Year 3, August 1st, 2018: The Children's Museum of Indianapolis, Our Favorite

The kids and I agree.  Our favorite museum of all time will always be the Children's Museum of Indianapolis.  Probably because we know it the layout by heart and everything is just so familiar.  I correctly guessed where the temporary exhibits were.  I knew exactly which level had a bathroom when I needed one and where.  We picked the same locker we usually do.  I even recognized 90% of the stuff in the Hot Wheels temporary exhibit and can tell you where the original one was, and how this is now their third spot for it.  Plus they moved a couple of things to a permanent exhibit in the Sports Experience.  I asked the kids if they even wanted to stay today after we got our access pass and it was a resounding yes! I thought we were done with museums for awhile, lol.  Jared and Benaiah came with us but didn't go in because Jared is the primary person on our Medicaid file.  The Access Pass is available to kids on Hoosier Healthwise, a Medicaid program, and may one or two other low income things.  I had to have Jared come with his photo ID and a copy of our proof of eligibility, but since I'm also listed on it as secondary, I can use the Access Pass without him being present.  Benaiah had to work today, so Jared took him to work after we were done with the paperwork, which was painless.  The Access Pass allows us to get in about 8-10 different museums in the state for $2 a person.  That includes the Art Museum, the Children's Museum, the Eiltjorg museum, the Indiana History Museum, the Conner Prairie pioneer village (all of these are in Indy), plus a few other ones in Indy and even in Terra Haute and I think Blomington.  Most of these cost anyway from $12-$20 per person on their own.  That's an incredible deal!  Sometimes it pays to be on one income in the "eligible for Medicaid" category.  We have to renew the Access Pass after the Medicaid is renewed every year.  Both of which are very easy to do.  I am not ashamed of using government programs because as soon as we are not eligible, that's ok, too.  We have used them off and on for years and years and never take more than our fair share or try to cheat the system.  I'm just glad that there IS a way for those in a lower income bracket to experience what our kids get to experience.

Speaking of, I was taking note today just how much as change at the museum over the last 14 years since I started taking Benaiah, and it's quite a few things.  Most of the changes are great, but I do miss a few elements that I wish Keturah and Abishai could have experienced, like building a house and sitting in a skidsteer in Playscape.  Or using wheelbarrows and shovels to pick up fake rocks.  Or using one of those metal excavator diggers with a seat and digging up rubber mulch.  But, Abishai and Keturah will have all their own memories and there's still so much that is the same.  So, today we had a lot of fun, although we only went to 5 out of about 22 exhibits, one of which was the new Sports Experience that opened up in the spring of this year.  I do have to pay $3 instead of $2 if we want to do both the sports and the regular museum, but that's ok.  You can get regularly priced tickets for each place separately or for a combo price, that's how big the Sports Experience is.  In fact, it was open until 8pm tonight when the regular museum closes at 5pm most days.  We were all exhausted, so we went home at 5pm.  We had gotten there about 12:15, did our paperwork, put our stuff in our locker and walked out to the Sports area around 1pm.  I felt RUSHED all day and that we didn't get to do enough because we were only there for 4 hrs.  I wanted to get our $12 worth! And we did because we focused on the temporary exhibits, Hot Wheels and DC Comics, and the new Sports Experience.  My primary goal now is to focus on just a couple of exhibits each time and do them thoroughly, including the little demonstrations and to go at least monthly.  The information that is presented there is presented so well and gives such a broad overview of the world.  Even today, Justin and Keturah did wander around in the Hot Wheels exhibit and read every sign this time while I chased Abishai.  They also got to take time with some some of the ISS iPads letting them experience different aspects of it.  It helped that it was the end of the day and no one was around to hog them, too.  So, I'm currently coming up with this year's school week routine/schedule to make sure we don't overdo it and prioritize things like actual friendships over field trips.  And going to the Children's Museum regularly IS a top priority in case we don't get the Access Pass next year.  But maybe we can afford the level of membership I want to have next year.  Who knows, but I know that the Children's Museum is an incredibly deep memory for all of us.  It is the #1 "thing to do while in Indy" that I suggest to my friends and strangers.  And today was no exception.

Again, I took a bazillion photos and videos.  Actually, I really tried to take less and I probably won't post all of them.  I took a ton of "this is what the exhibit looks like" that you probably don't want to see, so I will pare those down.  200+ photos and videos for 4 hrs isn't terribly much, is it?  Ok, fine, I have a very rapid fire trigger finger.  Let's see what we actually got up to today:

First up, we were really excited about this cool playground/climbing tree and then saw it was closed.  Maybe next time!  It's fake on the outside, not sure about the leaves up on top.

Can you guess what this is?  The pagoda at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway!

Since we didn't get there until after 12pm, the parking garage and nearly all the ground parking was full, so we parked way, way down the street.  Therefore, when we walked down the street to the museum, we passed the whole Sports Experience.  And the first thing the kids saw were these swinging things.  They love them!  There were also instructions on signs and an outline on the ground that showed how to do certain pushups and strength training exercises.

We were a bit disappinted because only the drag raceway was open (not the Indycar or stock car loop), and only kids 42" and taller could ride on the cars.  It's a pedal car so you also had to have closed toe shoes.  That eliminates a ton of kids in the summer!  Abishai was not very happy about it.

Abishai is too short for them, but he tried anyway.

At the Sports Experience, you get to try out a ton of different sports. They have different size balls, nets, sticks, racquets, and the like for the different sized kids going through here.  Keturah and Justin tried almost all of them.  Abishai was intimated by the chaos "on the field(s)."

But he did manage to kick a soccer ball across the field after he slipped on the artificial turf. 

"Baseball" aka wiffle ball!  An employee or even a kid threw the ball.  Keturah and Justin each took a couple of sticks and fouls before they hit the ball.  They also got to run the bases.  Abishai and I were sitting on a bench under an awning.  I wish they had more benches and awnings but the idea is do things with your kids, so I can understand why they don't.

Go, Justin!  The outdoors part of the Sports Experience is available when the weather allows it be open.  They do have a policy where they will allow you to change your ticket date one time for this experience only (not the museum) if you buy your ticket online (or in person) before you come.

The kids tried to tell the employee that we lived in Canada but didn't tell her why that made any connection to hockey.  But at least they made their own connections.  They played with big plastic balls and sticks.  And of course all the major sports were sponsored by or decorated with Indianapolis based teams like the Indianapolis Indians (baseball), Indy Fuel (hockey), Pacers/Fever (basketball), and last but (sometimes) not least, Colts (football).

They were pretty pumped about tennis.  When we were nearly done with the sports, Justin said he was embarrassed because he couldn't do any of them.  Well, my child, a) we aren't a sports minded family and b) kids just don't play sports unless they are in a league.  I always told myself that I'm not paying for sports for kids less than 8 years old because they can just kick a soccer ball around the backyard or throw a ball up in the air and hit with a baseball bat, just like I did as a kid.  I even tried playing badminton and volleyball by myself.  I wish we had a basketball hoop and I'm still on the lookout for one.  Our driveway is sloped, but so is Gary and Leah's and they had one until Aaron went to college.  I'm sure we'd get a ton of use out of it.  But, you can still practice dribbling! Keturah of course didn't hit the ball much with the tennis racquet, but she gave it her all!

I kept Abishai out of the court for awhile because he didn't seem interested.  But I think he saw the kids playing with racquets and wanted part of the action.  He did actually try to chase and hit the ball, not just push it along the ground like a golf ball like he has done at home.  And this is exactly what this sports experience is all about.  It's to give our very inactive youth a chance to pick up the equipment and try something new.  It's beautifully done in the way only our Children's Museum could do.  There were some explanatory boards around, too, talking about a few rules and terms for each sport.

Always the one to help out, Abishai observed first how the employee picked up the balls by putting the basket over them and pushing down (they squeeze through the bars underneath) and then Justin doing it as well.  So when he was done throwing them at the wall of this practice half court, he tried picking up his own balls!  He got some of them to go in, too!

The kids weren't that interested in the Colts football stuff, go figure.  We aren't the biggest fans even before they were the losing team.  I think they might see how expensive that big stadium we have is and realize that it's just a game and don't understand why it's such a big deal.  Maybe, maybe not.  But this is here for the football fans.  Football for kids is just as big as basketball for kids is these days here in Indiana. 

Justin tried throwing the ball.  And missed.  And got upset that he was no good at sports.  I should have reminded him that he IS great at dancing and having a good time though!

They have a track and walking path around the outside of the exhibit, gain, encouraging kids to get up, get out, and play.  We've been a little bit lazy since we've been home from vacation, but I think we are all still exhausted from those long days, so I haven't pushed them outside.  I probably should have because the weather went from upper 70's to the upper 80's.  I know some kids can play without equipment outside, but it would help to have some more in our backyard like a trampoline.  It's on my wishlist.  And I will be making a little money from a babysitting job really soon, so I think I'll save that up and buy them one, and a pool, and a basketball hoop, basically everything I didn't have as a child, lol.  But I made myself get outside.  Our kids won't.  And yes, it means I need to be outside more, too.  It's just so, so hard when all the most "important work" is inside!  Any of the outdoor work, like weeding, is secondary to me.  And this is why I HAVE to get these summer projects done so that in the next few years I CAN take the break and play more.  These babies do NOT need pathways and boxes cluttering their home.  Not on my watch, not anymore.

By far, this was Abishai's favorite place in the outdoor part of the sports experience.  Yes, they had about 4 different set of hoops, all at different levels for the kids.  And yes, Abishai did make many baskets as well as the ball falling on his head numerous times because he was trying to dunk it and not throw it.  THIS is what makes the Children's Museum the best in the world.  They really do think of elements in their exhibits that include all ages.  Love, love, LOVE this!

So proud of making a basket!

He's even got the little hand/wrist action going on.  Well, this boy likes the sandy beaches and water, AND he likes basketball.  I guess he's native to both PEI and Indiana!

Adorableness!

From the basketball courts looking north to the rest of the outdoor Sports Experience.

Looking south towards the Children's Museum.  By the way, this used to be their main ground level parking lot. Parking is free in both the ground lots and the garage.  Praise the Lord for that!  And usually, if you get there between 10a-11a when school is in session (NOT on holidays, which are the worst times to come), you can get into the garage.  I've only parked outside maybe twice a long, long time ago when I didn't realize that the garage was free for everyone and/or I didn't know how busy the museum would be, and today because we came so late.  I bet there was parking in the garage after 1 or 2pm though because people tend to leave after lunch.

I encouraged Keturah to practice since she'll be doing basketball in the fall.  She started to whine that she was bad because she can't practice at home, and I told her that yes, I would love for you to have a hoop, but there are ways to practice at least dribbling skills at home, if not find a way to throw a basketball up again the side of the house or something.  It can be done.  She got maybe 1/4 of her shots in today.  There is also basket for just for free throws.

I divided the blog up into 4 sections according to the exhibits we saw, so I loaded up both the pictures and videos from the DSLR camera and my iPhone for that section and put them right after the other.  Therefore, it will seem like it's a bit out of order, but not completely like it sometimes is.  We had to drive to the museum a completely different way than normal because of some road construction we did know about ahead of time.  We usually have to go around and come up from the southwest, but today we came from the east.  Therefore, we got to see the "backside" of the museum (opposite of the garage and entrance) from the east.  Either I've never noticed this before when I've looked out from the window on the 3rd or 4th floors or these astronauts are new!  That's the planetarium on the lower level where the ISS exhibit is (see the last set of pictures below).  There isn't an open window though.  But that's cool looking!

Another view of the Colts football area.

I was recording video at the time and my other hand was on Abishai's wrist (where it was a good part of that day so he wouldn't run off.  Next time I'll bring the leash), so I only got good picture of Keturah running through the practice guys.

Justin's back there weaving and and out, too.  Also, I managed to take out the essentials of my purse and put them in my green bag this time, instead of just putting the whole purse in because I knew I would be wearing it for part of the time.  Who knew I could minimize like that?  We used a locker for a little bit for our heavy snack/light lunch, but otherwise, the backpack was on the stroller, in the stroller, or on my back.  I'll need to pack a better lunch next time of course.  They are one time use lockers though, for $.75 each time.  Not horrible, but we have to be wise, too.

There was a statue and/or board for every sport of someone famous and/or Indiana related for that sport.  This here of course is Larry Bird.  I know Larry Bird first as a Boston Celtic and didn't know until maybe 15 years ago that he's famous for being from Indiana and/or I think he now owns or is somehow a part of the Pacers.  But to me, he's just a Boston Celtic.

And now for the inside of the Sports Experience, which had three major sections.  First was the rest of the indoor sports, including some NCAA exhibits.  I wasn't able to view much of it because this guy wanted to stay near the race car stuff.  They took a bit of their display from the Hot Wheels exhibit, or duplicated it, and permanently placed it in this exhibit.  It includes all three types of car racing, stock, Indycar, and drag racing.  But all Abishai saw were his favorite Matchbox/Hot Wheel cars and some fun tracks, go figure.  I was definitely more quiet down here than the Hot Wheel exhibit upstairs.  Abishai didn't have to share as much.

You can turn the wheel and the track moves up and down.  There is also a display behind this where you can be a part of the pit crew and take this little screw gun thing, point it at the tire and it "unscrews" the lug nut which is just a light that will turn green or red depending on if you've screwed it off or on.

By far, his favorite place, behind the wheel.  I have pictures of the other kids in this car since the Hot Wheels first opened, I want to say, 10 years ago?  And there's an IndyCar (I think, maybe it was a drag racer) that was driven by the first African American driver that won a race.  (I think?)

There was a balance beam, so of course Keturah had to try it out.  And you could shoot some baskets, pretend to be a sportscaster or a camera operator, and a few other things that I didn't get to see.

There ya go, there's a perfect picture of the screw gun and lug nuts lighting up.  Abishai didn't know what to do and didn't wait long enough for me to show him.  They had one of these upstairs in the Hot Wheels exhibit, but it was broken.

Way in the back they have this interesting exhibit showing the artwork associated with sports.  Everything from drawings to models to paintings! I've never seen sports art be the focus of an exhibit before.  You of course could sit down and draw a sports figure or use some clay (aka golden looking silly putty, which they have used in other exhibits with a similar type of activity) to make something.  I left these two working with the silly putty for a few minutes because Abishai was already back to the cars.  We'll have to go through this again and read about some of the actual art on another trip.

Here's a pretty good overview of the middle room again.  On the other side of that wall, is a bigger display just about basketball I think.  We didn't take the time to go in it because well, sports aren't our thing and we were hungry for lunch.  It was nearly 2pm.

Abishai liked the little road track here.  There's one upstairs in the Hot Wheels exhibit, too.  At least down here he didn't have to share.

There ya go. That's what the Art Museum is all about.

After lunch we headed to the second level where the Hot Wheels and DC exhibits were, just as I predicted.  Abishai saw all the cars in this little display and started to get really exited, jumping up and down.  He wasn't even upset that he couldn't play with these or the other items in display cases.  And that's because there were other cars to play with!

Real life versions of Hot Wheel cars.  I think I've seen the green one before.

He loved looking at the old sets!  And he didn't say "I want it!" Score for me!  The simplicity of the signage at the museum is what I think makes it stand out to me or at least makes it more kid friendly.  I know the science museum was geared towards older kids and adults somewhat, but no one stops to read anymore.  I would, but I'm following a crazy toddler around.  So, to see one sentence signs in large letters makes me happy because I can read them and still learn!

Abishai's definitely in there!

This one is definitely part of the original exhibit.  I've seen it a ton.  And this particular exhibit space gets rotated quarterly and/or 3 times a year.  It was previously the Circus one.  One time it was all about Jane Goodall.  So, you see those wheels on this display? I noticed them on most of these cases.  The museum has a humongous archive on items and I think I read they store a lot of things off site in a warehouse somewhere.

Gotta drive!

I did get to read these because Abishai was doing the driving thing in the previous picture.  Kind of interesting how each of them is different.  The dragster is the middle one and only has steering and a button for the parachute.  The stock car on the left has the big wheel and one red button to shut off the engine and a black button so the driver can talk to the pit crew.  The Indycar steering wheel, which actually detaches from the steering column so the driver can get in and out, has numerous buttons and gadgets.  Cool!

Recognize any of these?

Always, always, educational.  Learning how friction works and how the big back tire will make less revolutions per minute than the front smaller tire.

Letting the car go down the chute into a jump.

The original 16 Hot Wheels.  Oh wow.

50 years of Hot Wheels just this year!  I didn't know that!

Ready to race!

Evolving helmets.  Do you remember the middle one and the on on the right?  I only recognize them because I've seen enough racing footage from the IMS' YouTube channel where they will show clips of all the old races.

Lining up cars.

Driving along the road.

I could have lined this photo up better, but the point is the lime green car with the lime green water bottle and the lime green shorts.  And he purposefully ware this shirt because it was about Stark Industries Racing.  Of course Stark is NOT DC, but he couldn't find his Flash t-shirt.

Abishai's turn to let the car go down the ramp to make it jump.

Mommy and Abishai inside the buggy type car.

Panorama of the Hot Wheels exhibit from the back corner.  The entrance is in the opposite corner.

Abishai matched the cars by color and lined them up on the road.  He got really upset when other kids started to mess with them.  I had to pull him away soon anyway.

Onwards to Mommy's favorite part of the day, the D.C. Superheroes exhibit.  I feel like in my deep memory we've seen either a pop culture or comic book exhibit before.  They do have a more permanent Pop! culture exhibit right next door, and it does include some comic book stuff, but I can't remember what else I've seen here.  Maybe it was a Batman movie thing because I know that one of the full size props of the Tumbler from Batman Begins was on display.  Maybe it was the Hot Wheels exhibit when it first debuted here.  Anyway, they did have an old Batmobile full size prop in the lobby of the museum.  Jared said it's his least favorite Batmobile, the one with the 3 huge spoilers on the back.  Anyway, this was a great exhibit all about the DC Universe, and not just the new movies, although I know the characters from the movies the best.

This is another thing about our museum I love.  They get to borrow REAL "artifacts" like these costumes worn by these actors just a couple of years ago, on loan from the movie company.   No joke, Gal Gadot wore this outfit!  I did get up close and look at the details of these costumes because I don't know how true to to form the dummy is, but wow, these costumes are skin tight!

Ben Affleck is HUGE! Not just tall, but jacked up!  His thighs are massive!  I know they did beef up the actors and added padding but still, it's impressive.

Henry Cavill, too.  Tall and built. 

And of course Abishai finds the costume box where he can hid and go to sleep.

I should have tried for a better angle, but I think you can tell how tight these costumes are.  And to do the stunts that they do in these?  That's hard work!

Um wow!  I watch videos about all things comic books and he talks a lot about the different costumes that the actors wear from film to film.  They often have a new suit or tweak to a suit when going from one movie to the next.  Sometimes it matches with the comic book and sometimes it's quite different.  I know this person talked about in post production they can change the tone of the colors on the suit on the screen to set the mood.  Darker means grittier and less hope, brighter means there's hope and the movie is having an upbeat moment.  Also, I know for a fact that Gal Gadot was pregnant when they did the reshoots for the Wonder Woman movie, so they adapted the costume to fit her 5 month pregnant belly, added a green screen panel right there on her tummy and then filled in the appropriate armor on the screen in post production.  Crazy stuff they can do now!  Same goes for a lot of the Marvel costumes.  Robert Downey Jr. doesn't wear an Iron Man suit anymore in the fight scenes at least.  He wears a suit with dots in it and CG adds his suit later.  More time is spent on post production than actually filming movies these days.

See the pattern on Batman's pants?  It has changed as well.

Then I noticed Wonder Woman's boots have heels!  How on earth did she run in them during her scenes?  And there's no socks either, just bare feet!  I hope this was during the dialogue scenes and not when she fighting and running.  Wow!

Moving on to the Hall of Justice.  We all had to go through a "metal dictator" and a scan to see if we were good or evil. 

Poor Justin was the only evil one.

We meandered toward the far corner first to S.T.A.R. labs, home of the Flash and crew.  Oh my goodness, this was so fun!  So, what you do is tap the pad as fast as you can like they were your feet running.  You get to run around the accelerator  with the Flash!  Abishai did really well and tried it several times.

Lol, Keturah can lift a lot!  And this is a leftover prop from the Circus exhibit.

For Green Lantern you had to make a circuit for his ring to light up but we couldn't figure it out.

Aquaman and Cyborg (is it bad that I don't have to look at the board for their names? I know way too much trivia on these things.)

I'm bummed that we didn't get to try this, but it's some kind of mission thing you do with Wonder Woman.

Now this gets me exited.  The Batman cape was from the '60's show and the Superman cape was from Superman II filmed in 1978!!!  And if you compare these simple fabric capes to the costumes from 2 years ago, there's a huge difference! 

Props from Batman Returns in 1980.

Props from the old Batman TV show!

This is cool.  They use this when filming Superman flying.  Kind of like what they did with the Star Trek Enterprise where they had a model and then moved the camera around it to make it look like it was flying through space.  Or maybe it helped them with special effects because that's what it says.

Original story board panels!!

We haven't seen Cheetah in the DC Univirse's TV show or movies, yet.  Bad kitty.  In case you don't watch the video, you can climb up and around these green "laser" ropes without touching them.  If you don't touch, then you get a piece of information that will help you solve the broken Bat signal.

Wonder Woman sword.

Supergirl.

Playing with figurines on a mountain.

Justice League command center.

There ya go.  I did take a picture of the Museum of Ancient History Wonder Woman is trying to protect but Cheetah made off with a famous statue.  You can see the ropes  there in the middle.

I'd like to participate in more classes/events/shows in each exhibit now that Abishai will sit still for a bit.  So we stayed close by until the Maser Superhere's class began.  Only a few are chosen because the space is smaller.

Batman, Riddler, and Joker.  Classic.  I loved how they had these sections of the decor focused on one character.

It was hard pulling him away from this thing for the class.

(Poison) Ivy.

Cool bridge that opens up!

I'm so glad I took pictures of these because we "had to" hand them back   Basically you fill out what you want to do as a superhero.  It's not a secret that Keturah likes fashionable shoes or boots!

I guess Keturah and I will be hanging out in the same house together, lol.

Abishai couldn't decide what to pick for his outfit.  But I loved how he picked out the helicopter. (I just had to rewrite that sentence because in my exhaustion last night, I typed something that didn't make sense.  If you read something that doesn't make sense, just skip over it.)

Well, 3 out of 4 of us picked the mountains!  And Justin wanted some gloves.

Justin pointed out the Green Lantern and Green Arrow comic book.  They had a good selection of different comic books on display.  We didn't get to look at them up close because it was in the classroom which was blocked off most of the time.

Superhero quiz!  I knew most of the answers, too.  We went to a Superhero Masters' class.  It was more like a skit with some interaction.  They stamped our hands with a stamp that only shows up under a black light that corresponded to some super powers like "physic softening" and "knot untying" and used those superpowers to go through some activities like "super glue elbows" to superglue a key back together to unlock a box.  It was cute.  I'm glad we went.

This was more of the Aquaman corner.  The new Aquaman movie comes out this fall I think.  You got to "ride" on the backs of the turtles, save the dolphins, and such.

Listening to emergency phone calls coming into the command center of the Justice League.

The villain detector.

Catwoman stealing precious jewels.

The broken Bat signal.

Punch in the right letters (B-A-T, go figure) that you figure out from clues from the other areas, and ta da, it lights up correctly!

Nice!

He loved these, but it was getting late and he was going stir crazy, so he cried when I pulled him away.

Abishai couldn't get enough of these either.

You had to put your arms into the holes and pass the dolphin up from the bottom to the top, from hand to hand.

Is it a dolphin or a shark?  Abishai thinks it's a shark.

I think this exhibit is there until the middle of September.

Back to the iPhone pics, here's Keturah doing the running version of the Flash face off.

Nearly everyone reaches 400 mph, it's just a matter of how many steps you take.  There's a sensor under the red pad.

Someone was very tired when we went to Superhero Masters' class.

We thought the last stop was going to be the "divers" downstairs in the National Geographic Treasures exhibit, but I think Abishai thought it was something else.  He saw the astronaut chairs first, which was right outside the exhibit, so he tried that.  Then we went into the Treasures exhibit for a few minutes.

By the way, it's very quiet after 4 pm in the middle of the week at the Children's museum.  The Treausres exhibit houses the Ancient Egypt mummy's tomb, the Caribbean sea/coral reef exhibit, and the China's Terra Cotta soldiers exhibit.  They love the mummy's tomb because you put pretend rocks in one hole and then they come tumbling down out of another hole.  Except Abishai was tired and didn't want anyone taking his rocks away.  You can also shore up the tomb wall with the boards or put together a massive puzzle of a mummy sarcophagus.

Right outside of  there is the entrance to the train exhibit.  It was late so I refused to let Abishai see the Thomas train table and stuck to just this display.  And still, it was hard to pull him away.

He remembered that he could go under the trains and pop back up in this little bubble to watch them and he kept doing it over and over and over.  In just a few months he's matured so much and remembers so much more! He kept showing me different things, too.

We're tired, we're hungry, we're bored, can we go home now?  Justin did have the beginnings of a headache.  I did ask them if they even wanted to go today and they said yes.  I thought 4 hrs wasn't long enough, but I think it was just the right amount, especially coming off of vacation last week.  We will probably wait a month before going again.  And it was busy, loud, and chaotic today.

I love the little crawl through tunnels some of the museum's exhibits have.  This is the one under the train exhibit.

One of my favorite areas, and it's usually quieter than other parts of the museum.  This is under the massive glass sculpture that is goes all the way up to the top floor in the middle of the museum and is surrounded by the ramps to get to each level.  One suggestion when visiting the museum is to start at the top and work your way down.  There are two sets of elevators and bathrooms on each level as well.  The kids can lay here and it slowly turns in a circle.

This is reflection on the floor of the ceiling.

The artist's original drawing of this piece, which was put together a couple of years after we started going to the museum, so maybe 10 years ago?

A nice picture of the finished product.  All glass.

This is the artist.  They have screens that will take you through the process of blowing glass, kind of like a video game.

Tired kids.

Now, if you read the blog post about the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago, you'll know that to me, it was ok, but now as fun and interactive for the kids as the one here at the Children's Museum in Indianapolis.  And this is why.  They've always had an exhibit here, but this part is only a few years old.  It's a blown up version of the International Space Station.  They have all kinds of examples of things they have in space up on the walls, lots of iPads and videos explaining what it's like to live on space, and just feel so immersed in it all. It's incredible.  A lot of the stuff was donated by one of our Indiana astronauts, and there is a nice display of all the Indiana native astroanuts over the years, too.

Interactive pieces like this.  Abishai didn't know it was to fix the electronics, so he thought the vacuum thing was a gun.  He was also delirious at this point.

And this is how you sleep in space.  And here's some of the things you use in space.  They also have a place where you can lift weights to keep your muscles from going limp in near zero gravity.

Lots of the same stuff we have on earth with a couple of twists.

I love how they have the backpacks up there.  They also had examples of clothing that the astronauts wear.

Go ahead and dress up like an astronaut!  And I didn't realize it, but one of those jackets was for the Canadian space program!

Laptops and wires.

Abishai's favorite part, using the oversized wrench and twisting the nuts on the bolts.  They had several examples of how hard it is to work outside on the International Space Station because of the gloves you wear. 

A look down the actual entrance to this area.  We went in the back way.

Wrench and nuts and bolts.  Abishai insisted that I match all the colors of the nuts and bolts, in fact, he told me where each one goes.

Sshhhh, don't tell anyone he climbed up there.  He probably shouldn't have, but he's Abishai and he's invincible.  They do have some awesome programs in their 280 (or whatever) degree theater and some col sci fi items on display but we didn't go in there this time.

Last but not least the infamous water clock tower!  We got to watch it turn 5pm and the water started draining out.  I think the left side is the hour number and the right side is the minutes.  And, they were setting up for an event that evening.  They do events often after hours, which is cool.  I mean thank about it.  You, an adult, get to walk around the museum (maybe?) or at least some of the exhibits without kids.  I'd take it!

We meant to do this the last time we were here, and since we had to walk outside anyway to the parking lot instead of using the skywalk, we decided today was the day to see them.  Not quite the 7 wonders of the ancient world, but several famous buildings like the Taj Mahal.

Great Wall of China - and in typical Children's Museum fashion, there's rubber mulch around these and the kids are encouraged to play on them or get up close to them.

Pyramids of Giza.

Roman Colosseum.

Parthenon and the famous entryway to the museum with the dinosaurs trying to get in.  There's some dinosaurs trying to break out of the Dinosphere behind us, too.

The Skywalk we normally take.

I had forgotten about this!  I've been out here once or twice before over the years.  There was a tree that Anne Frank could see from her hiding place and when it was threatened, a team of historians took some graph's from it or something and grew new trees.  And here's one of them!  All the way from Europe!  There's a very cool exhibit inside that talks about Anne Frank and a couple of other children that led powerful lives.  We don't go in it often because there's more reading and the younger ones don't understand it as much.  But it is a goal of mine to thoroughly do that exhibit this year.

Coolest entrance on the planet.

Sign for the Sports LEGENDS experience.  Whoops!  I guess that's what it's actually called.

Here we are at our parking lot.  Can you see the museum?  Not really! That's how far away we had to park.

I had no idea they named the parking lots, but it was very helpful because Keturah remembered which one it was.

Don't let this picture fool you.  Keturah WAS asleep on our 45 minute ride home.  I took this when we parked in our driveway.  It took much longer to get home than usual because a) I keep forgetting we are 30 minutes away from the museum now, not 20 minutes like we were when we lived in Beech Grove.  And b) they have been fixing some major bridges and exits in the heart of downtown this summer (that will be finished this Sunday, yeah, it was a short project) so EVERYONE was taking the back roads.  I could have gotten on the highways at some points but it was the worst time for rush hour traffic and I've been there and done that numerous times coming from the Museum (it's northwest of downtown).  I'd rather jockeying for position on city streets than highways where I can turn around more easily.  But I don't think the van liked it.  The check engine light came on again. 

All the videos from today can be found at this playlist:
Children's Museum of Indianapolis

Anyways, we are VERY blessed to have this world renowned Children's Museum in our backyard and to now visit it with a price we can afford.  What an awesome program they offer!  I just saw another article about how Indianapolis is the 10th worst US city to live in as far as crime or poverty and such.  And yes, we do have a lot of that, but it is a city.  I've come to live with it because we don't live in the heavy hit areas.  We definitely have more crime in our township than we used to, but we also have literally 10x the amount of people than it did even 15 years ago.  We can get to downtown within 30 minutes.  We have a decent food and culture scene and lots of events like the big cities without the big city price.  And like they say, we are the "Crossroads" of America with 4 major highways crossing through Indianapolis.  There are jobs here.  There is growth.  There are plenty of HQ of huge companies here.  And we can easily fly to anywhere in the world from here (via connections, but you know what I mean).  We could live somewhere way worse, like Chicago or New York or L.A.  Ok, ok, I know some of you LOVE those cities.  Fun to visit, but not to stay.  Indianapolis is still a good place to raise a family.  Still not as pituresque as PEI or NH.  But maybe when the kids are grown, we can do ministry in that direction.  Or Michigan, or anywhere there's a mountain and trees and maybe water.....Alaska? Vancouver, Canada?  Lol.  A girl can still dream.  But for now, we are here and we'll make the most of it!