Spring Break: Curiosity Museum

I will begin by saying, home school week 2 was more challenging than week 1.  Isaac and I had difficult times.  However, I think it is good for us to work together one-on-one through these discouraging moments so we can try to get better.  I really love home school and I hope we will both do what it takes for this experiment to succeed.

I was not cut from the right cloth to naturally excel in the art of tough love.  But, I am working on it.

Wednesday was April Fools.  I have a tradition of making some sort of tricky food for the kids.  This year they got grilled "cheese" sandwiches as an after school snack, but the cheese was really orange frosting.

These elicited a better response than the "chocolate chip cookies" I made last year by baking mashed potatoes with black beans (those caused a few tears, but overall, the response was hilarious).

Friday, everyone was out of school for spring break, plus I had the day off from babysitting.  We decided to take advantage of the chance to spend the entire day in Lehi at the Museum of Natural Curiosity.

I have been looking forward to checking out this cool place for awhile now.

When we first arrived, we happened upon an exhibit about different types of motion.  There we found interesting displays with water, magnets. lights, wind, spinning objects, etc. Ian, Isaac and Katie loved all of it.  Sophie wandered away from us to be with her friend.

Next, we checked out the Waterworks room, which I found to be a tad disappointing.  Some of the displays did not work and the kids got pretty soggy.

The kids did love the wind tunnel where they could experience up to 90 MPH gusts.  (Isaac tried using it to dry off).

After that, Ian also wandered off with a friend.  My mom and I took Katie and Isaac to the Rainforest, which was very cool.  I don't know what to say, except that it was kind of like a very elaborate playland.  Boy, oh boy, it was fancy.  If I were a kid, I would have never wanted to stop playing in it.

They explored for more than an hour and loved every minute.  It was great, but a tiny part of me was wondering about driving to Lehi and paying $12-$15/person for a playland.  It was grand, but, let's be honest, there are a lot of decent parks that, coupled with a child's imagination, can also provide hours of pure childhood bliss.

Then it was time for Ian, Isaac and the two oldest kids in the family we were with to participate in the high ropes course.  Sophie passed on the opportunity because she is not a fan of heights.  Isaac was really excited to do it, but figured out he is also not a fan of heights once he started.  It's more than two stories up in the air, so I don't blame him.

It was funny when Isaac said, "It's really scary up there, I don't know why everyone else is acting like it's not."  I was proud of him for trying.  Ian loved it and also said it was the freakiest thing he has ever done.

After the high ropes and more exuberance in the rainforest structure, we headed to Kidopolois.  This was an interesting part of the museum because, at first glance it didn't seem like much.  It looked like you were walking through a town with elaborately constructed business facades.  Until I noticed that there were actual doors leading to rooms and some of them were pretty cool.

We spent the least amount of time discovering this part of the museum, so who knows what else there was?  Early on, we discovered the music studio and all of the kids (especially Ian) were hooked.  There was a harp with lazar "strings," a water organ and computerized touch screens the kids could use to compose music or control a bunch of different percussion instruments.

We only left this so soon because our friends were playing outside and said it was worth checking out.

By the time we made it outside, I was officially loving this museum.  There were so many different things to do both inside and out.  The playground equipment was unique and there were huge sand pits, caves, tunnels, ponds and giant boulders to explore.  Beautiful flowers and trees lined the paths that wound through the exhibits.  There was a maze formed from tall hedges.  It was a dream.  With the weather sunny and in the 50s, everything was perfect.

After five hours, the only reason we left is that people were getting tired and hungry.  Everyone said they wanted to return (except maybe Sophie because she is growing up).  It was a wonderful way to begin spring break.

Here is the update on Brian.  He was gone to Spokane for 3 1/2 weeks, came home for 1 1/2 weeks, left again for 12 days, came home for 3 days and left Friday morning for 11 more days.

The three days he was home were productive.  They flew right by.  We were both on the go with orthodontist and doctor appointments, haircuts, soccer practices, PTA meetings, putting down asphalt to finish the driveway and working on the landscaping.  On Thursday, Brian rented a digger and a dump trailer and hauled away four loads of rocks and dirt.  His dad helped all day.  We are so lucky to have parents who are always there for us.

We did manage to break away for lunch Wednesday at a restaurant I am writing about. I interviewed the owner while we ate.  My mom kept Isaac, Katie and Jase.  That was nice.

At the end of Thursday, my parents took everyone out to Burch Creek Mercantile, our new favorite ice cream shop.