Mercer's new favorite song

An afternoon at the theater

Mercer's teacher organized a nice Sunday trip to the Emelin Theater in Mamaroneck, NY to see a black light puppet performance showcasing three of Eric Carle's famous stories. All of Mercer's school friends were there and everyone seemed to enjoy the show very much. The puppets were whimsical and the the stories were executed perfectly for the audience.

Since photography was prohibited during the show, here are some images straight from the website of the Mermaid Theatre, the company who produced the play:



After the show, the performers took some questions and demonstrated how some of the puppetry worked.



Mercer, Emma, and Shaina goofed around in the lobby after. Boundless energy.

Juliana's birthday party

Mercer's friend Juliana turned one earlier this week and her parents put on a fun party to celebrate. As we pulled up to Sportime USA, Mercer was half an hour deep into a nap. We waited a little while but had to wake him up or else he'd miss the whole party. This caused some timidness on Mercer's part to join in on the festivities. There were bumper cars, carnival rides, and a big 2-story "adventure zone": a 2-level jungle gym filled with slides, climbing mazes, and ball pit. Mercer wanted none of it. But after a hot dog and some fruit, Mercer played arcade games, skee-ball, and a ton of air hockey; he even drew blood during one match. We had a fun time, though I wish we could have gotten a photo of Mercer and the birthday girl together. Guess Dad was too concerned with beating Juliana's mom in air hockey (7-5, for the record). Happy birthday to Juliana!

Mercer gets a haircut.

It's been a good while since Mercer got a haircut. He's been having to hold his hair out of his eyes for weeks now. He just looks so good with long hair. Oh well, he still looks good. And just in time for a big weekend: Julianna's birthday party and a Sunday matinee at the theater.

Mercer's school friends

Mercer gets along particularly well with two girls at school - Emma (middle) and Shaina. All three have been together in school since infants.

Mercer visits the Please Touch Museum

Mercer, Mom, Pop, and Grandpa all piled into the car on Saturday morning and braved the boredom that is Route 70 to visit the Please Touch Museum in Philadelphia.

Housed in the magnificent Memorial Hall, the Please Touch Museum is a perfect destination for kids from 1 - 5 years old. There are lots of exhibits to keep the kids busy and while the admission fee is steep ($15/person), we were there for about 2 and a half hours without blinking an eye. Despite his apprehensions about visiting a "museum," Mercer loved it and we'll be there again.

The building itself underwent an 85 million (!) dollar restoration in 2005 and in the past has served as an exhibition headquarters for the 1876 Centennial, a college, a police station, and as the final viewing location for Phillies legend Richie Ashburn. Amazing.

Part of the main lobby.

Mercer using the crane in the SEPTA exhibit.

Driving a SEPTA bus.

Putting together a race car.

A snack vendor at the local park.

Exploring physics and air flow in the science wing.

Punching in for a day's work at the construction site.


Checking out Mommy and Grandpa's x-rays.


Explaining to Mommy that she has "weak bones."

Interesting technique. Not sure we've seen this bandaging style in any medical journals.

Time to go food shopping after putting in a double shift at the construction site and doctor's office.

Oh, there's also a carousel.

Water play to round out the morning.

Mercer goes bowling

Mercer helped Aunt Vicki raise money for Ocean County, NJ ARC by participating in their 2nd Annual Bowl-a-thon on Friday night. (You can still donate to ARC via their website; next year we'll try to get a team together.) It was Mercer's first time bowling and he did alright. No bumpers, so most of his underhanded throws went into the gutter, but the effort was definitely there.







Mercer even challenged Dad to some air hockey. He was feeling cocky after beating Grandpa and barely losing to Mom. For the record, Dad trounced him 7-2, though that 7th goal shouldn't have counted. I sense a mini-air hockey table in our future.

Mercer's imagination is starting to run wild.

Mercer has always demonstrated an interesting imagination. Here he is with his prized collection of Imaginext toys. With these (robots, aliens, superheroes, vehicles, etc.), Mercer creates settings, dialogue, action, and incorporates all of his surroundings to generate some pretty impressive play sessions. He uses different voices when acting with the little action figures and even incorporates outside toys (Matchbox cars, blocks) into his worlds. It's good fun to watch but whenever we're invited to play along or try to insert ourselves into his play sessions, we wind up doing something totally wrong, like press a wrong button on a robot or capture a bad guy who is really a good guy. I'm afraid that by the time we've figured out the rules, Mercer will be on to something more interesting.