The Children's Museum

Last weekend we decided to get out of the house for a bit on Saturday afternoon.  I've been wanting to take Mara to the Children's Museum downtown for awhile now but was just waiting till Josh was home so he could come with us.

The train display

After getting downtown we stopped into this great specialty taco restaurant.  I had eaten here a couple of times and wanted Josh to experience it.  They come up with the most unusual flavor combinations that just work.  I got a BBQ chicken taco and a spicy Thai beef.  Josh also got the Thai but tried the Korean Beef taco as well.

Trains say "Choo choo"

Getting a bird's eye view of the trains

Once lunch was consumed by all we headed over to the museum.  I didn't have too many expectations beforehand as I hadn't done much research into the place.  Overall it was ok.  We came at the same time as a birthday party so it was really busy.  Also I didn't expect it to be such a free for all.  Most kids ran around freely while parents trailed usually engrossed on their smart devices.

Mara warmed up after a few minutes and ended up really enjoying some of the exhibits.  She really liked the firehouse where you could climb up the stairs to the fire pole.  She also enjoyed "driving" the fire truck.

Playing with the eggs

Checking daddy out at the store

The farm set up was also one of her favorites.  Animals, especially farm animals, are a huge hit with Mara always.  She knows all the sounds they make and loves reading books about them.  At the museum there was a large cow you could milk.  She kept walking by it and saying, "moo" although she wouldn't get close enough to milk it.  She also really enjoyed a sound board that you could push buttons to hear different animal noises.  They also had this set up with a chicken where you could drop an egg in and see it roll out like the chicken had just laid it.  She really enjoyed that as right now she's at the stage where she enjoys putting objects in their places but it was hard with all the older kids around trying to do the same thing.

She had a full cart

What are the piggies doing mama?

The museum also had a grocery store display.  Although she wasn't really interested in the display itself, she did enjoy pushing the full carts around the building.  She took the carts into the courthouse and the bank.  She even stopped in at the dentist's office! :)

She loved this sound board

picking veggies in the garden

One of our favorite things at the museum was the model train display.  Twice a month a local group sets up their displays on the upper level of the building and patrons have the opportunity to check them out.  Mara loved watching the trains zoom around the tracks.  I think we stayed up there for almost 30 minutes as she was completely enthralled.

Grocery shopping

Taking a break from pushing the cart to brush some teeth

It's been fun now that Mara is getting to an age where she can really enjoy things like these.  We love taking her out and watching her experience these new things!