sunny days…
whew! illness has worked its way through our family this past week– first allie with a stomach bug, then mikey and me with a head cold/allergy combo (fun!), then we shared the head cold with allie, and now lauren with a fever and general malaise. amazingly, phil has remained mostly healthy in spite of all of us. usually, he’s always the one to be sick with his sleep-deprived, suppressed immune system. but now that i said it…
thankfully, we’re all about better and looking forward to fun days ahead. two birthdays down, three left to go! and phil’s vacation is two weeks away! woo!
before i recap my birthday, i wanted to write this entry first. a friend invited us to join them at a cute little museum in downtown hollywood last week. it was a traveling museum called sesame street presents: the human body. it was really small, but very well done and SUPER fun for my kids. i was hesitant to set out on my own with the three kiddos at first, especially to go all the way to hollywood, and then began to regret my decision when i got there, parked in the parking garage, got everyone out and into the building, but then couldn’t find my group or the little museum place, couldn’t get a hold of my friend, AND THEN REALIZED I LEFT MY WALLET SITTING ON THE STAIRS AT HOME!!! i went back and forth to the car, hoping the wallet would be in there the third time i checked, then ransacked my diaper bag a few times, nothing. no wallet. no money. unsure how i would exit the parking garage with about 47 cents in change i found in the car. poor mikey was so worried as i tried to hide my growing panic and frustration. i had to tell him that we might not get to go to the museum after all and just return home. i had managed to get up early that morning to gather and bring everything (snacks/drinks for kids, stroller for lauren, beco for lauren, fully stocked diaper bag, extra change of clothes for kids just in case, camera, cell phone, directions, wallet- we even managed to leave at the time i wanted to and got there early) EXCEPT i left my stinkin’ wallet behind. why oh why can i never get it all together?! especially in the presence of this certain friend who ALWAYS seems to have it together and has FOUR kids AND is always ON TIME or EARLY to appointments. yet, she is a very good friend who always manages to never rub in her togetherness. and insists she doesn’t always have it together either. yet all of us who know her, know otherwise.
anyway, my friend finally managed to get a hold of me on my cell phone (thank God i at least had that on me!), and graciously loaned me the money to get in the museum, buy lunch, and pay for parking (see! she had extra cash on her to spare!!). ok, that was a long story about one of my first ventures out with three kids on my own that wasn’t to the market or post office or someone’s house, but to something FUN and FAR AWAY, and see what happened? but like i said, it ended up being a GREAT time for the kids and hopefully the more times i attempt it, the easier it gets to remember to bring certain key items. but we shall see. i think i need a month to recover first. ha ha.
of course, i had to remember the outing with lots of pictures. they’re not great as it was indoors, kind of dark, and no i didn’t bring the external flash…
i told mikey that morning that we were going to sesame street for the day. he really believed me. if you were a little kid and saw all these realistic looking sets, wouldn’t you think you were really there too?
the kids loved, loved, loved shopping in hooper’s store. we stayed in there for almost the whole time we were in the museum.
mikey especially loved this little price scanner game.
this little girl is my friend’s oldest child, and she is SO KIND to allie. always including allie and helping her do stuff. i hope allie grows up to be this helpful and compassionate!
and here’s mikey selecting produce with one of his buddies (my friend’s youngest child- her kids are all 18 months apart or less. yeah, and she still makes it look so easy!)
time to check out!
we finally got to leave the store area to see the rest of the museum. and we even had a chance to sit on the steps with elmo, too! (allie was too scared to sit by giant elmo and refused to be in the picture).
we moved on to check out some of the body exhibits. mikey kept thinking something was going to shoot out of the exhibits, so he cautiously went up to push the button, but was all poised to make a run for it if needed.
some water mist DID shoot out of the nose exhibit, so i couldn’t get mikey to go try this one.
then it was time for lunch! in order to get mikey to leave without much fuss (he wasn’t ready to go yet because we got there late and he was totally enjoying himself), i promised we could return after eating. he was okay with this, especially since cheese pizza was being ordered for lunch (his favorite!).
mikey and his buddy patiently waiting for pizza.
mikey’s buddy then wanted me to take a picture of his panda bear. isn’t he SO cute? the bear too. 
as promised (though i was tempted to break that promise so that we could go home and avoid getting caught in traffic), we parted ways with our friends so they could go shopping while we returned to the museum. mikey wanted more time to play in super grover’s obstacle course.
allie, who wasn’t feeling the greatest this day, still managed to have a good time too.
getting to sit in elmo’s world and watch continuous elmo’s world episodes– does it get any better?
one of the walls in elmo’s world:
and look! dorothy was there too!
splashin’ around with ernie. a sink game appeared on the screen and if you touched the correct item, the screen would cheer and the lights (above mikey’s head) would flash.
sesame street was brought to you today by the letter ‘L’ and the number 3.
thanks sesame street for a great visit! see you next time! 
16 Comments
hongfamilia
you are such a brave mommy to take a trip with all three kids by yourself! i took the kids to disneyland by myself few weeks ago and it was sooo tiring! so hard. i’m hoping too, that it will get easier with practice. looks like everyone had a great time with elmo! (A got to go when they were in OC at the discovery science center)
mrsstellalee
that looks like so much fun! seriously, good job traveling with all three kids! we’ll see if i’ll ever be that brave. you handled yourself well with the stress of not bringing your wallet. i could just imagine how frustrated i would be and probably grumpy the whole time.
Starbukk35
i would have peed in my pants because i was so excited if there was something like that when i was young!michelle, don’t be so hard on yourself about not having everything together, everyone makes mistakes! you’re such a great mommy.
mtsai
@hongfamilia – wow, you tackled disneyland all by yourself?! major props to you. i don’t envision myself ever taking that one on! but now that you did it, would you do it again?
mtsai
@mrsstellalee – heh heh, thanks stella! i was pretty grumpy too though for a while there… but hey, the exhibit will be there until the third week of april i think, so you still have time to go before the baby gets here! one last hurrah?
mtsai
@Starbukk35 – hee hee, funny esther! but aww, thanks for your comment. and THANKS for the email about the upcoming fair at the aquarium. i think we can come check it out! but do you have any tips about parking? i think the last time we tried to get there, parking was crazy!
nitajan
It’s so hard isn’t it – trying to get out the door, particularly if you need to be somewhere at a particular time?! How your heart must have sank. I’m glad you have a good friend and that it worked out (thanks, God!).My place always looks like a hurricane hit it when I leave…and inevitably you forget something. Once I forgot all the food I had prepared for Simone (a friend was watching her while I went to work); a favorite of mine to forget is milk (I leave it in the fridge).
Kavedissian
wow michelle that looks so cute, i hope it comes to Denver…Love the little bit about brought you by the letter “L” and number “3”. I totally leave something behind when we go out on treks. I stress now that both kids like to go out and run everywhere. At least Lauren is still tiny and non mobile at the moment
mtsai
@nitajan – ha ha, glad i’m not the only one! man, sometimes i have to question whether or not my brain is functioning at all. i’ve now become so absent-minded that i leave/drop things without realizing it until i need them again (like my keys, or my WALLET!) then have to retrace my steps to find them. it drives phil crazy because usually he’s always been the one to misplace things. not good when we’re now both doing it! but then again, now he knows what i feel whenever we have to search for what he lost! ha ha.
mtsai
@Kavedissian – kate, i didn’t even notice that “L” and “3” would work for lauren herself! i actually meant “L” for loser (me!) and “3” meant the reason for my loserness! ha ha!
lschnell
Great job on getting out with all three kids! What a fun time and well worth it. For some reason I thought you were a pro at that already, though…like most other things you tackle. 🙂 Mikey cracks me up. It’s so like him to be ready to make a run for it!! LOL. Your friend sounds incredible…almost unreal. What a good resource for how to manage a crew of kids, though. I bet you get a lot of good tips from her!
HSookiC
i don’t know how you mommies of more than one kid do it! so brave!! that place looks way cool! i used to live in hollywood and can’t imagine a place like that there! the elmo’s world is something that mia would flip over. looks like a fun filled day~
Starbukk35
if there isn’t a lot of parking in the main parking lot right in front of the aquarium, there are big parking lots next to the big lifeguard station if you don’t mind a short walk by the beach. just drive towards the fishing pier. hope that helps!
joesee22
I only have Matthew and I’m know to leave the house w/out something all the time! And you have 3 kids…I think that’s pretty good. Matthew loves Elmo & Big Bird…gotta go check out this exhibit. We’re taking Matthew to the Sesame Street show in end of May at LA Lives. Not sure if you knew about that. You can find info at ticketmaster.com
joesee22
Question…can you buy the tickets at the exhibit? I see I can buy tickets online. I’m thinking of taking Matthew to see it this weekend. Thanks!
babymomof2
i want to go there…that place looks awesome…awww, always loving your pictures and hope everyone is on their way of getting better…BTW,. belated happy birthday…