The Science Center

Sometimes vacations are exhausting. Like when you have to deal with hotel reservations on the phone for two hours. When you make an exhaustive list of all the family friendly activities with a breakdown of their hours and costs, and then forget it. When you pile everyone into the car and head out to Grant's Farm to see the Budweiser Clydesdales and you realize it's entirely possible you'll run out of gas from the AC before you make it through the line to park, so you scrap it all together. Exhausting.

But there's magic in the effort. There's beauty in the fascination of everything new as seen from the innocent eyes of your kiddos. There's a sense of wonder as you witness each little personality developing and finding their rhythm. What makes them glow, and become completely immersed in their surroundings.

It never seizes to amaze me how completely different my two oldest gals can be. While one thrives on adrenaline rushes, the other prefers the complexities of science and the intricacies of art. It is one of my greatest joys to observe the way they continue to define who they are and find a space for themselves as individuals. This world is a much better place because they're in it.

 And of course the littlest peanut, who was just happy to be out of the stroller and "helping".