MCM & Lego Castles

There is a conveniently placed McDonald's in the skyway right before the Children's Museum. We pass by it and of course James wants to go back for lunch. It usually happens.

I think this thing is creepy.

We went back to the Lego Castle exhibit because the last time James threw a fit and he didn't really see any of the other parts. We only got as far as the Lego building area. This time I prepped James by telling him that we would build but that there were lots of things to see and do. I really stressed that we wouldn't build the whole time.

I had James go to the top of the castle and yell down, "I'm King of the World!" It was really funny.

There was a computer screen where you select different options to build a castle wall and then you send a computerized catapult to see if your wall withstands the throw. James really loved the SPLAT. Over and over and over and over.

He is very good with a computer mouse. He built a pretty impressive castle using a bunch of castle shape options.

Awesome.

The toddler area had these huge foam Lego bricks. We had the whole place to ourselves since we got there right at the opening of the museum. James used every last one of the bricks to build a sturdy castle.

And then he had a ball BUSTING IT DOWN!

Castle building, this time with Duplos. So much more manageable. Age appropriate.

We went to a few other parts of the museum too. There are the ant tunnels that allow kids the chance to run, explore, and hide.

I needed to go into the tunnel a few times when James got slightly lost or afraid (more kids at this point). I got a little claustrophobic and so I encouraged James to move along to the other parts of the museum. Darn enclosed spaces.

That giant ant is creepy too.

We'd never been to the rooftop garden. It's an area with mostly arts and crafts, like sand sculpting, water painting, leaf coloring, etc. There was this rustic looking climbing fort and James went up confidently at first but then got a little disoriented. I love the expression here. Haha. It was a jumble of kids for a bit- a staff member had to help James down to the bottom.

Snack time. A bee startled him.

It got pretty hot.

So more and more kids (two big daycare groups- mental note: call ahead next time and ask about scheduled groups) arrived at the museum. It started to be not so pleasant for me. James got a little frustrated because kids were grabbing at the play foods, the dishes, just everything. He found a broom and happily swept. I wish he would do this at home!

We finally managed to get some foods and a space to sit. I told James this was the Japanese style of eating- on the floor cushions. He smiled for the picture that we sent to his Tia Kiki :)

James pretended to be a doctor. He had me sit on the patient bench while he told me about the medicine I should take. Doctor Tauer one day?

More building.

It was a fun morning! We went to McDonald's, James fell asleep in the car, and we got home for dinner.

I took this picture at the end of the day. I brightened it up a bit but it was already a spectacular sunset. My iPhone camera doesn't have a flash so that's why I needed to brighten it up. Wow.