Rainy Day Fun

Anyone that knows me, knows I'm not great with messy activities or spur of the minute plans. Despite that sometimes unfortunate characteristic, I was struck with the idea of setting the girls free to enjoy the rain after a very successful trip to the dentist with both of them. We pulled into the garage and the girls jumped out of the car and started to head inside like always. I asked them to stop and look at the rain and then suggested maybe they'd like to play in it. They were shocked, to say the least. After they realized I was serious they beamed from ear to ear and bolted into the downpour. Watching them enjoy such a simple thing like playing in the rain made me feel guilty. There's no reason I can't be spontaneous and let them enjoy moments like that. They had a blast and I loved watching them experience something new.

Despite the warm weather, the girls were chilled to the bone by the time they were done. We came inside and took a warm afternoon bath and had a hot lunch. It was a great way to pass the time on a rainy day!

Who knew?

Many times we have passed Cabellas on the way to visit my uncle. Everytime I found a reason not to extend our trip by going into what I thought was just a glorified sporting goods store. This trip dad tried to get us to take the girls in yet again, but after a two hour lunch we just wanted to get back on the road.

On the trip home the girls were getting restless and bathroom breaks were needed for everyone. Since we were close to Cabellas we decided we'd make a quick stop and check it out so everyone could stretch their legs. We went in with very low expectations and boy were we surprised with what we found. From the HUGE built in aquariums to the incredible wildlife displays we were not disappointed.

The girls thoroughly enjoyed every minute. I called dad after we left to apologize for putting off going inside for so many years. At least we know better next time!

Pittsburgh Children's Museum

Thursday was the only day that Rob had work commitments and I decided it would be the perfect opportunity to take the girls to the Children’s museum. Based on what I had read it seemed there would be no problem entertaining them for the day. We had a little trouble finding it on our own. but with only a few wrong turns, we made it!

The museum was amazing! We walked in and immediately saw a Bob the Builder display advertising a visiting exhibit. Behind it was the first room we visited and it was modeled after Mister Rodger's Neighborhood. The front porch swing, the closet and trademark sweater, the trolley, and the castle were all part of the activities for the kids to experience. Additionally there was a cool climbing structure maze thing that the kids thought was great.





From there we went to the attic. We played with mirrors that made the girls look short and tall and they thought it was hilarious. We captured shadows on a wall using strobe lights, created ghosts via a special effects setup, and experienced a zero gravity feeling in a crazy slanted room that made all of us a little nauseous.

Next we were off to the workshop. There were tons of tools and gadgets to play with along with a mini cooper the kids could climb in. There was also a platform the kids climbed to via a LONG rope ladder and once up top they could launch their own parachute people and slide down a cool twisty slide.
If that wasn't enough, we then headed to Bob the Builder where Lauryl climbed on every character activity, they did a tools puzzle, and they carried toolboxes as big as them and pretended to fix a sink.



I figured we were quickly running out of things to do, but we still had an art activity area to visit, an outside area with a swing, tree house, and sandbox, a whole floor dedicated to preschoolers (bird seed, sand, aquarium, toys), AND an entire floor that housed their massive interactive water play area (actually had water shooting out of the floor- note to self, should've brought spare clothes!).






After a fantastic day of playing we headed for the hotel and I got more lost than I've ever been in my WHOLE life! I don't have any pictures to commemorate my frustration, but I can say that Kendyl got so upset that she started crying and proclaimed that she was "scared she was never going to see her daddy again". Poor thing. Rob says he's getting me a Garmin, if anyone needs one it's me!

Kennywood

Based on recommendations from friends, we were told that Kennywood was a must see hot spot for kids. We decided to go despite a less than stellar forecast and lucked out with a perfect day. This is a kiddie friendly amusement park, perfect for the less than 46” inch subset of the population. They basically have a kiddie version of pretty much any adult ride you can imagine. The girls, did swings, a dumbo ride, airplanes, helicopters, a Ferris wheel, a roller coaster, a miniature carousel, and a whiplash like turtle ride. I got in on the fun and did a pretty crazy kiddie pirate ship ride, and the both Rob and I joined them for race cars and a train ride. We walked around and checked out the rest of the amusement park, but with two parents that don’t care for rides that go in circles, there simply weren’t a lot of options left. I’d say this was the perfect place to see how the kids reacted to amusement park rides. The lack of crowds, the non-existent lines, and the relatively compact park were perfect for a first exposure.

Turtle Chase

Our Happy Girl

Our daredevil

Riding the Roller Coaster

A Pint-Sized Carousel

The Ferris Wheel

Classic Dumbo Ride

Riding the Helicopter

Showing Off Hard Earned Prizes

A Fun Family Outing

I’m seeing a possible Kings Island trip in our future!!!!

Carnegie Science Center

After reading all the reviews and checking out the website for the Science Center, we went in with pretty high expectations. We were not disappointed because this place was AMAZING!!!! It made me sad to see what COSI could be and doesn’t come close to achieving. At least not new COSI, and since I see old COSI through childhood eyes it’s hard to compare. The first floor boasted an amazing interactive area examining gravity, earthquakes, tornadoes, hurricanes, and more. We played in a wind tunnel, built and flew paper airplanes, dined in an Earthquake cafe, captured shadows on a special wall, and played with an echo tube.

After leaving there we checked out a few interactive rides that Kendyl wouldn’t try but looked really fun. There was a flight simulator like the roller coaster ride that used to be at Game Works at Easton, a harnessed trampoline jump, and a zero gravity spinning circles ride that reminded me of Space Camp!

Then we decided to head outside and check out the submarine!!! This was such a neat experience for the kids (and even us adults). It was eye-opening to see how tight and cramped the quarters were and how everything was divided up. I can’t imagine doing a tour of duty on one of those, since I felt seriously claustrophobic after 30 short minutes on board! The view from the seaboard was amazing. We could clearly see Three Points Park, the place where all three rivers in the area converge.

After enjoying the fresh air, it was back inside and up to second floor to see the miniature trains and robots. The trains were UNBELIEVABLE. The level of detail was incomprehensible. The model scenes looked so real and the animations to all the people and things made it so much fun to look at. One of the volunteers told me that it took 50 people (14 of them expert train modelers, the rest volunteers) an ENTIRE year at full time hours to finish it. Looking at all the detail it is easy to believe that is true. Lauryl's favorite animation was the "outside house" (aka the outhouse!)!

Just outside the door to the trains was the visiting robot exhibit. There was a robotic machine programmed to shoot a basketball and a scoreboard detailing how much better it was then the humans attempting baskets in an adjacent setup. Rob got to see R2-D2 and C3PO, and the girls got to explore lots of interactive robotic attractions.

Then we were off to watch the girls first ever IMAX movie-Under the Sea. It was narrated by Jim Carey and was an in depth look at life on the ocean floor. The overwhelming experience held their attention for awhile, but by the end they were ready to go do some more exploring. They both kept asking us if they were moving, and Rob watched through closed eyes;-)

We saved the aquarium and the kids area for the afternoon. The aquarium was interesting, but not extraordinary. The kids area on the other hand was a ton of fun. There was water play, an area with balls that the kids could shoot and catch and play around with, there were building blocks, a huge bridge overlooking the whole area where the kids could climb up to observe everything, a tree house puppet theater, an animal area with a turtle and a lizard, and a classroom type area where adults could help kids pretend to be different kinds of scientists.

I can’t rave about this place enough. 100% worth the drive from Columbus to experience it!