Today, similar to the previous five days, the high was forecast to be a whopping 22. Yikes. Not much to do outside, so today seemed like the perfect day to take Bode to the Boonshoft Museum, which is basically a kid's museum with lots of things to interest them (little animals, cool displays, etc.) A big bonus is there is also a large play area--well, honestly the whole museum is one big play area--so the kiddos run around and tire themselves out (which is item one on the parental hidden agenda). It opens at 9 am; we pulled into the parking lot at 9:07 and were the second car there. Thus, we had the place to ourselves for a little while. First up was the sandbox...but the great thing is, it's not really sand. It's actually ground up bits of rubber (probably from old tires), so it doesn't stick to you or get in your clothes. The drawback is you can't really build large sand castles because there isn't much adhesion. However, Bode was thrilled to sit, dig, and discover the bones buried underneath.
Here's a shot of me and kid cleaning off what appears to the leg bone from a dinosaur from the Mesozoic era (or it could be a piece of hard plastic shaped as such...)
After some time in the sand, err, rubber-pit, we moved on to the water works. This is simply A-W-E-S-O-M-E. I probably have as much fun as Bode. It's basically just some flowing water that is funneled into different sprinkler-type fixtures. The one shown below makes that cool umbrella pattern that Bode loves to put his hands in and splash around.
What's even cooler is you can build little water highways with some plastic pipes and bends. Here I am directing the water flow towards Bode.
Finally, here's a picture of Bode splashing around. Words cannot describe how much he likes this. Since we arrive early, we get this whole place to ourselves. Later in the day, it is literally packed with kids and father's like me that enjoy constructing water towers.
There is a small Lego-area. Nothing too exciting, although they do have some cool Lego-creations. Bode was more interested in jumping into the tub of Legoes.
There's this cool room that has a big sphere in the middle. The sphere is like a TV screen. This morning, the "movie" playing was about the planet Jupiter, so the ball took on some cool colors and looked just like the solar system's largest planet (yes, I was paying attention to the narration).
There is also a small zoo, but it's all little animals. Below is a woodchuck (groundhog) eating some lettuce. I made sure to inform the little rodent that we do not want six more weeks of winter. Notice that there are no pictures of the giant Burmese python...heaven forbid Bode ever want to become a herpetologist.
There are also little rooms focusing on various parts of every day life. There's a mock courtroom, a dry-goods store, a land-fill, and a recycling center. Bode really likes the garbage truck. It had some cool lights and a horn, and he could put fake trash in the slots on the side, which would then be dumped out the back. Endless entertainment :-)
There is also a huge play area, with large and small slides, climbing nets, and other items designed to fatigue the little ones. Here's a shot of Mommy and Bode in a tunnel. The bad thing about this tunnel was the lack of padding...Mommy was feeling her age when she crawled out.
We spent a solid two hours at the Boonshoft Museum. By then, Bode was tired, and the parking lot was full. We bought a year membership, so if the groundhog does see his shadow, you know where we will be for the next six Saturdays :-) Pleasant day to all.
Here's a shot of me and kid cleaning off what appears to the leg bone from a dinosaur from the Mesozoic era (or it could be a piece of hard plastic shaped as such...)
After some time in the sand, err, rubber-pit, we moved on to the water works. This is simply A-W-E-S-O-M-E. I probably have as much fun as Bode. It's basically just some flowing water that is funneled into different sprinkler-type fixtures. The one shown below makes that cool umbrella pattern that Bode loves to put his hands in and splash around.
What's even cooler is you can build little water highways with some plastic pipes and bends. Here I am directing the water flow towards Bode.
Finally, here's a picture of Bode splashing around. Words cannot describe how much he likes this. Since we arrive early, we get this whole place to ourselves. Later in the day, it is literally packed with kids and father's like me that enjoy constructing water towers.
There is a small Lego-area. Nothing too exciting, although they do have some cool Lego-creations. Bode was more interested in jumping into the tub of Legoes.
There's this cool room that has a big sphere in the middle. The sphere is like a TV screen. This morning, the "movie" playing was about the planet Jupiter, so the ball took on some cool colors and looked just like the solar system's largest planet (yes, I was paying attention to the narration).
There is also a small zoo, but it's all little animals. Below is a woodchuck (groundhog) eating some lettuce. I made sure to inform the little rodent that we do not want six more weeks of winter. Notice that there are no pictures of the giant Burmese python...heaven forbid Bode ever want to become a herpetologist.
There are also little rooms focusing on various parts of every day life. There's a mock courtroom, a dry-goods store, a land-fill, and a recycling center. Bode really likes the garbage truck. It had some cool lights and a horn, and he could put fake trash in the slots on the side, which would then be dumped out the back. Endless entertainment :-)
There is also a huge play area, with large and small slides, climbing nets, and other items designed to fatigue the little ones. Here's a shot of Mommy and Bode in a tunnel. The bad thing about this tunnel was the lack of padding...Mommy was feeling her age when she crawled out.
We spent a solid two hours at the Boonshoft Museum. By then, Bode was tired, and the parking lot was full. We bought a year membership, so if the groundhog does see his shadow, you know where we will be for the next six Saturdays :-) Pleasant day to all.
