We went to the Children’s Museum’s Pizza Fest last night with Josh and Heidi. Boy was it interesting. The event lasted from 5 – 7:30 and had quite a turn out. We thought that purchasing our tickets ahead of time would speed things along but it turned out to be the exact opposite. There was a line out the door of people who had pre-purchased compared to nearly instant access for people buying as they walked in. After holding the boys in the cold for a while then waiting inside the line for a while, probably 15 minutes total, we were finally on our way. Fifteen minutes doesn’t sound like a lot but it is an eternity when you are holding wiggly toddlers in a crowd.
We’ve never been to the Children’s museum, so the entire thing was a bit overwhelming. There were about 10 vendors there handing out pizza of various kinds as well as silent auction items scattered about. There was a big crowd so our first goal was to get some food and not lose our children. We sat down in the face painting room and the boys stared at the tables of paint while the painters talked to them. The museum itself was mostly open and functional, so the boys were pretty distracted. After one piece of pizza they were ready to explore. And that’s what the rest of the night was.
Naturally, as any child would, the boys went straight for the giant submarine in the hall. It was pretty cool with a working sonar system, a periscope, a cockpit area with a steering wheel and monitors, and a monitoring station with headphones to hear learn about sea creatures and hear their sounds. The boys loved it (and so did the other million kids stuffed inside). After about ten minutes of crowding I suggested that Zach and I head out and find something else. We made it an entire ten feet away where Zach found the “Flying Things” exhibit which had wheel-controlled pulleys that could pick things up, carry them to the ceiling, and drop them into a chamber in the center of the room. Zach was mostly excited to watch the shelves travel through a set of bristles as he turned the wheel. We stayed there for quite a while. I didn’t mind though; it was right next to the Weeksie’s pizza table.
Eventually we left the Flying Things area and started to wander around through the other things that were there to play with. There is so much there for kids to play with! There was a trolley, there were drums, a sewing machine, a stream / rainfall exhibit, and all sorts of things to get into. We met back up with Sally, Adam, Josh, and Heidi and decided to head up the ramp to the “toddler area”. It was pretty cool as well. It had a throne room of sorts with window that the children could decorate with pieces to make stained-glass, a fireplace with removable rocks that Adam had a blast rearranging, and a throne that a little girl would not let go of. Across the hall was a gigantic train set, a working Kinex roller coaster, and a big wooden carpeted box to play in. Genius.
The boys loved the upstairs area, especially the roller coaster (Adam was obsessed with it) and the train. There were also a ton of stuffed animals and puppets around. I was pretty fond of the Turkey and Zach liked the frog. Adam was terrified of it for some reason and screamed when he saw it. It was pretty funny. By about 7 we were certainly done eating pizza and the boys were getting tired. So we packed up, said our goodbyes, and headed home. It was definitely overwhelming for us but I think we’d go back… to the museum; probably not the pizza. Oh, and we saw Heidi and Josh for three minutes or so, which was great 🙂 Maybe the Pizza Fest isn’t the best place for a play date;)
Relatively Ambitious 