Explorium

I tried to make the most of our time in the city home, because we were close to lots of things that'll never be that convenient again. Our days were running out, so when we woke up on July 3 and saw that it was too cold and overcast to go swimming, we changed our plans and took off for the children's museum. Really, when is it so convenient that you can plan to go there on the spur of the moment? And when is it cold on July 3? What a weird summer!

We made it to the museum, this country girl finding her way into the parking garage and all, by shortly after 10:00. The kids loved it, and after shelling out $16 to get in I was happy to let them play at their own pace! People started pouring in after our first potty break, but it didn't matter because everyone just flew by us.

The first play area is a river with boats and houses you can place and one lock you can manipulate. It involved water, so the kids played there a long time.

Next there was a series of horse exhibits. Here Cora is trying to see how much horsepower she has. Not much! Despite the tantrum, she can't get the weight to budge. I think she spent the first half of the morning with tears on her face. She's intense. Volatile.

This boat was a hit. It was their house, and the barrels were full of candy and pink lemonade.
Great puppet show! (not really)


Now they're being eaten by a giant monster. I could not tear them away from here to go to lunch! I thought they'd be so excited - we had not gone out to eat for lunch in 5 1/2 weeks, which is a record for us. Especially staying in the city! The plan was to walk on the pedway to the civic center for lunch, but I had a horrible time convincing them that we would not have to get in the car, and we would be coming back. Many tears were shed. Then we had to walk through the gift shop area. We like to never got out of there!

Once in the civic center, Cora put on a cute little show. We had to go downstairs to go to the restaurant, but I was wearing a really long dress and couldn't hold my dress up a little and hold both their hands on the escalator without falling over, so we wanted to take the steps. But there were mirrors lining the sides of the steps, so Cora kept saying she wanted to go down on the other side of the steps. That was actually an up escalator and I couldn't convince her she was just seeing a reflection. It took about 5 minutes to get her down the stairs, and all the passersby that she was so funny. That's how everything was that day...moderately cute but taking way too long!

After lunch we went straight to the art room. Look how awesome it is! We spent an hour and a half in there. Lots of kids came and went, but it really wasn't too crowded most of the time. There was an artist there to assist us and classical music playing. It was so fun! There was every type of medium you can think of!
It was date night for Eric and I so we had to leave at 3:00 because Daddy was going to be home at 4:00. We spent nearly 5 hours there and never even made it to the second floor! I was worn out, but ready for our awesome date to the finest steakhouse in town (#6 in the nation, I think) and to go shopping for Cora's present. It was a fun-filled day, but my goodness it wore me out!