Pittsburgh Children's Museum Part 4: The Finale

I promise this is it! I've got lots of other pictures and videos from the last couple of weekends that I'll post soon.

In Mr. Roger's Neighborhood, they had this player piano that also had lots of other instruments in it too. You can see the xylophone behind Grady's arm. The children could pick which of 3 songs to play.

These last three pictures give you the scope of a series of ramps that the children could climb from the first to the second floor. They did this twice and wanted to do more.

On the second floor was an area for little ones with a train table and other toddler type toys. We didn't even make it up there! Grady wanted Pryor to climb up these ramps with him so he could see it. I said we could go to that floor the next time we go. The last thing I need is for Pryor to get stuck in the middle of the floors. I don't think he's quite ready for this particular exhibit!

We thoroughly enjoyed the museum and plan on going back this weekend. (No, I won't post more pictures!)

Pittsburgh Children's Museum Part 3: 100% Pryor

Well, you all may be sick and tired of the Children's Museum, but we had a great time - and took almost 50 pictures (no, I will not be posting every single one, don't worry!)

While Grady and Alice were wood working, Pryor had free reign of the "Garage." They had a full size Mini-Cooper. He even liked to climb into the back seat and be back there while other children "drove."

I showed this picture so you could get a feel for the car (although it is clearly not one of Pryor's best!) They also had a gas tank nearby and he loved to "get gas."

This table was another favorite of his. They had pieces of track, similar to a train table, but they were for matchbox cars.

Here he is at the top of a large slide. He went down this MANY times! Sometimes Daddy went down too - but not too many times as it made him dizzy!

You can see the height of the slide when you compare it to me standing on the floor at the bottom. It must have been two and a half stories tall.

Since Mister Roger's Neighborhood was filmed in Pittsburgh, a large area of the museum was The Neighborhood. Here is Pryor on the "trolley." There weren't any bells or whistles to the trolley and yet he had a blast! He ran around on the trolley more than any other area in The Neighborhood.

I've got one more post with a few last pictures of Grady and Alice in The Neighborhood. Then I promise, no more from this museum (that is unless they are really, really cute! HA!)

Pittsburgh Children's Museum Part 2

Well - there are still so many pictures I want to post - I'll do at least one other post tomorrow or maybe more. Right after I posted the last blog, I got the stomach flu! So, I've been down and out. I was at a MOPS meeting on Friday morning, and 6 women (that I know of) got the bug (or food poisoning - who knows?) this past weekend. Crazy!
Back to the museum: after the water table room, we went into the area known as The Garage. There they have a wood shop and were having wood working participation.
The helper was so patient and show Grady just what to do. Grady decided to make a sail boat. He did everything himself. He LOVED it!

I'm sure I should remember the name of this tool from 8th Grade shop - but I don't. He used this to smooth out the bottom of his "boat."

Here he drilled a hole for the mast. They had all kinds of tools the children could use - even saws.

The final product! We haven't checked to see if it is seaworthy yet - maybe we'll take it this summer to Kiawah!

Alice, not to be outdone, made a "person" by drilling holes for eyes, nose and mouth and screwed screws in. She had a great time, too. If only her headband would stay on her head!

Pittsburgh Children's Museum

We had such a good time - I think I'll do two posts.

We went last weekend, but I've been reading Mansfield Park - I haven't had the time! We took TONS of pictures - I'm trying to narrow it down to just the best ones.

I included this one because it shows all the children plus me! I think this is my first picture on my blog!

This video shows where we spent the majority of our time. They had a whole water floor with three different areas. The video show the area where you can make your own fountain. They have tubes and connectors to carry the water flow from some of the spouts to several "down" spouts. As you can see, they had very nice rain coats - plus crocs for the children. I had a change of clothes for P-man, but not anyone else!

The video above shows a series of locks and the children could float their boat through them. Grady was trying to be helpful and show Pryor what to do.

This picture shows a series of ropes and pulleys controlling a bucket. Grady had as much fun with this as he did with the other areas!

In all, I think we 45 minutes just in the water area. We got to the museum right when they opened, and came almost straight away to the water area. The whole museum is well done but this water area was excellent. My children love this kind of thing so it was perfect for us. We got season passes, so I know we'll be going back there again!

Snow

So far, we had a two hour delay on Tuesday, a school cancellation yesterday, and another two hour delay today. Needless to say, we are all going a little stir crazy!
You would thing yesterday's snow day would be fun - we could go sledding or make a snow man. Ummm, no. It poured down rain at 34 degrees, then turned into freezing rain, sleet and then snow. There is a layer of ice everywhere! The craziest part was the thunder - one big long thunder, about ten seconds long. A friend of mine said she even saw the lightning!
You would think that might deter our plans for last night, but no. We are becoming like true natives! No mere layer of ice on the road could keep us from an NHL Penguins game! And the fact that Stephen got corporate box seats with a parking pass didn't hurt either! We had a great time and made it uneventfully both to and from.
This morning, in between the screams of the children (Alice: I will be so glad to go so school so I don't have to hear you (Grady) talk anymore,) I thought it might be a good idea to have a change of pace. I invited our friends over and we had a wonderful playdate all before school started after 11 AM! Now if there is another two hour delay tomorrow, I think you all may have to check on me as I may be on the ceiling!

Snowman #2

It seems somehow ironic that by the time I post the picture of the snowman we made during the last snowstorm a week and a half ago, another snowstorm is brewing and due to hit at any moment. This morning, the children had a two hour delay although I'm not really sure why. There was only about two inches of snow on the ground. Am I becoming a Pittsburgher or what!

Tomorrow is supposed to be the big storm - which has me in a quandary. Tomorrow is Pryor's school day and when I normally go to the grocery store. At this point, I'm really running out of food for everyone. So, if school is closed, looks like I'll be taking three kids out in a snow storm. HA!

It's hard to get a sense for how tall this snowman was - but if you take a look at the Steeler's hat - you can see it's fairly proportional with the rest of the body. It was about my height. It's also a four ball snowman since everyone wanted to contribute. Pryor's contribution was helping to find the rocks for the parts of the face. We had a great time making it. Who knows, maybe we'll make a new one tomorrow?

K'Nex Saw Blade Thrill Ride

Grady was so proud of his K'Nex Saw Blade Thrill Ride. This was a Christmas present from GrandPatti and Papa. In this video, which shows what it does, you can kind of hear me coaching him. I didn't want this to be a super long video. I thought I rotated the video - but it didn't work so I'm sorry, you'll just have to turn your head! I think this kit had over 1000 pieces and he put almost the entire thing together!