Strong National Museum of Play

Friday’s plans got switched around.  It was pouring rain outdoors and we needed somewhere dry and fun to go.  The Strong National Museum of Play fit the bill perfectly to entertain my five plus their two cousins. 

My youngest two were enamored with all things Sesame Street; Big Bird, Mr. Noodle, Abbie Cadabi, Cookie Monster, Grouch…

not to mention Elmo’s World.

This was a positively magical scene for Nathan as he found himself on TV talking with Elmo.  

Kaitlyn was on the screen with Abbie and then drove the Taxi with Cookie Monster in the back.

“The Boys” spent a few minutes playing chess as I spotted some of my older children with a cousin racing around.  I decided my only comfort there was seeing that there were so many other “big kids” running around also playing some form of hide & seek with a wonderful environment for such a game.  Since we had several very young children with us that were proving hard to keep track of in the crowd and we had beyond our usual 5 that we were left in charge of Rick & I decided they weren’t doing any harm and we’d pretend we didn’t know them, at least for a little while!  My husband and I were seriously outnumbered this time in a crowd as half the city decided this rainy day was also a perfect day for them to visit the museum.  No children got hurt and none of our children got lost… that’s what counts.

At Lindsay’s persuasion she somehow got her cousin, also 12 years old, to play dress-up.  He wasn’t too happy to be caught on film but was quite the ham up until this point.

One History Place.  Kaitlyn played dress-up and got to work in the old fashioned kitchen.  Nathan joined her for a tea party.

Tristan played what he always plays on the piano; Requiem, before deciding to give an old fashioned telephone a try.  I had to explain which end you listen from and which end you talk into.  Little Porter decided to follow his cousin’s example and very cutely tried to sit up on the stool.  He did manage to reach the keys from his own two feet though and he played a few notes for us.

More kitchen fun, followed by a ride on Mother Goose.  Then Nathan spotted the giant and he was so impressed.  He pointed and in his deepest gruffest voice yelled “FEE FI FUM… I SMELL A MUSHROOM!”

We moved on to the sandy area for some beach pail and shovel fun with the youngest of the cousins.

The carousel ride was fun; especially for Nathan and Porter.  Greg & Lindsay rode together also.  I think it was Porter’s first ride.

Kaitlyn chose a horse right by an old fashioned local scene painted of a horse.

The kids who were still small enough for the train were privileged to have a ride.

Rick especially liked the field of cows.

Porter and Nathan realized that they kept meeting up with each other and started to enjoy each others company.  Nathan learned to say “Porter”.

The Berenstein Bears was a really cute exhibit.  Nathan loved jumping rope with Brother and Sister Bear while Kaitlyn really enjoyed writing and drawing by the schoolhouse.

Kaitlyn kept missing the Bear characters as they walked around the museum but she posed in this scene of characters right before we left.  She LOVES  Berenstein Bear stories and we found a few of them in the gift shop on sale to bring home.

Kaitlyn and Haley posed outside the museum by the horse statue.

We visited the gardens just outside of the museum’s cafeteria before leaving.  The flowers were beautiful and it was creatively set up.

More beautiful flowers.

I have some of these purple flowers next to my garage but the cones of flowers on these were humongous by comparison.  We also liked the bathtub with plants showering down as well as overflowing.

The boys waiting for the girls after a long day.  Tristan and Kaitlyn enjoyed making some music… I’m not putting one of these in MY garden.  I think I’ll stick with wind chimes.

Nathan bought himself a piggy… his favorite and Kaitlyn used her own spending money to purchase an Elmo visor which she loves.  Then we made our way back to Grammy & Pops House for a late evening dinner.  We had a really fun day together and the rain… GONE