Seattle Children's Museum

I wanted my kids to have a place to just go have fun, use their imagination, so we went to the Seattle Children's Museum.  It was fun.

I guess my kids are the catch of the day.  I have learned that if there is a cut out spot anywhere, my kids will put their heads inside and demand a picture.

Hannah checks out herself in the mirror while Adam works on some gears.

This was fun to watch as you twist the balls drop and roll through the course.

My kids liked pretending to be sailors for awhile.  I got in the boat too and got taken to far off places.

Hannah checks out the instruments in the African room.  She likes anything that makes noise.

This was a house set up to be like a home in Japan.  We even got to sit on the floor around the table to "eat".

Painting in the craft room.  Adam had a hard time when it was time to leave here.

This room was one of the favorites - a grocery store with little carts and cash registers and everything.  We did a lot more in the museum but I didn't get a lot of pictures because we were playing together.  But it was a cool place.

Then we walked around to look at the Space Needle.  We did not go inside but it was still cool.

Some street vendors gave my kids balloons. 

As we walked back to the car we saw like the biggest coolest play structure ever.  This was a blast.  I had to bite my tongue to not constantly call out "be careful" because the kids did get up pretty high.  And there were huge slides on top. No injuries, hooray!

Megan sits on this cool swing at the park.  So it was a fun day. 

On to Seattle

The second half of our adventure was in Seattle.

We decided to first stop at the famous Pikes Market - what a bustling place.

Here we walked down what must have been the flower hall. 

So I forgot my paper that Dana gave me about Pikes Market and good places to eat.  I couldn't remember the name of the bakery he said so we found one with a long line that looked good.  (Unfortunately, not the right one).

We just bought an assortment of baked items filled with different things.  Will and I liked them, the kids not so much.

Whitney shows off her feelings for the items in this store.

We saw one place with a sign that said toys were 25 cents each so we let each kid pick a toy.  But then the owner said the kids could have their picks for free.  So that was really nice.

While walking along we saw a couple of street performers.  My kids were really surprised by this.  Here we stopped and listened to a man play the piano for awhile.

The famous fish throw.  We were right up close and personal, so close that we could feel the fish juice  (which I think was really just ice) hit us. 

And a picture of us next to the big pig.
Pikes Market was fun.  It is a little crazy to try to bring five kids there, but we had no casualties. 

Discovering Science at the OMSI

We had an awesome experience at the OMSI in Portland.  I guess it is technically a science museum but it is completely geared for kids.  I loved it too.

We paid a few dollars extra per person to get into the robot exhibit.  I guess it is a traveling exhibit so we knew it would probably be a once in a lifetime opportunity.

The place was crowded so you had to wait your turn a lot, but it was cool.  here the girls "talk" to this robot.

This is a robot seal that is being made for pediatric wards in hospitals.  It is a big step up from a stuffed animal as a comforter for sick kids.  You can actually feel it "breathing".

We watched some robots playing soccer.  They were pretty good at the game too.

This was fun.  You got to play 21 with a robot.  I think I even beat it once.  The robot would deal the cards and you would touch the screen for hit or stay.

Here we play tic - tac - toe with a robot.  How often do you get to say you did that?  There were a lot of other robot things too.  I could have stayed all day in that part of the museum.

Left the robotics area and found a spot with a lot of puzzles.  Some were obviously meant for older kids but my girls had fun trying them anyway.

Shooting up a "rocket".  You had to decide how much air and how much water to put in to try to make it reach the top.

We made a movie out of lots of pictures.  Whitney seemed to really enjoy this.

Here we are in the lab.  You had to wear goggles to do the different experiments.  Adam was not a fan of the goggles and didn't last long in this room.

Adam stayed at this water table for a super long time.  He loves playing in the water (except for baths for some reason).  You were suppose to try to figure out the sails on boats and which worked the best.  We mostly just got wet.

There is a pinball machine that talks about preventing food waste - buying less at a time at the store, etc.  No where did it mention that it is mostly picky children that waste food. 

It was about dinner time when we got back to Ruth and Dana's house.  We decided since it was our last night in Vancouver to go out for dinner.  We went to Firehouse Subs, or something like that.  All kids get a fireman hat.  Hannah obviously liked wearing hers.

Anyway, we had lots of fun in Vancouver and Portland.  The next morning we traveled to Seattle.  More pictures to come.

Portland Zoo

I think Whitney and Rachel are my only two kids who have been to a zoo and they were too little to remember, so we decided a trip to the zoo was in order.  The zoo was a little crazy but it could have been much worse.  We ran into a couple of summer groups while we were there.  I liked that because then we could learn more about the animals from the workers.

Compared to some birds, we have apparently very short wingspans.  So I guess flying is out.

There were some little animal statues close to the beginning and everyone picked one.  Adam loved sitting on the hippo. 

The bats were our first animal and they are so ugly to be almost cute. Is that even possible?  Whitney said these were her favorite animal and she now wants one for a pet.

I enjoy watching all kinds of monkeys.  This one apparently likes watching all kinds of humans.  We watched them feed the monkeys here.  One had a baby that clung to its tummy.  So that was cute.

These old tortoises were interesting.  The big one was mean, kept following the smaller one and the smaller one kept trying to get away.

Hard to tell from the picture but the kids were watching the penguins.  I love penguins so we stayed here for awhile watching them waddle around and jumping in the water.

So cute.

We watched the elephant show.  There were a ton of people so I did not get the best pictures.  The elephant would do little tricks to earn apples.  He was very good at splashing the water really hard.

This giraffe was standing when we got to the exhibit but we watched it sit down.  It was fun to watch it try to sit since giraffes have such skinny legs.  So it went slowly but it did sit.  Kind of cool.

And here we are in the jeep pretending to be on a safari.  We saw lots of other animals too - lions and a black bear and sea creatures.  They were all awesome.

The Portland Zoo was fun.  We were there for like six hours and still missed a couple of things.  I am glad my kids were able to learn some more about these amazing animals.

Discovering the Gorge

Our fun vacation adventures began on the first day.  We met up with Ruth and Dana at the Columbia River Gorge Discovery Museum.

The center was a lot bigger than I thought it would be.  The kids thought it was fun and it was informative also.

The view from outside.  The gorge is so beautiful.

This was an old canoe right in the front of the museum.

We saw an exhibit about the many travelers and explorers that came west.  It would have been such a hard journey.  I hope the kids appreciate how much easier our life is now and feel more grateful.  I know I do.

There were lots of little areas that had activities for kids.  Adam and Gideon work on a puzzle.

This lady came and spoke about raptors and showed us two beautiful birds. 

There was a play room at the end of the center that we used quite extensively.  Here you have to try to balance cargo on a boat.  I think the boat was a little off center, but maybe it was just me.

The kids put on costumes and we got a family picture.

And a cousin picture.

I am glad we took the time to stop here.  Thanks for the fun idea Dana.  More pictures from our fun vacation soon.