The big event of our trip was an outing to the Children's Museum of Indianapolis! THis place is incredible and perfect for anyone! Even better, the first Thursday of every month Target sponsors a Free Family Night from 4-8PM. It saved us almsot $50! Also a big perk, a museum worker told us they usually have between 4-5 THOUSAND people at the Free Nights but because of the weather, I bet there was only 200 people in the whole place!!!!! We ran around freely, never waited to see an exhibit or play on something, and ate dinner in an almost empty food court- it was delightful and very stress-free!!!
HEre we were headed from the parking garage to the museum!
Within minutes of entering, the kids ( and us) were fully engrossed in all the museum had to offer! We started off with the dinosaurs! HEre the kids are palentoligists at a dinosaur dig site!
They loved using their diggers, brushes, and goggles to uncover the bones!
Then WE became the dinosaurs!!!
They loved it!
And so did I as we played in a dinosaur nest!
Our self-taken family portrait in a dinosaur cave!
So cute!
Next we headed to the trains and the ALL ABOARD exhibit!
We got to climb and explore on a real caboose, watch a movie about trains, see hundreds of toy trains and more!
Amara, the biggest train lover of us all, loved the cities and towns on display with the trains running through them!
Daddy and Alaric went underneath the town and discovered the peek-a-boo hole so they could be part of the town!
Brian introduces Amara to R2D2...or is it C3Po...Brian would be so disappointed in me for not knowing.
Then we saw this incredible blown glass exhibit by Chihuly. The whole ceiling was covered in his blown glass.
It was stunning!
The kids got to create their own art with the plastic pieces. it was so cool to see them design their own art!
The ceiling was so stunning, they actually encourage you to sit back and relax and just watch. This round couch encourages to to lay back with your head up and look at the ceiling. The couch actually MOVES!!! It turns very slowly so you get a new perspective. While the kids made art, I sat back and looked at the ceiling!
Chihuly created a 4 story masterpiece as the center of the museum too! The kids loved it. It was so impressive!
Then it was THE YULE SLIDE!!!! There were still holiday exhibits!!! We got to go down a two-story slide. SO FUN!
In the holiday room, Alaric LOVED having a snowball fight with all his new friends. He loved throwing the cotton balls everywhere.
He, and the other kids, gathered their snowballs and were ready for the fight!
Alaric and AMara both loved climbing in the race car. We were told on a regular FREE night, the line is usually too long to even get the chance to climb in!
Can you say HEAVEN!!!!!!!!! Alaric loved the interactive skidsteer!
Amara and Alaric both thought the sand pit in the dome was incredible
and Amara was happy as clam in the water play area!
Alaric and Daddy went into the black light areas to explore......While Mara and I prefered to have tea with the teddy bears!
They had a carousel! It was so fun!
Alaric got to move this crane on his own, that's him on the far left!
AN AIRPLANE!!!!!! Alaric was so excited to see what it was like to be inside a real one ( he doesn't remember going as a one-year-old)
Our last activity as the museum staff tried to shoo us out was hoola hoops- we LOVE hoola hoops!
Last picture before we left the museum! What an amazing night! Everyone should take advantage of the Free Night!
We got home late from the hotel, stripped the kids out of their clothes and as always, they wanted to play naked! We had a great time jumping on the bed before the PJ's were put on!
Friday morning the kids were SO excited to get to the hotel pool! We brought our floaties and were the only ones in the pool- it was great!
Brian and his angels. Did you know that if you forget toys to bring to the pool, flipflops float and make a great toy?
Me and my babies!
Alaric is always hesitant in the water so being thrown up in the air is a big deal for him- he loved it!
While Brian and I spent a few moments in the hot tub, the kids snuggled up in their towels right next to us!
After we got everyone dressed, we checked out and headed back to Champaign where we met my parents for lunch at Old Chicago Pizza. It was a wonderful end to an absolutely perfect mini-vacation!Side note....we came home from lunch and were so excited to take a long nap with our kids. At 3PM, I started throwing up and spent the next 5 hours vomitting and considering death over one more time in front of the toilet. Brian started at 4AM the next morning and Amara at 8Am! We've spent the past 2 days now in jammies entertaining the kids in front of the TV while we all just tried to stay alive and get healthy. NOTHING is worse that a family with the stomach flu! Today we are recovering and I'm trying to catch up on the hundreds of things that didn't get done these past 4 days. Even with the sickness, it's been great to spend tons of extra time together as a family
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Video after we got back to the hotel after the museum-naked kids jumping on the bed!!
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Video after we got back to the hotel after the museum-naked kids jumping on the bed!!
