So hot! So not!

Just like the rest of the country, North Carolina has been overcome with extreme heat over the past several weeks. Last weekend was exceptionally hot. But little kids don't understand heat, and all they saw from inside was a nice sunny day and mean parents who wouldn't let them go out in it. Most of us would have liked to spend the day in the air conditioning, vegging out and eating ice cream.

But not Luke and Matt. They had a LOT of energy that needed to be released. I racked my brain for something that we could do to keep everyone happy so that their energy didn't drive us all crazy!

We don't usually like to break up the band, but ultimately we decided that the best thing to do was for me and Grandpa to take Luke and Matt to Marbles Children's Museum to blow off some steam, and for Nate, Will, Nana, and Grandmama to stick closer to home. This always comes with some guilt.

Though we've lived near Raleigh for several years, we haven't been to Marbles. It has been recommended several times, but have heard that it gets pretty noisy. And Will doesn't really do loud noises very well. Or unpredictability. Or people running at him. I can think of nothing louder, more unpredictable, and more wrought with runners than a children's museum. So we just haven't made the museum a priority, though I knew that Luke and Matt would love it. Our goal as parents of a child with special needs is always inclusion. It always will be.

At some point along this mental battle journey, I realized that it wasn't fair to keep Luke and Matt from something that they would enjoy. And it wasn't fair to make Will miserable by taking him to the loud museum. So I pulled a Yoko. We went our separate ways. We aren't often in a position where we have such a good adult to child ratio.

Though it took Luke and Matt a couple of minutes to realize what was going on in this crazy museum where you're allowed to touch everything and there are hundreds of other free kids running around, they quickly caught on.

Luke enjoyed shopping with his wheelbarrow at the grocery store (though there were shopping carts), and of course, driving the city bus. Matt's favorite activity was definitely walking the plank on the pirate ship again and again, and he also really enjoyed the vet's office.

I wanted to get a group photo of my dad, Luke and Matt to show off our fun time on top of the pirate ship. But everyone was having too much fun, and this is the only photo I got.

Will had a great quiet afternoon with lots of adoring attention from his grandma and great grandma. Despite my angst, it really turned out well and everyone was so happy when we all got together to have dinner and sing Happy Birthday to Nate and Nana Jean!