Yesterday afternoon we had an adventure riding the city bus. We walked 1.5 blocks to the bus stop, rode to the downtown transit center, walked about 3 blocks to the Central Branch of the city library, spent 30-45 minutes browsing and doing puzzles in the children's room, checked out, walked back to the transit center, rode the bus back to our street, then walked home. Total time, just under 2 hours. The boys were very excited, handled being around strangers quite well, and stayed with me (with 1 exception) without running off or fussing. DS1 commented about the bus not having seat belts, so I explained that the poles were to hold onto if it got bumpy (we were at the back where the seats are in a U shape).
Today we made a treasure hunt for DH for his birthday. It started by DS2 playing with a roll of unused tan wallpaper and calling it a treasure map (a la Backyardigans and/or Dora). I suggested that we make a treasure map for Daddy for his birthday, so we discussed how many places (Dora style) and what would be at the "X" (Backyardigans style treasure). We settled on 4 places between starting in the living room and finishing in the kitchen. Each stop would have something hidden for DH to find. We chose the rooms and drew the map, then we went shopping for a present. They chose a package of animal balloons with a pump. DH likes making animal balloons, but we have misplaced our squeeze-ball pump, and our balloon stock is old so they break often, so this was a great choice (plus it was inexpensive). Then they each chose a bag of candy, DS2 selecting candy corn, and DS1 selecting Smarties. At home we wrapped those 3 presents in left over confetti pattern kitchen wall paper. They hid them in their room (stop 1), we took all the birthday cards and hid them in the basement (stop 2), I "hid" the DaVinci Code on the boys' library bookshelf (stop 3), and put DH's gift from me on our bed under a blanket (stop 4), the treasure was in the kitchen... pizza in the oven and a brownie birthday cake with a powdered sugar message.
When DH called to let me know he was on his way home from work, I warned him to expect to be greeted by 2 very excited boys and not to plan on any downtime immediately. As the boys explained the map and treasure hunt, I put the pizza in the oven. It was very hard for DS2 to not spill the secret locations, but he did pretty well not telling what was hidden in each room. It was a birthday that will not soon be forgotten!
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