A Night Day at the Museum

On Thursday, I packed the kids up, told them we were going on another adventure and headed out. I kept our destination a surprise, which was pure torture for Sam. He kept trying to guess where we were going. The park? The mall? Chuck E Cheese's? A birthday party? The zoo? He was so sure that each and every guess was "it" too. Fortunately it wasn't a long drive and we arrived at our destination. The Children's Museum.

The museum had just had their Grand Opening after moving to a new location and being revamped and it was really cool.

This water gun area was fun, except for the kid next to us that kept aiming his water stream directly into Sam's, causing it to spray water all over us. No amount of glaring at him or redirecting Sam's water got the point across to him. Finally we just walked away. Brat.

Zoë loved this little playhouse. It had dollies in it and a crib, into which she very lovingly tucked the babies for a nap. (Note to self: Zoë must have a playhouse when we get out to our property.)


This was a really cool crane that all the boys loved. It had controls that made the arm swing back and forth (slowly), and a winch that raised and lowered to the ground. It had a hook on it where the kids could hook on burlap sacks and crates to move around.


There also was a coloring/craft area, so we spent a little time doing some coloring. I love watching Sam concentrate when he's writing and coloring. That little tongue sticking out cracks me up.

This was probably Zoë's favorite area. It was a produce stand, with bins full of plastic food, along with a cash register. She played here for quite awhile, filling up her basket with food, then dumping it back in the bins and starting over. Sam joined in and eventually a game of "restaurant" evolved with another little girl who was playing there too. I was ready to go home long before they were, but I couldn't bear to make them leave. They were playing so nicely and having so much fun that I just let 'em.

I remember as a little girl, probably about the same age as Zoë, going to a place similar that had a play kitchen area with empty spice tins, jars, cereal boxes, etc. I thought that was the coolest thing ever. I've asked my mom about it and it was a preschool of sorts that I very briefly attended when she had to take a part-time job when my Dad got laid off of his job. Or something like that.

Anyway, my point is that I have great memories of playing in places like this and being able to use my imagination. And I want the same for my kids.

It was a really fun day. I love watching my kids play and pretend and learn. And altogether too quickly Sam's Spring Break flew by and now he's back to school. I actually really enjoyed having him home for the week and going on our adventures. So now I'll count the days until summer, when he's out of school, the weather's nice and we can play, play, play!