The family that plays together...

On Sunday, we went to the Children's Museum to spend a fun afternoon out of the cold and snow. Grace and I had been there once before in Spring 2008 when she first came home and I was off from work for 10 weeks on "maternity" leave. So, we were due for a trip back. Since it was a snowy Sunday, I was pleasantly surprised that the museum wasn't crowded and we didn't have to wait to experience any of the exhibits.

I loved the grocery store where kids used miniature shopping carts to get all the items on their list or could pretend to be the check-out clerk who scanned the groceries and worked the cash register. Grace had fun doing both!

The "Splish Splash" exhibit is supposed to teach about the water cycle, but let's be honest, kids just love to play in water. They have raincoats to help stay somewhat dry during water play. Grace seemed to like collecting all the water animals that were in the huge sink. At one point she had a dolphin, a sting ray, a sea lion, a crab, and a whale in her possession!

The last time we were here 3 years ago, Grace was too small to really enjoy all the museum had to offer. She was able to stand and hold on but she certainly could not climb this 2-story structure. As she was climbing, Kyle and I were trying to decide what it was. I voted for raindrops falling from the clouds and he thought it might be fish caught in a net. Turns out, it is the water cycle, so my guess was closer to the designer's intention. Sorry, Kyle.

Probably the best part of the museum was "Sands of Egypt" which is a temporary exhibit. They brought in 70 tons of sand, pyramids, and a Sphynx to create an image of Egypt. Grace loved taking off her socks and boots and rolling up her pants to play in the sand and dig for treasure!

Unfortunately, she didn't find any or else we would be out of here and off to find our own REAL sandy beach!