Museum of Life and Science

We spent our 4th full day in as many weeks at the museum today, and I am fairly confident we have now nearly seen everything they have to offer.  They just opened a new area, Hideaway Woods, complete with a series of connected treehouses, stream to play in and other cool outdoorsy stuff that we haven't even gotten a chance to fully explore.  Today we met the neighbors there, and we immediately headed to the treehouses.  We also met the neighbors there last week for the grand opening of Hideaway Woods, but it was drizzly and cold, and we missed out on exploring it as a group.  It turns out that was an even bigger bummer than I had initially thought, because I let Stephanie got to go up in the treehouses alone, and that turned into quite a story.  The entire area is secure, and if you orient yourself wisely, you can survey all of the exits.  Seemed like a great opportunity to give Stephanie some freedom to explore on her own, and Gwen and I waited at the bottom.  And waited.  And waited.  And Stephanie did not return.  So we waited while I didn't panic.  And I didn't panic.  And I didn't panic.  And then I asked another mom entering the treehouses to let me know if she saw her.  Several minutes later, and the report is no Stephanie.  You may wonder why I didn't go look for her, and I have a good reason.  I had a good view of the treehouse exits and the only exit to the area, and I was afraid that if I left my post, she would return to where our stroller was and panic that I wasn't there, and then leave the area when I didn't see her.  So, while not panicking, I walked to the exit, asked the folks there to keep an eye out for her, and then headed back in.  Then I ran into my soon to be buddy Nick, that I had gotten to spend about 20 minutes with earlier that day while he worked the car crash demo for a group of enthusiastic kids interested in seeing a dummy that was not properly buckled crash painfully into the front seat.  Another lady that worked there saw me and realized I was missing someone, and she stayed with me while Nick explored the treehouses looking for Stephanie.  A few minutes later, he called down that it was clear... She wasn't there.  And there was that panic that I had been holding back.  She called out a missing child alert, she and I started searching the area, and then Nick calls back a few (felt like 20, probably more like 2) minutes later... He has found her.  In the treehouses.  At the VERY TIPPY TOP... and scared to come down.  I have a great moment of relief, and then march myself and Gwen right up to the top, over rope bridges, net bridges and ladders.  I get to Stephanie, and we start to make our way down.  Only down is WAY harder than up because of the decline and the WET bridges, and I can barely do it carrying Gwen, much less Gwen and Steph, and I can't tell which of them is more opposed to having Nick carry them.  So I head bridge by bridge back with Gwen, and Stephanie has to go down each bridge alone (I actually lost a shoe, that Nick had to retrieve and return).  At one point, Stephanie is weeping and crossing the rope bridge (by far the worst crossing) alone, and a little girl on my side says, "She is so brave."  And she really was.  She got across, we went to the car to retrieve Buzzy Bee (and I had to resist breaking into shaky tears, as I had all of that adrenaline dump going on at this point), and then we headed back to Hideaway Woods.  We didn't do anymore of the big treehouses that day, but we took Gwen to her size treehouse area (where Stephanie played in such a kind and sweet way with Gwen... I think she was channeling her stress by focusing her attention helping her sister through her own wet bridge crossings), and then went back into the museum until they shut down for the day.  I had to (and continue to have to) remind myself that I did not actually lose Stephanie.  She was exactly where I thought she was.  But that didn't make that moment when I heard she wasn't in the treehouses any less scary. 
In the meantime, today was awesome!  She went back to the treehouses, crossed the same bridges with her friends, and played in the stream.  Gwen was the only baby stripped down to a diaper I saw in the stream, and she looks pretty proud of herself.  Stephanie and the neighbors had such a blast, and focused so hard on their games (princesses in the treehouses, making pie out of pine needles and rocks in the stream).  I am very grateful for our new home and the tiny community we are carving out here.  And here are the pictures of the day:

An area called "Into the Mist"

What Gwen was doing in the mist.