Children's Museum

There's a pretty nice little children's museum near us that we went to twice this past summer (thank you, Groupon!) It's a bit of a drive, but the kids love it there! And you'll see why...

Ruth LOVES the fish tank. Ok, Ruth LOVES ANY fish tank!

There's cool turtles and baby crocodiles in this one! 

Outside is an awesome water table that is a magnet for any child.

There's all kinds of things to play with there, and its nice to play in on hot days!

Also outside is a new climbing area. 

Nathan was the only one interested in climbing to the top. 

Ruth was too interested in the musical drums and different xylophones outside.

And Faith found her inner engineer, and wanted to build things with the giant foam blocks. We needed Daddy there, because my brain couldn't think of a single thing to build. Daddy would have loved this exhibit.

Inside is a mini grocery store - always a kid favorite!

The kids were bakers, shoppers, cashiers, etc.

And Ruth stocked up on canned goods. I guess she was planning to stay there for a long time ;)

Recently the older kids are fascinated by space. 

So the rocket & outer space exhibit was a favorite! 

We took a couple trips to the moon on one visit. 

There's a whole medical exhibit with an ambulance, doctor's office and hospital nursery.

The girls loved playing doctor, while Nathan was usually off playing at the huge train table.

Maybe they're practicing in hopes for a baby sister/brother? 

Or cousins??? Yes! cousins!

There's a little house with toddler sized furniture, a big kitchen and a dress up closet. This was Faith's favorite exhibit when she was Ruth's age. And now, it's Ruth's favorite!

Ruth sat in all the chairs, to be sure they all worked well. 

And spent some time dancing to the music on the radio.

And, last, but certainly not least, Nathan's new favorite exhibit?

It's in the health exhibit and he calls it "Game Over"

It's a huge board that you walk, run & jump on to interact with the computer in learning activities & games. It doesn't audibly talk to you as you select a game to play (here they're playing Squash the Bugs - moving lights are "bugs"). But when the game is done, it says, "Game Over" out loud. So Nathan thinks that's what it's called - "Game Over". ha ha  He asked to go play Game Over multiple times on our last visit. hehe

We had a great time during our two summer visits. I wish it were closer to our house. But we'll be back again, surely there will be more Groupons to bribe us in the future ;)