Children's Museum of Indianapolis

Tuesday morning Alicia and I headed out early with our FIVE kids for a super fun-filled day at the Children's Museum of Indianapolis.
Alvin and the Chipmunks kept them entertained on the trip North. I was quite surprised that with 4 potty trained kids, we only had to make one bathroom stop on the way.
As soon as we walked into the museum, we saw a huge replica of the transformer Bumblebee. Gabriel was in awe, and later he said that Bumblebee was his favorite part of the museum. Unfortunately, I didn't get a picture of Bumblebee because I was dealing with another situation.
As soon as we entered the skywalk from the parking garage, Grace decided to throw a fit to be held and carried. AHHHHHH!! What a way to begin our day!! Here she is sitting in the floor in the lobby of the museum calming down. She ended up taking her shoes off and throwing them, and I rented a stroller to compromise with her.
Our first stop was the Dinosphere. Gabriel and Sam are always immediately attracted to computers and video games.
Grace LOVES the digging area. I love seeing her in those goggles. Ha!
After digging, Grace and Jake donned dinosaur costumes and pretended to be dinosaurs. Grace was fully in character, and let me tell ya, she was one fierce dino.
Gabriel and Sam were on another computer game, and Grace and Jake were getting restless. We walked down the hallway and found this dinosaur table to play with.
Next, we visited the train exhibit. Grace had fun selling tickets for a train ride from Madison to Indianapolis. She was still in quite a mood here, so I was hanging pretty close to her.
Alicia and I tried to get the kids to pose in the doorway of Snoopy's house, but they were way too active to pose for a picture.
Gabriel is always excited to try out the race car.
In the toddler/preschool playscape, Grace's favorite area (by far) was the sand table. Do we see a trend here? She loves to dig! Gabriel, Sam, and Jake hung out here for a little while.
The kids participated in finger plays. I think this one was Where is Thumbkin.

They also did the finger play The Great Big Spider; it's a lot like The Itsy Bitsy Spider.
Gabriel and Sam spent a lot of time in the construction area.
The next thing in the playscape was the book There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly.
The kids spent a few minutes at the water table before we moved to the next area.
We made a quick stop at the Barbie exhibit. I promise, the next time we visit the museum, Grace and I are going to spend more time in this area. She was having fun dressing Barbie dolls. There were so many things we didn't get to do because the boys were getting anxious.
The boys tried to hide in a corner of the Barbie area so we couldn't get their picture. Ha ha! Mom wins again!
Jake wanted to have his picture taken by the polar bear. Grace didn't want to though.
We visited the Dora and Diego exhibit. Grace liked taking care of the animals at the animal hospital.
Grace and I participated in an animal rescue simulation that you have to have ticket for. Being cute certainly has its advantages for her. She walked up and asked the lady for a ticket, and the lady did not hesitate to give her one.
We went up to the fourth floor. Gabriel and Sam immediately found video games to play. To keep Grace and Jake occupied, we rode the carousel.
Then we went to the ice cream shop to do some pretend play. "Thanks for the ice cream, Jake!"
About quarter til five, we asked a nice lady seated nearby to take a picture of all of us. Can you tell that the kids had had their fill of the museum? Three of the five were a wee bit uncooperative, tired, and cranky. Ha!
It was my personal goal to participate in the parade at 5 o'clock as the museum closes. I've heard about it, but we've never stayed long enough to participate. Jake and Grace were so into the parade. They were marching and waving their flags. Jake had one hand on his hip. It was so funny! I'm so glad we did it! Grace said, when we got home, that this was her favorite part. It was the first thing she told Dan about when we got home.
On the way home, we stopped at Cheeseburger in Paradise for dinner. The kids were super hungry, and so were both mommies. They were also a little tired and cranky too. To keep them from bugging each other (or us for that matter), we allowed them to stand in their chairs and watch t.v. at the booth behind our table. Alicia and I decided that we just wanted to eat our dinners and not fight this battle with the bigger kids. I don't think I've ever eaten a hamburger so fast before.
This is how Alicia ate her dinner. She had a crying Jake on one side and a hungry Nora on the other. . . but she still smiled. Yeah, we were just slap happy by this time!

Thirteen hours after we left home, we made it back to the McAfee's house. What a fun day! The moms and kids were beyond pooped by the time we got home! We'll have to do it again sometime.