Year 4, April 25th, 2019: What To Do On The Rainiest of Days (TCM)

I've been hearing weather reports that the past couple of months have been some of the rainiest in recent years for those respective months, and I would have to agree.  Thankfully, it helped us finish up school without feeling guilty that we weren't outside, but I would also like to see the sun, too.  Today was one of the rainiest days we've had in two weeks, and it was sprinkling most of the day and then it poured rain with a little thunder and a bunch of lightning.  Several places south of us had several inches of rain in an hour.  There were tornado warnings two counties east of us.  And because we aren't the best home owners, we haven't cleaned out the gutters since we moved in 2 years ago, so the water came spilling out over the sides instead of down the downspouts.  It didn't help that I forgot to reconnect a couple of downspouts after helping Justin to mow the other day.  So Jared was out there in the pouring rain in between Benaiah pickup and drop off runs and got thoroughly soaked.  Poor guy.  He had had a great lunch with the staff of Indian Creek as a final send off for Gary, but then had a rough afternoon with students, email, and websites.  He didn't need to be dealing with downspouts either.

Meanwhile, Justin, Keturah, Abishai and I headed out to the Children's Museum because I had said I would go last week when I didn't have jury duty.  But the weather was perfect for going to the zoo last week, so I took advantage of that instead.  We had done enough school this week and we'll have a rest day on Friday before a very full two days of social activities this weekend.  Keturah has church, worship team rehearsal, worship team volunteering, and a rehearsal for kids' choir on the big stage that will last longer than normal because it's their second to last rehearsal.  Oh my.  That's right.  They perform a week from Saturday!  Wow!  Time flies!  But Miss Christy said she's doing great on her lines and not to worry.  Anyway, we went to the Children's Museum and I hope to go one more time before Paw Patrol leaves and our Access Pass is up.  They will be opening a new permanent exhibit on Greece around June 18th, so I hope to go then.  And maybe once in May, we'll see.  We love our museum and even if we can't have the access pass anymore, I hope we can afford to buy the season pass.  Especially days like today where it was good to run off steam, see something different than our 4 walls, and feel confident that we don't have to spend the whole day in order to get our money's worth.  We were there from 11am-4pm though.  Pretty normal times for us. Today's regular adult admission price would have been $30.50 per adult.  That's how much our museum is worth!  Yikes!

We also enjoyed some time outside with the Sports Legend area, although some parts were closed because of the weather and their elements were too slippery.  But we survived just fine.  We did have lunch in between as well.  The kids weren't overly excited but not too whiny today.  There were a handful of field trip groups, but after they left, it was very, very quiet.  In June I will make sure to go on a Tuesday or Wednesday when it's less crowded.  May is always a super busy month for them because of end of year school field trips.  I did notice some signs this time that said, "All children 18 years and younger must be supervised by an adult at all times."  Finally!  Someone will make sure there are adults watching the kids and correcting their crazy behavior.  That means I can't let my own kids wander, but that's ok.  They learn to be patient and let someone else enjoy something before we move on.  Like Abishai and Paw Patrol.  The middles of course iddn't want to be there, but they did.  Keturah really wanted to see the Sports Legend stuff despite the rain, so we made sure we hit that up this time.  At first Abishai didn't want to go but when he saw the pit stop crew and hot wheels cars, he didn't want to leave!  Justin had no agenda but wanted to leave soon after lunch, which is his typical thing.  It's all a give and take because they all have to stick close by, or at least be in the same exhibit in areas I can find them easily.  That's how we've always done it.  And if they wanted to sit down in a corner and sulk and wait it out, then that's what they do.  I was dragging today as well, so we just went slow and steady.  And now I can cross it off my list for this month.

TCM April 26th, 2019 Playlsit

It's a Paw Patrol mini van!  Perfect!

We spent a little bit of time in Dinosphere again because Abishai asked for it and I don't know if they will be closing it all done when they start remodeling and expanding it.  I'm sure the middle won't change, but it would be a great time to update some of the electronics and video clips that are 20 years old and don't work well.   Anyway, here's a little something that could probably be updated.

Most definitely need to update this!  The "mouse" would go the opposite direction of where you moved it.

You build your own dinosaur and have to get it to be balanced out.  Um, puny head and large legs.  Not quite what we were going for.

Abishai wasn't afraid of this at all.  And hair on a dinosaur?  That's unique!

Look, Mom, it's Han in the concrete!  How do we get him out of there?  I didn't read the inscription so I don't know if this is a real movie prop or just a replica, but I'm guessing a replica.  It was fun for him to see it in real life and full size.  It was outside the permanent "pop culture" exhibit.

We spent a good amount of time learning about local celebrity Ryan White.  He had aids at the time where no one really understood it and he brought a ton of education and awareness about it. He was just a teenager.  I remember when aids was talked about a lot and people were unsure of how it was spread.  So people would be afraid of other people who had aids.  It's a form of uninformed discrimination like the other two children featured in the "Power of Children" exhibit featuring Anne Frank (a Jew in WWII) and Ruby Bridges (segregated schools in the 1960's).  It's typically a quiet exhibit because kids have to be a certain age to really understand it.  At least my kids remember and know Anne Frank well!

Being a camera man like big brother Benaiah.

Justin would not make it in the newsworld because he can't speak up and clearly.  They showed clips of news interview on the screen behind him with Ryan White.

He was 10 years older than me.  Wow.

Little newscasters.

I definitely easily recognized these! My Teddy Ruxpin is in Gary and Leah's shed (it was supposed to go to my sister 7 years ago and didn't make it on the truck and I haven't brought it over here yet because we are tight on room).  And those are raisinets!  And Yes, I have a few buttons from things.

Interesting.

First thing Justin noticed was the Captain America comic book and the villian that nobody talks about.  I thought the "remember Pearl Harbor" plaque reminded me of all the "Remember 9/11" or "Never forget 9/11" posters.

Real Jewish star from WWII.

Cutest doctor!

He did NOT want to sit up because he wanted to drive!

I bet he could be a race car driver someday.  They have this race car in the atrium on the 34rd floor all the time.  But soon they will be putting out their hot wheel month of racing annual exhibit because it's almost May, race month!

We finally got to see the Paw Patrol exhibit.  It all looked nice, but it didn't seem to have enough things to actually do and it wasn't very educational.  And I think Abishai is phasing out of this phase anyway.  He almost didn't want to see it, but by the end, he was excited about having "met" all the characters.

Pretty simple magnetic game.

Buttons that light up but don't do anything inside the Paw Patroller.

You could stand underneath the look out tower but it didn't do anything.  The scope on the top rotated.

Abishai did not want to pose with any of the characters.  And he barely hugged them.  But here is Skye, who used to be his favorite.  His current favorite is Rocky, the recycling pup.

Paw Ship? or whatever it's called.  Same thing, pack a couple of the pups back and push some random buttons.

Tracker

It was hard to get Abishai to stand still long enough so I get a picture.  He just wanted to move on to the next element.

Helping Rocky recycle.

Justin's favorite pup because he's got lime green gear and he recycles.

The sweet shop in town!

Abishai knew the name of the shop without me prompting it.  And check out those pretend doughnuts and some of the doughnut shaped cooking form.

Back to the Paw Patroller.

Rubble!

Lookout telescope!.

Slide borrowed from Jolly Days?

Inside Jake's lodge where you can rest.

But Mom, it's not real, so why not stick my head into the fireplace!  Eek!

Chase the police pup.

Fixing the sake.

Yes we joined the adventure of finding Chickeletta!  Yeah!!!

Nice hostess.

Our clues t find the missing letters.

How many corn ear are in the basket?  How many penguins are in Jake's lodge?

How many types of things did you recycle?  How many layers of cake?  And then the numbers corresponding to letters for the secret message.

Pretend pup packs and Abishai got wear ne for a bit.

We found Chickaletta, Mayor Goodway's pet chicken who lives in her purse!  Let's pet her!

Hugs for Zuma, another current favorite.

Everest!  I though he'd be super cited about it, but nope, he's over it.

Where are you little man?

Another view of the lookout tower.  The periscope rotated automatically/continuusly!

Peek a boo!

You had to fix the cake of form layers before it was too late!

Making doughnuts together.

Chase is on the case!

Counting corn for Chickeletta.

Some Christmas ideas.  But Colorforms?  That's too much!  I see plenty of resuable sticker books but not the Colorform brand.  I thought they went out of business.  Neato!

Then we went over to the Sports Legend area and spent a great amount of time there.  This is floor hockey but kind of played like a large foosball story.

Both kids threw basketballs until they actually made a score/

Abishai was already getting ancy, and he kept jumping and out of this car every time he passed it.

Sports news area and street hockey thing.

Permanent Hot Wheels tracks with levers so the ramps go up and down.  The rest of the Hot Wheels things are brought out every May and June for Indy500 time in another exhibit space.

Cutest helmeted kid ever!  There had been a small presentation wrapping up as we walked into the area, and after they seemed to clean it all up, they left out a couple of things.  So, I let him try it when he spied it and picked it up.  We only used it for 1 minute.  Cutie!

I could see him as an Indy racing driver, except, yeah, that's a bit too dangerous!

Hilarious!  I can remember when Justin was the little guy in the front seat of that very vehicle.  Mr. Long Legs barely fits!

When we went to get our lunch, Abishai ducked around the corner and hid.  We really didn't know which locker he was in!  So we had to literally play hide and seek to find him!  It's a good thing the museum was pretty empty by then!  Abishai!

Trying our hand at rowing!  (You'll have to watch the video of Justin doing it.  Hilarious!)

We had our closed toed shoes on and unless it's thundering and lightning, most outdoor spaces were open!  Unfortunately, you have to be 42 inches tall to use the pedal cars.  Each car weighs 300 lbs so it's hard to get them moving.  I think they should have included a smaller car or another area for younger kids besides the treehouse.  Although some of the younger kids can try the different sports, this area is meant for the 7-adult age range.

3...2...1...go!

Come on, Justin!

Keturah won!

We still couldn't play in the treehouse today because it was wet from the rainy drizzle.  So disappointing!

I can swing, mom!

Johnsons love to rock!

Cross country skiing!  They have several stations like this set up along the walk/run "track" that goes around the whole outdoor sports area of the museum.  It's a lovely area, but does cost more for everyone to use.  It costs us $1 on top of our $2 per person we pay because of the Access Pass.  It does include the indoor sports stuff.  All of this was previously a parking lot.

My turn!  I'm big enough!

Jusin, Keturah, help me! Please!

So there was drag racing and then of course an oval representing the IMS and Indy500.  Only Keturah wanted to do the oval pedal car.  No one raced her.  There she goes!  Green flag!

Around the backstretch!

Here she comes!

And the checkered flag!

If only we hadn't promised ourselves not to put the kids into preschool sports!  We might have to break that rule for this one!  He loves soccer because of that Dora soccer game he has played at the library for the last 3 years.  He actually is quite good and runs after the ball and kicks and dribbles.

Our new soccer star?

He was quite serious when he was out there and got upset when Justin would then push the soccer ball out of the goal.  Hm,....

Keturah assisting with the pitstop.

And with making one of those pressed pennies.

The pressed pennies are still the cheapest souvenirs ever!  $0.51!!  Two quarters to pay for doing it, plus the penny to be pressed. 

A real brontosaurus/brachisauras bone!  Wow!  I think this is one I've seen in the paleo lab over the years maybe.  Cool!

Cutest little Canadian astronaut you've ever seen!  There was a Canadian patch on the jacket too!

So adorable!

The astronauts assistants.

"I'm going to vacuum you up!"

Yup, that's right, they take MM's into space!

Let's see what we can get up to!

Messing with the train schedule....I wonder if he could actually figure it out so trains run well and on time, or if he would really mess things up.

Happy place.

Another happy place.

That's a pretty neat crane car!

Abishai's "choo choo" face.

Can never get enough of this old beast and it's 5 minute light show.

Can you find Justin?

Justin, come swim with me!

He insisted on wearing the googles, the air tank and measuring with the tape measure!  He also would take a deep breath, puff out his cheeks and held it as he jumped into the "water" to measure the cannons. Adorable imagination.

See those puffed out cheeks because he's holding his breath?  So cute and s much fun!  Although the other two were way beyond being done.

Ooo, we've been in that area before on the cruise 5 years ago!

Simon says, in space!

The show about to start, but I sneaked into the planetarium because in the display case outside of it, I saw the winter space suit that was Spock's that I had seen them unveil on Facebook last fall.  And check out what I found!  This is a real movie prop from "Star Trek: Into Darkness!  How cool!

Who knew that Star Trek items would become the inspiration of communication today?

Paint added to make it look like it made a rough landing.

Here's the winter space suit senior Spock wore in the movie!

Captain James T. Kirk's costume.

Toy helmet and REAL not replica helmet someone wore in space.

Look, Mom, more Star Wars!

We've never been to a play here and we really should try.  It's free.  Look at how gorgeous this dress is!

One last try to push all the buttons as an astronaut before I literally dragged him out there.  He didn't want to leave!

The Reuben Wells train pushes cars up the hill instead of pulling them.  It's the steepest graded hill in the United States!

Abishai loved seeing the dinosaurs in the lobby trying to climb into the museum.  I think it's the cutest design as well.  So we had to repark in a spot closer to the entrance so we could say good bye.

And these guys are the ones who are trying to escape from Dinosphere!  We used to go out and around the block all the time to say good bye to these ones before driving straight down to the highway.  They put Santa hats on them in the winter.  And I know I've shown them before, but in recent years they added astronauts and a porthole on the outside of the planetarium.  I mean, really, our children's museum couldn't be more inviting!  And at $30 per adult per day, it's worth it!

Well, it was already 4:15 when we left, so I decided to take the scenic route home instead of going on the highway which was already backed up to the exit near museum.  I should have stayed on the highway because it was just as long navigating downtown.  And Abishai loves downtown, so I always try to let him see it.  Well, he fell asleep before we got 100 yards away from the museum.  Oh well, here's our Monument Circle once again.

Ready for race month!  It wasn't too clogged, just slow going.

All in all it was an ok day.  We were all a little grumpy and exhausted, but not as bad as other days have been.  But we got it done.  We saw Paw Patrol before it leaves in July and our Access Pass needs renewed.  I'm going to try to go again though, probably on a Tuesday or Wednesday.  We'll see.  We haven't used the pass in many other places, so I might try those as well here in May and June.  Such is lif

The End