Friday, September 13, 2013

Tuesday Adventure

Ever notice, just when you think you're going to enjoy a day off, with absolutely nothing on the docket, a wonderful opportunity presents itself, and you just can't resist?  Yeah, me too.  My friend Melissa found herself with some energetic yahoos on Tuesday morning, and she wrote and asked if I wanted to run into the Children's Museum.  Sure.  I don't have a lot of energy lately, but I thought we could hop into the new Playscape area.  They've been doing some revamping, and I'd love to check it out, and you know, avoid the crowds.  ;) 

But things have been changing at the Museum since I went last.  


There's a giant Egyptian statue in the parking garage.  I mean huge.  Sam's about the size of one ear.  Turns out it's Anubis, god of embalming and the dead.  No I didn't know that off the top of my head.  I had to look it up.  Still it's cool.  


See how tiny the boys were next to this giant statue! 


I just had to post this little video snippet of Sam and Alex running through the lobby.  Sam runs like a nut.  Before I broke the camera out, both of them were running the same way.   

Rather mind boggling actually, how many things have changed.  It had been some time since I'd made it into the museum, Christmas maybe, to see Santa, then once in July, to see the Avatar exhibit and the glass sculpture.  I don't have much energy to do much.  But at the beginning of this month they opened up Playscape, a special area for babies and preschoolers that's been closed for most of the year.  And we went straight there as soon as we got in.  Only since Jacob had slept for the drive, and awakened upon arrival, by the time we got upstairs, he was screaming.  He needed to be changed and fed.  So took one look at the awesomeness of Playscape, let Sam go under Melissa's watchful eye, and dashed to the bathrooms.  


And Zowie!  How excited I was.  The family bathroom had a Sam-size potty, a spacious changing table, with a protective bar so I could be and Jake didn't fall out.  My favorite was the beautiful green/teal/blue glass accent tiles on the walls.  I want glass tiles.  I've admired them in the new Riley Simon Tower, but I loved them in this bathroom.  Wouldn't it be great - All over this house, I want glass tiles - the kitchen and bathrooms would look So Gorgeous with them! 
 And then...we went into the Nursing Nest.  They have 3/4 tiny rooms with a sliding door to sit in to nurse.  There was a glider, footrest, one of those toy bead boxes and books on the floor if I'd brought a brother in and a flat screen TV on the wall (that's nicer than any of my TVs!) showing some Sesame Street.  Jake was so content to watch Elmo.   He would have been perfectly happy if we'd just stayed in there.  Me too.  It was cool, in both temperature and temperament.


But we went back out to the Playscape to see the yahoos play.  


There were a Music Room - I have to bring my mother in law, she'd love it, they had some really neat percussion things to play.  The boys got a big kick out of this marimba.  


We even managed to get all our kids on it, rather than dashing around, (and some extras).  
Melissa grabbed Jake and brought him over too.


Melissa decided Jake needed to get his music in too! I guess 4 months is Time for a little boy to learn his instruments!   Don't worry, he'll be starting Kindermusik as soon as he can sit up. 


A lot of the theme of the Playscape area is focused on nature.  There was a water filled creek to splash in, and this climbing area was made to look like leaves on a tree.  This is Della in front right, her brother Alex in front of her, and Sam is on his hands and knees crawling down on the left. 


Then Sam found the sandboxes.  


I love that they've knocked out some walls and put in windows.  Probably my favorite change over all.  It's a much more open floorplan so I can see the yahoos play where ever they be, and there's still only 1 entrance.  They still have a person camped out there so there are no escapees, that was always an issue with Chris.  With Sam, it's easier.  He was happy with sand.  


This was my favorite shot of the day, with the light playing off Sam's hands and the sand.  

But it seemed we weren't the only ones wanting to see the new Playscape, it got real crowded real fast.  So we didn't dilly dally for long down there, and Sam had requested the Carousel.  So we went upstairs to let the kids ride the Merry-go-round.  Melissa volunteered to take the 3 yahoos on the Carousel, while I sat and rested.  Turns out that pushing a stroller up 4 floors of ramps is about all I could do.   But there's M in blue, with Sam on the middle horse next to her.


He really has a great time up in this exhibit.  His favorites are the Tree House and the Carousel, both of which he did a few times before we hit the road.  


Doing the Children's Museum was still rather exhausting for me, but it was so great to visit it with our friends.  
We are thinking these Tuesday Adventures may become a regular thing. 

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