On Saturday morning we got up, had breakfast, and headed out to downtown Atlanta. After a brief look at what all there was to do, we decided to spend our day between a children's museum and Centennial Park. As the museum did not open until 10, we thought we could just pass the hour or so we had in the park. Unfortunately, the park was the designated spot of a Gospel group festival and was pretty much closed to the public. Highly annoying for those of us who just wanted a place for our kids to play...
But, everything worked out (as it generally does). We got to the museum as it was opening and the kids had a wonderful time. A bonus was that the staff let our friends in for free as they did not have kids and were solely there to hang out with us.
I had hoped to get in with the reciprocity program we have through the Children's science museum in Dayton, but apparently there is a difference between a science museum and a children's museum...who knew? Luckily, there was a military discount (not as good as reciprocity, but at least it was something), and we ended up spending the morning watching our kids have a really nice time. And getting a chance to catch up with our friends.
Molly had a really good time.
I thought the museum was really well run. They had 50 exhibits for the 50 states where most of them had something specific to the state. Kansas's was pretty pathetic, though. It was just a tilting table where you were suppose to get balls into various cities. Lawrence not being one of them...I was not impressed.
We let the kids pretty much roam freely with an occasional sweep to locate them. There was only one floor and it generally only took about a minute to find them. I knew Will and Dom would basically be in one of three or four areas. Molly, as usual, was the wild card. The the moon sand area slowed her down for a bit.
The only altercation was when Molly and I had a disagreement over whether or not she should be responsible for replacing some items she had 'purchased' from the play store. I backed down to the point that I simply wanted her to show me where the
tomato sauce went. She responded by throwing herself on the floor in a fit of high pitched screams. I knew that this was a clear sign that she needed a nap and sure enough after a little alone time with Eric where she was forced to think about her actions, she fell fast asleep on my lap. And stayed that way for the next two hours. Which included lunch and the walk back to the hotel.
After some pool time at the hotel, we decided to get our money's worth and head back to the museum until closing. Our friends elected to stay back at the hotel and meet us for Mass a little later. This ended up being just fine because we got to see what all the kids had been up to in the morning.
Will showed off his skiing and surfing abilities.
Molly ran from one exhibit to the next wanting to try everything.
And I guess I don't have any pictures of where Dom was. But, he spent the majority of his time at the ball pit area where you could pull ropes, turn cranks, start and stop fans or water flows all to move balls from one cite to another. He also enjoyed the area where you got to unload truck of boxes on a conveyer belt.
As we had given the kids plenty of warnings that they only had an hour to play, there were no complaints as the museum closed. We headed to the Basilica for Mass and passed a promising place for dinner on the way. I don't know about you, but my least favorite part of traveling is figuring out where our next meal is coming from. On Saturday, we went to a microbrewery located across from where we went to Mass, and it was great. And we did something I have never done, we used our tablet as a way to keep the kids entertained so we could finish our meal without constantly having to chase Molly (whose pizza was consumed well before our meals came out). So, to those who wondered if we went sans technology, the answer would be no.
Next: Take me out to the Ballgame!
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