It was the moment we’d been waiting for. Ever since we had the disastrous sleeping debacle that was Christmas 2015, we have been crossing our fingers for a rematch. We begged them for one more chance before banning us for life!
Babies vs. Oma & Opa’s house! Who would win?
You may recall, we implemented a few changes to our sleeping strategy almost as a direct result of that sleepless visit.
Time to put them to the test.
We drove back down to North Carolina to spend some (more restful, hopefully) time with Oma & Opa. We felt awful that they had to deal with night after night of sleepless nighttime babies, which led to cranky daytime babies. The duo was sat such a fun age, we wanted Oma and Opa to get to see the happy times, and be smothered in hugs and kisses!
That should say 15 months!
Things started out well, and we made fantastic time on the trip down. We were certainly becoming experts on the trek down I-95. With an early arrival, we just let the duo play a bit with their toys. In addition to the toys that Oma brings out for them to play with, we always bring a couple of their favorites, in an effort to help the transition.
Reading a story to baby
This trip, we brought their baby, as both of them had shown her a little extra love lately. While in NC, Z became very attached. She was adorable, sitting down to read her baby a story. G was happy to see the Turtle who sang and danced to ‘Puttin’ on the Ritz’ was still in good working condition. He just loves to press the foot, and dance along. You’d better be dancing, too!
Also- the cozy coupe. Big hit!
One highlight of our trip was a visit to Marbles Kids Museum. Marbles is located in Raleigh, NC. Admission is $5 per person, with members and guests under the age of 1 playing free. We happened to visit while they had a mobile dentist parked outside, giving free dental exams. We had been planning to bring the kids in for a dental exam, but hadn’t settled on a practice, yet, so we figured it wouldn’t hurt! They didn’t seem to excited about the idea, but quickly recovered from the experience. We left the dentist with a few free dental tools, such as floss, and toothbrushes. Inside the museum we found a room full of learning activities about dental health, and more free dental equipment. It was just a bit over their head, but plenty of kids seemed to be really enjoying it.
We were there for a few hours, but we never made it past the first floor. Our first stop was the toddler play room. It was full of ramps, soft padded steps, doors, and things to climb on, or through. In other words, it was Toddler Heaven.
We had to tear them away from the room to explore the rest of the museum. They loved the play areas set up right outside that room, including the doctor’s office, the veterinarian’s area, the emergency vehicles, and don’t forget the farm/grocery area.
We found a zone set up like a classroom, as well, but we didn’t last long there. A little girl was building with the blocks, and the duo just couldn’t fight the urge to knock it down.
Next, we made our way to the submarine and pirate ship. They loved this area, even if we didn’t let them get too wet! There was a cloth swing set up inside the pirate ship, and they alternated taking a load off.
Our last stop was to the gift shop, where we found something to snack on. I’m a sucker for a good gift shop filled with learning toys. This gift shop was certainly no disappointment.
We had a blast at Marbles, and our approval goes far beyond the reasonable pricing! Next time, we hope to check out the rest of the museum!
Now that I’ve kept you in suspense, I’ll let you in on the final results.
Oma and Opa have lifted the lifetime ban, and I’m fairly certain they truly enjoyed having the duo smiling and giggling throughout the house.
We turned up the charm!