Monday, June 27, 2011

Strong Museum of Play











We have begun venturing out on Summer adventures. One of our most recent was The Strong Museum of Play in Rochester, NY. It was our first time there. The car ride was long and the day was rainy...ick. This means the place would be packed and my children would be grumpy...or so I thought. When we arrived and walked in the door, 2 double strollers, one large diaper bag and 5 cranky kids in tow, everyone began to melt down. We decided to buy a family pass in order to save a few $$$. This was a long process of filling out paperwork and other time consuming processes that made the kids freak out. Why do certain things take so long...don't they know my kids are impatient!!!

When our sign up process was over we proceeded to the museum. This isn't your average museum. This one is INTERACTIVE! That's right, we set the beasts free and off they ran in 5 different directions! OH CRAP!!!!!! We didn't think this through! Austin headed to a movie room, Max tried to climb and exhibit, Em ran to the puzzle area, Alex ran to the post office and Grif found SESAME STREET!!!! We eventually wrangled everyone together and continued on.

We played for a few hours, in and out of Sesame Street, Post Office, a huge Ship, and a million other exhibits that seem to completely pass me by because I was in a constant state of counting the 5 kids. At one point I grabbed Max's hand and it was NOT MAX!!!!

We decided to take a break and get lunch. I have to say, for a pretty progressive place, they had nothing but UNHEALTHY food. Pizza Hut, Taco Bell and Subway. No Gluten Free alternatives, no salads, no soy milk, no vitamins! I was disappointed. Also, you can't bring in your own food...FAIL!

After lunch we headed to the second floor. Interactive dance room, more museum type stuff with vintage toys behind glass, a game room and finally a block room. We decided this would be are last stop. The boys wee tired and so were mom and dad. As we headed towards the door we saw another room with all kinds of tinkery stuff. Emerson found a dance machine and danced his butt off....too funny! It was sensory overload.

Again we headed out. Only to discover a whole room with Bernstein Bears and Super Heroes that we had completely missed. Oh well, we will save it for next time. After all, we do have a family pass now!