Where in the world have I been???

Wow, it's been a busy up at (an early time for me) every morning kind of week.

Monday was calm...so calm, I don't even remember what it was we did that day. Well, except for Gymnastics class...that I remember.

Tuesday we went to the Button Tour. This was kinda neat. First we saw a room where they showcase a lot of the buttons they carry and were told about the history of the company. The link sums up the the history for you. They do not make any buttons there (bummer!) they buy the buttons from manufacturers here and overseas and then package them to go to stores.

For those of you who sew and are annoyed (like I am) by buying buttons on those stupid cards with weird numbers of buttons on them... This company puts the buttons on the cards...either with the metal staples or by hand depending on the kind of button. The buttons come to them in a bag, they go through the bag to make sure all of them are in good shape and are uniform in size...then they package them and store them. Then they process the orders and ship them out.

We got to see their special scale that weighs the buttons and estimates how many buttons there are. A person counts out 100, then weighs them...then he puts the rest on the scale and the computer figures out how many there are total. very neat! He also gave the kids cookies.

Next we got to see the Museum which holds the button collection of the founder. She has a crown made of buttons and several button bracelets. Very cool to see all the different kinds of buttons, including some very expensive hand painted buttons.

At the end of the tour they have a gift shop of sorts where they sell their discontinued buttons...for a HUGE discount. If I ever need buttons for sewing, I'm going there first...they're not on the cards either. he he

Wednesday we went to the Denver Museum of Nature & Science to see two IMAX movies. First we got to see Dolphins. This was our favorite. After the movie we had lunch together and chatted a lot while the kids had fun watching coins go down the funnel. Then we split up because Darly wanted to see the Benjamin Franklin exhibit and the other kids wanted to see the Hall of Life. Then it was time for our second movie Africa the Serengeti which wasn't quite as interesting to us as the first one. I kept thinking... "Lion King" during the show. LOL! After the movie we split up again as now Darly wanted to see the Hall of Life and the other kids wanted to see the Ben Franklin. too funny. I was very suprised at how not busy the museum was...normally it is very crowded in there. We'll have to go back (we have a membership) to finish seeing the Ben Franklin exhibit as we were kinda rushed and the kid friendly parts were very busy. I don't know how but one of the volunteers there got Darly to actually interact...amazing. LOL

And then today we went to the Mizel Museum for their Rites of Passage presentation. A two-hour multicultural teaching experience that addresses universal life cycle events throughout the world, experiences of birth, coming of age and marriage. There are six cases representing cultures from Asia, African American, Jewish, Hispanic and more! These interactive activitiesare designed to accommodate both younger and older children and include costumes to try on and objects to inspect. There is also an art project at the end of the class representing one of the studied cultures. It was very cool to see how many cultures that seem so different have very similar rites of passage... like very similar birth rituals (the babies are all given a taste of honey or something sweet to ensure a sweet life) and death rituals (similar death shrouds). On the way home I talked to Darly about how our own rituals are similar...and similar to eachother in that a baby shower, bridal shower and graduation all have gifts to prepare for the next step. The craft that the kids made were paper chinese lanterns.

Tonight I still have to run out and get some info on Girl Scout camping for Darly and may have to pop in to Teacher's Night Out too. But tomorrow looks like it will be a day of rest...YAY.