Museum Day

We decided to spend our last day of vacation checking out a couple of museums. We started at the Please Touch Museum.





The building itself was beautiful inside and out.

The boys really enjoyed it. Ryan found another turtle and since it wasn't out in the sun, he could get on.

Check out this torch... it was huge!

Statue of Liberty Tyler.

Statue of Liberty Ryan!

The museum was very interactive just like our local children's museum, but it wasn't quite as large. Yes, we are spoiled.

This exhibit was neat because you could change the parts around on the cars. Everything was held on by magnets. Big smile Ryan!

I have a feeling this is a scene we will see again in the future... Ryan working on a car while Tyler supervises.

Tyler looks pretty comfortable in the drivers seat of the city bus.

I need to figure out where to put one of these in our house... a hamster wheel for boys!

It doesn't take much to make Ryan happy...

This was a neat exhibit. Tyler found just the right sized ball to float.

Random elephant!

They even had a mini grocery store. The boys loved it! I have to say that it wasn't as detailed and organized as the one at our favorite museum...

Big smile.

The lower level of the museum had other parts of a city for the kids to explore. In addition to the grocery store, there was a McDonald's, a bunch of businesses and a construction site...

It was really well done. We discovered that Ryan isn't very steady with a wheelbarrow. He'd better study in school!

There was a music room in a jungle theme. Check out the pipe organ.

We ended our visit with a ride on the carousel. It was huge! 3 rows of horses!

In the afternoon we visited the Franklin Institute Science Museum.

There was a whole room dedicated to the heart. Here is something rather gross...

I want to know who thinks of these things. Ok kids, lets go walk through a heart! Yuck.

Oh, and you have to crawl through the arteries too!

Finally it was time to move on to the airplane room.

Here is Tyler in the wind room attempting to fly.

He didn't learn much as you can see in this next photo. He's flying a virtual bi-plane and as you can see in the upper right hand corner... he's going to crash or be a fantastic stunt pilot in future airshows!

This cracks me up. This exhibit was showing how air will keep a bottle up in the air, but Ryan

had other ideas...We went to the sports room, but all the boys were really interested in were the race cars. I know... shocking.

Think Ryan will make a good beach boy?

This room was impressive. It was huge with Ben Franklin in the middle.

We also had an opportunity to see a show about fireworks which ended up being really interesting and had enough fire to keep the boys engaged.

The last room we were in was the Train room. They had an actual engine that was built in 1927 as a company show piece as it was their 60,000. Unfortunately it was too big and destroyed track due to the weight all over the US. So, it was sold to the museum for $1 in 1933 and that is where it has been ever since.

They allowed you to get aboard and go for a 1 mph ride for a few feet. Yes, it actually moved! They boys were excited for their turn.

On the train.

Overall, it was a nice museum and very interactive considering the age. We were hoping it wouldn't be a stuffy museum and it wasn't.

Lately I seem to be measuring the amount of fun we've had by the length of time it takes Ryan to fall asleep after we're done. I think we outdid ourselves on vacation because Ryan fell asleep as soon as we left the museum and stayed asleep as I got him out of the car and into the restaurant. Here he is in the booth. The poor kid slept right through dinner!

This is a quick video from the Please Touch Museum. The boys were sitting in an actual car together while Ryan changed the channel on the radio. It was too funny to watch them rocking to the music. You can see a bit of what we were seeing in the middle of this clip.

Vacation is over. Back to the real world... for a little relaxation and rest!