Adventures in Toddlerhood: Bishop Museum

Oh, the joys of childhood!  It has literally been years, maybe even more than a decade, since I went to the Bishop Museum in Honolulu, HI and so much has changed.  However, the things that haven't changed, are that it's tons of fun for kids of all ages and the planetarium is still totally awesome.

If ever you get the chance, I think their new science building is the favorite of those little toddlers you see above.  I've been lucky enough to have the chance to watch my gorgeous little niece for the next few weeks at my house with my son and they're a handful, but so amazing.  Today, we'll be going back to the Bishop Museum since Papa Fox purchased a family pass to the museum and we'll be having a play date with my bff and her 6 year old daughter.

Seriously, even we had fun at the museum as adults.  If you get a chance, there's an 11a showing at the planetarium that's for small children and we took two 2 year old children to watch it and it went off without a hitch.  It's a bit boring for adults (we almost fell asleep), but "In My Backyard" is a fun take on astronomy for the kiddos.

Adventures in Toddlerhood: Flutter Butterfly Pavilion

Oh my what a day it has been.  Children are so unpredictable, amazing, miraculous, time-consuming, adorable, and schedule-ruining.  I wouldn't have it any other way.

Have you been to a butterfly pavilion?!

If you ever get the chance, can I interject right now with a you should go! It's amazing for so many reasons and the kids (even the little kid inside you - you don't need children to fully enjoy it!) just absolutely surprise you.  Above is my gorgeous little niece admiring the monarch butterfly.

Today, we went to Flutter at the Pearlridge Mall in Aiea, HI that's going on until July 14th.  Considering the weekday, it was surprisingly busy.  We got there to buy tickets at noon and didn't get our showing scheduled until 1p, a whole hour later.  It was surprising to us, but maybe we were just being naive.

Baby Fox, contrary to the adorable picture above, was an absolute mess.  He was terrified of the butterflies; you would've thought they were stinging bees if you saw his reaction.  They give you the rules before you go in, one being not to swat at the butterflies or scream while inside and not to step on said butterflies (given, right?).  Could you guess that it's exactly what Baby Fox did?!  Yup, sure nuff.  Needless to say, I about had him in a little mommy-straight-jacket kind of thing (which may have caused him more trauma than I know) to keep him from stamping, slapping, and swatting the butterflies away.  Funny enough, the butterflies LOVED these kids, so it was a long and arduous process with Baby Fox.  But I digress.

Besides the insect invasion, I picked up my soon-to-be-sister-in-law and niece this morning to embark on the adventure that was today.  From a Starbucks run, potty successes (my nieces, not Baby Fox), a long and (unnecessarily) drawn out breakfast at Zippy's, and a quick peek at Petsmart to admire the animals, everything was so much more fun.  Having kids the similar age is just absolute heaven.  Oh, and we were able to squeeze in some shopping for my sister so she could get some local-casual clothes.  All in all, I'd stamp today with a SUCCESS!