Trip to Houston: Monday, August 1st: Children's Museum

On Monday morning, we took the kids to the Houston Children's Museum. This was an excellent museum. I think it was rated by Parent's Magazine the number one children's museum in the country and I would believe it. It had something for everyone in our family. They gave Jack a card--like a credit card-- that he could scan in different areas in the museum. He did a dance routine and then would place his hand on a bar and it would record his heart rate on his card. He also stood on a platform and it recorded his height and weight (39 lbs and 41 inches--not sure how accurate that really is--I think he weighs more like 42 lbs.). On the way out the door, you could get a print out of the card of all it's recordings.

After Jack tried out a few of the fitness things, we went upstairs because there was a toddler zone for kids up to 36 months. It was gated! I stayed with the girls while John took Jack downstairs to do more activities. The girls LOVED the play area. They hardly get a chance to run free and they took full advantage of it. There were ball pits, slides, Play-duh, puzzles, books, stairs, mats, and balls! They didn't want to leave for lunch when John and Jack came back upstairs at lunchtime. We did manage to get them out and after we fed the kids, John took the girls back up to the play area because Jack was SO excited to show me his credit card and money he earned working at the grocery store. The museum had a little city complete with a city hall, diner, grocery store, police and fire department, ATM machines, bank and vet store. Jack could work in the grocery store, earn a pay check, deposit it in the ATM and then he could withdraw money if he needed it. He did all this for me and then we went to the diner to eat lunch! Everything was so real--I was even amazed. This was the highlight of Jack's trip and he thought we were going back there again during the rest of our stay in Houston.

Girls playing in ball pit

Anna

Kate

Kate in mid-jump!

Kate

On the way to the city, Jack stopped to place a phone call--another favorite thing for him these days--play with phones!

He also wanted to get in this car and pretend he was driving. I swear he thinks he is an adult.

Trying to reach the pedals

Kidtropolis

I love this picture because he is literally jumping with shear joy in anticipation of showing me the grocery store.

The scanner really worked. The item would show up on his computer screen and the price too.

Jack had to pick up a few things, too.

Depositing his paycheck

At the diner. This boy was taking Jack's order. He was very professional :)

Driving the ambulance

Jack said, "Mom, can I save him for a few minutes?"

John and the girls

I love Kate's face in this picture. Pure excitement.