The Marbles Museum

So before I pack up the holiday posts entirely, I have to write about a couple of things. First, we were still in North Carolina for New Year's Eve so we opted to take Elisa out for a little "Noon Year's Eve" action at the Marbles Kids Museum in downtown Raleigh. It was a great space with lots of clever interactive displays, and I think leaving Carolina back home to nap while we played was a great idea. Sometimes just taking Elisa out and about is so much easier.  Stace and Mark joined us and I think they did a fantastic job of living through the eyes of a 4 year old again because, let's face it--it's been a while.  Every activity was indulged as we watched Elisa raced from collecting balls in the piggy bank area to wearing a tutu in the dance studio and playing with the polar bear cut outs in the waterworks. She climbed a pirate ship, steered a submarine and even commandeered a city bus. She pretty much owned the place. And this museum really offered a lot of choices which was great and kind of unexpected for a place this size. To be honest, I think every family in Raleigh was there that day and it still didn't feel too crazy. We missed the confetti and ball drop by just a few minutes (Elisa didn't want to wait), but that gave us a little quiet time to see some of the rooms before the crowds swelled again. 

And after a couple of hours, we were ready to hit the coffee shop nearby for lunch and then head on back to Stacey's house for the rest of the NYE celebrations.  Turns out we played Apples to Apples while drinking heavily and Mark made us all homemade pizzas which was more fun than I could have expected elsewhere.  Oh, and the girls were already asleep at that point so it was a double score. Yes, I look forward to the days when I can let them play and stay up for the big ball drop, but for now, they need their beauty rest. And so do I. We counted down the clock at 11 p.m. which was just fine by me and 20 minutes later I was in bed--a perfect start to the new year since I plan to make "MORE sleep" my number one resolution!