Children's Discovery Museum of San Jose

We went to the Children's Discovery Museum of San Jose on Friday. It was rated one of the top children's museums in the country. I have to say, given the amount of children's museums I have been in all over the country, I have to disagree. Though the kids had a lot of fun, never have I been to a more crowded and chaotic children's museum. There seemed to be no limit to the amount of people anywhere. They had two play areas for under 4 that weren't regulated, so were crammed and had children of all ages playing in them, which I was super disappointed in...especially since the Boston children's museum had an amazingly large young children's area that was monitored and at max capacity, had very few children in it. 

The water play area was crazy. Like literally crazy. I didn't realize that my kids would leave soaking. There were actually kids playing it in wearing bathing suits. Apparently those parents knew. But it made a fun exhibit not so fun when you are soaking wet on a cold day. Well, Callum didn't much care about being soaked, but Isla did. And this was an indoor exhibit, not a splash pad or anything. 

There was a diy face painting area and that was fun to watch Isla do. She was super into it and it was really cute. Unfortunately both the dinosaur exhibit and the food market had too few toys for kids to play with compared to the number of kids. For instance, there was a huge dinosaur area to play in, think 12 feet long. There were four, I repeat FOUR, dinosaurs out for the kids to play with. The market and kitchen areas had almost no play food. Huge disappointment. 

Thankfully the visiting exhibit, which was about germs and medicine was a huge hit with the kids. It was in a sort of hidden room, so was way less crowded than the rest of the museum and allowed the kids to actually get to play with the stuff. There was also a little bubble area that was a big hit with my kids. 

The coolest part was this huge outdoor area they had. Unfortunately it rained for most the time we were there. After the rain mostly stopped, we took the kids outside to play. They had a grand ole time. There were numerous treehouse type play structures and an entire area to play in the rocks. Needless to say, after getting soaked inside and playing in the rocks outside, Callum went home in only a diaper. The outdoor play area was definitely the highlight of the museum. 

We always enjoy getting out and trying new things with the kids. So, it was a fun adventure going to the Children's Discovery Museum. But, next time I would stick with the much closer and much cheaper Stockton Children's Museum. 

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Discovery Cube LA

^^ This earth hologram was so neat. Isla ran circles around it for a few minutes. 

^^ They had the coolest interactive grocery store. The carts had a game on them and you went and found certain products. There were two different games to play and two different age levels for the games.

^^ Connor practicing his hockey goalie skills

Going back a couple weeks...the first week of the month, we went to LA for a few days. There is always a plethora of things to do down there, so I started looking into things we have never done before and decided that Discovery Cube looked pretty neat.

I have to say, I was pretty blown away by this place. It definitely isn't set up for little kids like Callum, but around age 4, I would say this place is amazing. There are so many interactive and random things to do. The entire hockey section was so cool. Then there was the grocery store, the garbage sorting game, the helicopter tours, etc, etc. This place really was amazing.

I've been to many children's museums in many different places. And though I wouldn't classify this as a true children's museum, since there really was no play areas for little kids (just that one picture of Callum was really the only time he was allowed down to play), it really is a cool place. It was super clean and there were just so many unique things to do. Both Connor and Isla really liked it.

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Salt Lake City

After two full days of travel, a day in Salt Lake City was just what we needed. Given that the kids really needed downtime outside of the car, running around doing touristy things wasn't an option. Then again, that isn't really us. How we spent the day is really a representation of how we travel. 

Ian researched local coffee roasters and we stopped at one to start our day. Then we headed to Wheeler Historic Farm. I found it online and was excited to see there is a farmers market there on Sunday. While at the coffee shop, the worker was talking to us about our day and said, "Yeah, there is a small farmers market there." So imagine our shock when we get there and not only are the grounds huge, but the farmers market was ginormious. Like at least five times bigger than the one in Modesto. And there was so much fun stuff to look at…and eat. Isla saw the face painting and wanted to do it. While the lady was doing it, I complimented her and she said, "the paint really does all the work." But I am pretty sure paint in my hands wouldn't come out on someone's face like that, so I am going to say she was talented.  Also at the farm had a three story play structure. Ian, Callum and I rested in the shade, while Connor and Isla ran off some energy. 

After we left the farm, we headed downtown to the Discovery Gateway Children's Museum. It was a super nice children's museum. Like it may top the list for children's museums I have been to. It had a lot of exhibits I had never seen before, was very interactive and super clean. As a plus, it is cheaper to go on Sundays and was practically empty. We spent probably five hours there and you could easily spend all day at it.

We stayed at the children's museum until dinnertime. We stopped at another coffee roaster on our way back to the campground. We made dinner, then the kids enjoyed the campground pool. It was a good down day that really helped the kids get out a bunch of their wiggles before another big day of travel. 

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Stockton Children's Museum

On Friday, my friend and I took our kids to the Stockton Children's Museum. When we pulled up and the parking lot was practically empty, I was doing a happy dance on the inside. Places like this being crowded keeps me on edge the whole time because it is so much harder to keep track of a playing kid in a crowd. But, we practically had the place to ourselves. 

The kids had so much fun, running from one activity to another. Connor said his favorite part was the ambulance and hospital. They had a real ambulance for the kids to play in, and the back of it is hooked up to a play hospital. It was pretty cool and definitely seemed to be Connor's favorite thing. He has said he wants to be a "shot doctor" when he grows up, so you know. Isla, on the other hand, said her favorite part was playing with her friends, so I guess it was just like any 'ole day to her. 

^^ Connor checking a dog's temp at the vet clinic. 

 

^^ Isla seriously LOVED the firetruck and climbed in and out of it many, many times.  

^^ These types of water tables are my favorite and I think I may have actually had more fun than the kids. Well, they totally loved it too, but I was pretty darn into it.  

^^ Connor in a fighter jet

It was nice to get out and do something fun right before school started back up. Now we are back to the grind...well, we do mix a lot of fun in our grind, but you know.

 

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Stockton Children's Museum

Connor has been visiting my parents in LA for the past couple days, so Isla is living it up as an only child. I wish she was acting like she was enjoying being alone, but in all honesty, she has been pretty full of temper tantrums the last few days. Oh well. 

We wanted to get out and do something today and with it pouring down rain (yea!!!), we were looking for something to do indoors. We ended up going to Stockton Children's Museum. For the price, it can't be beat, as far as children's museums go. And really, we had a fun time. 

^^ "Driving" a city bus

 

I always get a kick out of going to places like this with my kids. The things I think are super cool, they aren't as in to. Though Isla refused to get in the helicopter or fire engine, I am sure Connor would have been all over those. And I wanted to play at the news desk, but Isla had no interest. She did enjoy the slide, city bus, kids play area and the art area. I definitely will have to remember this place the next time we need to get out of the house on a not so nice day.

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Playing Catch Up

Its been a while. I know. We moved last weekend and don't have internet at our house. Hopefully we will have it up sometime soon. Very, very soon. I realize now that I really like the internet. Okay, so I knew this before, but still.

Anyway, where did we leave off? Oh yes, Connor was sick. For two days straight. Of course I decided to make him a doctor's appointment and when I took him in, he seemed perfectly fine. Like seriously fine. Except for the diarrhea. (Too much information?) But the doctor said that could last for weeks. Weeks?!? So we decided we would make the most of this new found health and get out of town.

On Saturday we packed up and headed to San Francisco. Destination? A children's museum...and Ikea on the way home. The morning went well, except for the fact that I now felt sick. But we soldered on. Connor seemed to have a great time playing and exploring at the museum.

Then we went to grab lunch in the museum cafe. And that's when it happened. Connor threw up all over himself...and the ground. And what did I do? Cover him up with a blanket so people wouldn't notice, told Ian to wait for our food and took him outside. There I proceeded to change him and try to clean his stroller, which was covered in said throw up. After a little while in the sun, the stroller dried, Connor had clean clothes on and everything seemed right with the world again. Ian decided we should stay a bit longer. With trepidation, I agreed. 

That lasted about a half an hour. Said child diarrheaed through his diaper and all over himself. So, once again we cleaned him up. This time we left. Connor fell asleep in the car. I still wasn't feeling well. But, we decided to stop at Ikea because there were a couple things we needed. So, I stayed in the car with Connor while Ian went in. Connor slept for a while, then woke up, so I moved him to the front seat with me. All seemed to be going well. Until he threw up. I was smart enough/quick enough to aim Connor where it only went on the floor mat (well, and some on my leg). About that time, Ian emerged with our stuff. We were able to get things loaded and cleaned up and back on the road.

Once again, Connor fell asleep. About a mile or so before we got home, Connor woke up and threw up. A lot. Thankfully his car seat contained it. We rushed home, got Connor in the bath and I disassembled the car seat and cleaned it. While in the bath Connor had diarrhea...

And the flu saga continued for another day and a half. It lasted a total of 5 days. Those may have been the longest 5 days of my life. Thankfully it is now over. And we are still alive.