Tuesday, March 3, 2015

Museum Day



Today we woke up to snow.  Only Spencer was really happy about it.  Elliana said no outside. We ate breakfast and tried to get them to do their alphabet. Only Elliana did any English learning, maybe the candy reward played into it a bit as well. Once a bit of learning was completed we headed out because we will go crazy if we stay in.

We wanted to see the Natural History Museum.We showed up and they said they were closed. The ladies we nice enough and let us see the rock room.  My husband the Geologist was happy about that, none of the kids were. I kept the kids in check while he looked around.  They told us about the Sun Museum that was a few blocks away.  So we went to check it out.  The museum part was only reading and pictures. Well our kids were not into that at all.  So Hunter and Spencer took off running. Most kids would stop when got out of site of their parents. Not our two boys, they just keep on going.  So Jeff and I took off. Jeff went backwards in the Museum and I went forwards.  We finally got them cornered. We decided to head out but in the last room the Museum director told the kids they could paint a sun.   I was thinking great our 4 year old of with a paint brush. We will all be covered.  He did very well painting. Jeff and I redirected him as soon as we saw an issue.  Hunter painted his sun with every color. Elliana used orange, red, and yellow.  Spencer panted his mainly blue but dots of other colors.  The director wanted Jeff and I to paint one as well.  So we spend 5 minutes in the actual museum and 30 minutes painting.  

Since we were so close to Old Riga we went to the Church of St. Peter. This church was build in the 1700's. It also has an observation tower. We got inside the church and went to see the top first.  All I saw was a flight of stairs.  I carried Elliana up to about the 4th floor where they finally had an elevator to take you the rest of the way up. I would never trust an elevator here. The one in our apartment building is broken half the time.  However the thought of carrying three kids all the way up did not sound good and I was already out of breath.  So we piled into the elevator and up we went.  We got to the top and it was freezing. Jeff ran around and took some pictures.  We headed right back down maybe 3 minutes later.  The kids were doing well so we walked around the church to see the graves, status, and read some history markers in English. It was beautiful.

It was getting around lunch tie so we stopped by a coffee house for a snack.  We wanted double coffee but they were closed and we ended up at Golden Coffee.  Coffee shops here in Latvia carry a full menu with some great food.  We have eaten lots of crepes here in Latvia so we pointed to the crepe section and picked three different one to share.  All the crepes we have had so far have been filled with meat or cheese, or vegetables. I ordered one once and got a mushroom stuffed one. Yuck.   Well this place apparently served dessert crepes. When the food showed up I said a bad word. Guess what one English word the kids wanted to say. You guessed it. I learned a very important lesson. Luckily we ignored it and they have not said it since. Our crepes had ice cream, caramel, chocolate, and whipping cream.  So our kids for lunch had dessert and a side of french fries. To top it off when we were leaving Hunter decided to grab the sugar container and drink straight sugar.  I got it away from him.  Jeff starts to laugh over our entire lunch experience. I pretend that I have been a parent longer then 2 weeks and run out of the coffee house with three kids.  So, I guess we are still learning on how to be a parents.

Last night when we were talking with the other American Family, they told us about a painter in Old Riga square.  We had been there before but never found the painter. Well he was there today!  We got the kids a painting for when they get older. The ones we bought before were prints.  These were actual painting of streets all over Riga. The painting are signed and the painter listed the street on the back of the painting. They were so beautiful that Jeff and I got two for ourselves to put in our dining room.  We got a very good price for them.  This was something I felt was very important. I hope the kids will be happy to have something special from their home place.

We came back home and the kids wanted to learn English. We did not even ask, they just wanted to.  Elliana did the alphabet and lower case too! That was her first time.  She did really well.  Spencer did his all in upper case.  Hunter worked on the letter cards.  We all went over colors afterwards. Jeff found a video on U-tube that did letters, numbers, and colors. The kids watched it and seem to like it.

The kids are really starting to settle in. This is the second day in a row that they are listening better and acting like kids.  I also think they understand some of the boundaries we have. Kids will always push and test their boundaries but we at least have a base established now. For every action we always have the exact same reaction. So the kids know what to expect when they do one thing or another. If we are out and they do something wrong, we do a 5 minute time in right there on the spot.  I don't care how many people look at me, it works. So we are very happy and hope things continue this way.






5 comments:

  1. I love the pictures!!!! Very European.. What a busy day and just think your family "suns" will always shine in Riga! We cannot wait to see all that the children have learned once in America. I love you all.
    Mom/Grammie C

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  2. Great pictures! Sounds like the kids are troopers! I know when you get home you are going to be tired.
    I wanted to ask so you had time to think about it. Plus, I didn't know if maybe you already had something planned with your family. Would you like to have people at the Airport with Balloons, signs, etc.. to welcome everyone or not? Just thought about it? Andrea

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    Replies
    1. We have talked about it. I am worried that with over a day worth of travel the kids will be really cranky. We get in on a Saturday afternoon. We might do something at home because the kids will sleep in the car. I will let you know.

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  3. Andrea, can you shoot me over your email to jeffholub@hotmail.com and I'll get you out a separate message? Thanks
    .

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