Museum Memories...

We had a rare opportunity today to spend a Friday afternoon as a family.  Mommy left work early, due to a furlough half day, so we decided to use the time as an opportunity instead of a burden. We had a great time on a special excursion. When Mommy got home from work we loaded the van and headed out on the town. As we were driving to our destination we got a call from Grammy saying that she had the ticket we needed and that she would meet us downtown.  Daddy drove us to downtown Olympia and got us all unloaded.  We were so excited to go in this big building called the "Hands on Childrens Museum" in Olympia. Ethan was a little tentative about this place, but we convinced him that it would be fun and he eventually warmed up to the idea. Us girls just jumped right into the whole experience! We saw so many things! This place was HUGE!

We started on the bottom floor where we saw a big boat we could climb on! Under the boat was a neat tunnel we could go through and see sea creatures like starfish and jellyfish.  Melissa was the only one who was brave enough for the tunnel.  It was dark in there! After the boat we found a water table, bigger than we've ever seen before! With all that moving water and boats to play with we really can't wait now for Daddy to build our water table at home! We continued to wander downstairs and discovered a firetruck, ambulance and even a police car we could sit in, complete with lights and sirens! We then discovered a little doctors office complete with baby bassinets like the one Ethan was in for a day when we got transferred rooms in the NICU! We let Mommy stick Ethan in it to see how much bigger we are now! We got to sit in a dentist chair and play with giant toothbrushes! We wandered around a few more places downstairs when we realized there was an upstairs too! Up the elevator we went!

Upstairs was even more magnificent than downstairs! There were even more exhibits to see up there! The areas up on this floor were even designed for kids our age! We discovered a really neat bean table that was in the shape of a boat that Katelynn really loved to explore and play in! There was a slide that was just our size and speed too! It looked like a tree house slide! Ethan conquered lots of fears on that slide! Melissa's favorite area was the oyster shell ball pit! There weren't too many balls to get lost in, but there were just enough to throw! Melissa also realized that climbing in and out of the oyster shell was easy and fun!  In the oyster shell we met some other little people our size! We had fun playing with them for a little while! We don't get to play with others our size very often, so any chance we get is really a treat!

The museum adventure was such a blast! We can't wait to go back and play again! It's such a big place that we didn't get to see everything this time, so we'll get to see new things next time!