Another Trip to the Museum of Science

Our year-long membership to the Museum of Science will expire at the end of the month, so we decided we should squeeze in one last visit.  Our membership came with several guest passes which we've never used, so we told the kids they could each invite a friend.  This proved very complicated, since some of the (younger) friends wanted to come, but were nervous to be away from their parents for so long.  Eventually we got everything all lined up for this last Saturday, only to wake up to a sick Kendra. 

It seemed too hard to try and coordinate with everyone again, so we decided to have Craig stay home with Kendra (that way he could keep painting, at least), and I took everyone else.  Bentley decided he didn't want to bother going with all the younger kids, so he stayed home, too.  And we told Kendra's friend that we would hopefully still go with her on Monday.

That meant I was driving to Richmond with: Ryder (8), Sebastian (7), Quinn (5), Colton (5), and Camille (3).  What fun!

Fortunately, a neighbor was meeting me there with her two little girls, Sydney (4) and Beth (2).  One other grown-up meant that I could at least use the bathroom.

The drive there was fine-- I chatted with my Mom as she was wandering around Animal Kingdom at WDW-- until the last ten minutes where I'm trying to make sure we don't get lost and look for decent parking and Quinn had to use the bathroom so I was worried she would have an accident.  That was slightly stressful, but we made it!

The kids all had fun for the most part.  It was interesting to me that Sebastian was the hardest one-- he wouldn't ever stay with the group and would argue and fight about everything we were doing.  I'm going to blame that on him being an only child.  Quinn was super easy so I was glad she had come along, her presence made it more fun for Colton and Camille.

Quinn attempts tightrope walking

Ryder and Colton doing yoga

And then Sebastian runs around and messes Ryder up, making him angry.  Camille looks very zen, though!

Drawing with sequins!

Playing chess and taking a snack break

The shark tank is always a great photo op!

Climbing on the trains

We played all afternoon and my neighbor headed out and we stayed to watch their Dome movie called Rocky Mountain Express.  I was thinking I'd see some fun views to remind me of my BYU days, but it turned out to be about the Canadian Rockies and, quite frankly, it was a pretty boring movie.  The kids were even more bored and Sebastian couldn't stop coughing (poor kid!) so that was kind of lame.  Oh, well!

By then it was 6pm, so we went to get pizza.  Craig had figured out that there was a Pizza Hut right by the museum, so that seemed easy enough, but man-- Pizza Hut is a CRAP place to eat at now!  The restaurant was just sad and empty, with a place for a salad bar with absolutely NOTHING in it.  And then something happened outside so there were flashing cop lights the entire time we were there...  I felt like we were in the hood or something.  And, of course, by then the kids were getting crazy AND Sebastian's parents were supposed to meet us there and were late so we had to wait for them...  Yeah, I was pretty done by then.  As soon as Sebastian had been collected we poured back into the van and headed home, and let me tell you, driving home I felt so relieved to have survived!

Making straw mustaches as we wait for our pizza

 The day went really well, but having fun with that many little kids is a TON of work!

By the time we got home, I told Craig I was done with little kids and he had to put them to bed.  He'd been painting all day and announced that HE was done painting and I could tear down all the plastic and tape for him.  I was thrilled with that choice, and we both got to work quite happy for the change of pace.  And that's one of the reasons why our marriage works so well!