To be fair, at that age, Whitley wouldn't have either....Whitley's kind of hit the "awareness" stage where she actually knows enough to be fearful...it's a sign she's maturing and growing up, but it is a bummer that life is already becoming the real to her).  

Notice that chest clutch.  I gotta say, this concerned me a bit in terms of how things might pan out in Disneyworld regarding the rides she embraces going on...  

But, this kind of thrill....no problem there!  There's a great park adjacent to the carousel that the girls enjoyed immensely.  

We ended up picnicking on the grass and then let the girls burn off a little more steam before returning home.  

As we were leaving, we asked Whitley to hold Elsie's hand.  Elsie is constantly wanting that to happen, and for whatever reason, Whitley is a little snotty about it.  We just kept clicking the pictures to catch some of the body language between these two - it's pretty hilarious because Elsie knows how to give back just as much as Whitley does!

Later that evening, we had scheduled Christi to come over and cut the guys' hair.  We ended up making pulled pork meal and invited Tyler to join us (day after "Tax Day" for him, so as an accountant, it was a "holiday" worth celebrating!  It was a fun evening, and Elsie was in SUCH A FUN MOOD!  She finally recognized our trampoline for what it had to offer and I'm not sure when she would have ever willing gotten off.  When we got her back inside, she was running around laughing so hard at herself.  Her joy was so infectious!