Fun at the Children's Museum

So after a fun night at the water park in Indy, we ate, ran to Wal-mart then turned in early at the hotel to relax. The relaxing didn't last long...this interrupted our night. Lightening lit up the sky for some time, knocking out the power to the hotel for a bit. We were watching TV then suddenly everything went black. Phil checked out in the hall...pitch black. I must admit it was a bit scarey. I kept thinking if we had to evacuate for a tornado warning or something, it would be mass panic in a pitch black, four-story hotel. Thank God the power was restored within 5 minutes or so!

The next morning we ate an over-priced buffet breakfast then headed off to the next "surprise" for Riley...the Children's Museum of Indianapolis. We had some friends who had visited there and gave great reviews. After visiting, we can't say enough wonderful things about it. It was four floors of wonderful, interactive exhibits. We ALL enjoyed it, especially Riley as you'll see from the pictures...

Riley couldn't wait to get inside!

Even the outside of the museum was eye-catching with dinosaurs crawling in and out of the building!

This was Riley's favorite thing to do...point at EVERYTHING and say, "Let's see that. Let's go there!"

And this was Josie's favorite thing to do...she was SUCH a good baby! She rode in her stroller the entire day, other than to be fed and changed. What a trooper!The first exhibit we visited was "Dinosphere." Riley enjoys a cartoon called "Dinosaur Train" so I thought she might enjoy this exhibit. She did okay but with the dim lights, strobe lights, and sound effects of dinosaurs roaring, she was a bit fearful. The exhibit was awesome and so educational.

The "Fireworks of Glass" was one of my favorite exhibits. The ceiling of the exhibit was hundreds of beautifully colored blown glass pieces. There were various play areas for kids to manipulate glass-like replicas.

This was the view of the three-story blown glass sculpture in the middle of the museum. AMAZING!

There was an exhibit about Egypt that had some very interesting items and information. Riley rode on a crocodile here and even sent a video e-mail to family about her trip to Egypt.

One of the temporary exhibits was about Etch A Sketch. We were impressed with the works of art people created with an Etch A Sketch! Riley particularly liked this one!

I think Riley enjoyed meeting "new friends" just as much as the exhibits.

Now this picture is for my own nostalgia...there was a Barbie exhibit! Yes, believe it or not as much of a tomboy as I've always been, I was into Barbies as a kid. I even had this dollhouse and saw several Barbies from my own collection!

Another great place was called "Playscape." This was an area for 5 and under kiddos to play and explore. Here Riley and her daddy are "fishing" then they played in some sand and explored different clubhouses.

And what would a trip to Indy be without a picture in an Indy car! I would definitely recommend this museum to anyone with or without kids. It was such a great trip and we made more wonderful memories!