Last Friday day care was closed for annual training, so rather than sitting around the house, I thought it would be fun to get out and do something. The weather was supposed to be nice, so I figured we should go for a drive and hopefully see some wildlife. The National Eagle Center is around 2 hours away, and then I realized that Lark Toys was just 10 minutes away from that, so we had our plan!  We popped a movie on for the kiddos to watch and we were golden!  Phoebe managed to take a quick nap in the van and by the time we arrived at Lark, both of them were more than ready to get out some energy.  Also, they were hungry. Why is it that whenever we’re at home they pick at their food, but the second they get in the van they (okay, mostly Enzo) become famished and want all of their snacks in the first 5 minutes.

The kids were overcome with joy looking at all the toys, and thankfully there were a lot of toys that are actually okay for kids to play with while they look.  Phoebe did not want to leave behind “her” baby that she had found and it took some coaxing to get them to move on to other things. They have been playing with their own kitchen and toys a lot more since we went, so I call that a win since it reminded them how much they actually enjoy playing “house.”

Besides all of the great toy displays, the highlight of Lark Toys was the carousel.  I wish I had gotten more pictures of it, but the kids were antsy and had so much pent up energy still.  We went on one ride, got some lunch and then decided to head to our next stop.

I think we were both a little surprised at how busy the National Eagle Center was on a Friday.  It was a lot later in the day than I had originally planned on arriving, but with kids that’s not exactly unusual.  It was chilly, but the kids enjoyed some fresh air while we looked for eagles. Alas, they were all pretty far off and despite being zoomed in as far as I could, it just wasn’t far enough. Inside, however, the kids got to see them up close and without glass or anything in the way.

(Enzo took this picture of the barge – time to get him his own camera!)

We tried to stay as long as possible, but both kids were acting rather unruly and at this point could not hold their wiggles in and were running around and yelling and the last thing I wanted was for them to get underfoot of other people who were there trying to enjoy their day as well. We went ahead and called it and headed home so the kids could run around like maniacs in the comfort of their own home.  We did get to see more eagles flying around and some in nests, but one of these days I’ll just have to drive around on my own… or wait until next season to do so.