Spring Break: Day 7: Zoo??

Today was predicted to be a BEAUTIFUL day. In fact, the whole week of spring break was beautiful weather-wise. All week we took advantage of that, and it worked great! Because of our schedule, I decided today would be a good day to visit the zoo. However, I didn't take into account that today was the first day of spring break in the state where the zoo is located (not the one I live in) or that today was Good Friday.... bad idea!

We got up and out of the house early, and headed for the zoo. The kids were excited since they love the zoo and friends were going to meet us there. We got almost all the way there with no issues, and had already heard from one friend that they were there already. Suddenly, a mile and a half from the entrance (and one turn) traffic became TERRIBLE and we stopped moving. According to my GPS we went .3 miles in about 20 minutes. At that rate, we would have been sitting in the care for about 2 more hours! No thank you!!

So I bailed on the zoo, and on our friends (SORRY!), and quickly racked my brain for alternate activities. And so we ended up at the Children's Museum in the city, one which we'd never been to before. Great choice, and it was surprisingly empty (maybe because it was inside and people wanted to be outside enjoying the weather?). We did eat our lunch outside, and got some great views of the lake nearby, so I think it was a win-win situation!!

B & T checking out a motorcycle and all making all it's parts 'work'
T building some train tracks, with Iz helping (i.e. destroying)Iz LOVED this! It is a life-size (almost) train that the kids could get inside and push buttons and levers to hear all the typical train sounds (whistle, horn, steam, etc.). On the side, was a crank that turned to simluate pistons moving. Izzy loved watching them turn and the various toys pop up and down. She eventually figured out how to turn the crank herself. Anytime someone turned it, she would run over to the window and SCREAM at the toys!!

T & B playing the the 'ball area'. It was an area where there were tons of golf balls and lots of different things to do with them, like build tracks for them to go on, or use various built tracks to see what effect it had on the ball(ski jump, rocking horse, etc). They spent tons of time here and all 3 kids loved it!
Iz liked pushing the 'golf cart' that was there so you could walk around and pick up the balls from all over.
In the music area, you could actually conduct this orchestra (the baton had an IR connection I think) and they would play slower or faster depending on how you conducted. Very cool...especially when the song they were playing was the Star Wars Theme!!
Trev shopping at the grocery store, with Izzy's help

Blake working the Deli counter at the grocery store. Man can that kid make some great sandwiches!Iz rocking out and playing the drums and cymbals!
B working at the post office. He spent tons of time here working the loading crane, and cranking the packages down the line
T being a mechanic. He had to change out the leaky muffler, take off old tires and put new ones on (the screw gun made pneumatic noises), put in a new air filter, add coolant and oil, and put on a new license plate. He spent forever here and loved it! He says he was practicing for when he grows up to be a mechanic!!!

It may not have been what we planned, but we had a great time there!