Saturday Adventures: The Children's Museum

Chris and I have lived in South Dakota for almost 5 years and we realized that we just about never leave Sioux Falls.  Ever.  We have no reason to.  Everything we need is here and, well ... there's not much elsewhere.  But there is a children's museum in Brookings that I've heard is fantastic.  And we've never been.  So on Saturday, we packed a lunch, grabbed the boys and made the hour drive north to Brookings.

(And in case you're wondering, South Dakota is a terribly boring state to drive in/through.  Even if it's just an hour.  Good thing I had good company!)

First up was the farm & grocery area.  It was amazingly interactive!  Carter was a bit stunned by everything at first, but eventually warmed up to "playing".

Brooks did a good job shopping.  With the exception of Teddy Grahams and margarine (which I made him put back), he picked out all real, whole foods.

There was this wonderfully tall climbing thing (descriptive, huh?) that had petal-like platforms and netting around.  Wish I had taken a picture of the whole thing - it reached all the way up to the 30' ceiling!  Brooks was quite intimidated by it and didn't want to go in.  But after some convincing (and me agreeing to go with him) we made the climb to the top!  I was super proud of my normally-cautious child.

Carter and Daddy climbed up a little ways, but soon left as there were several "big" kids running over Mr. C.

The water room was, as expected, a BIG hit!  In fact, after we made our way through all the rooms, we stopped one more time to play in the water!

And there was lots of music opportunities.  Brooks has taken a huge interest in music lately, so it was fun for him to play and explore the different instruments.

A whole music room!  With the SDSU marching band music playing!

Every Saturday, they have crafts available for the kids to make.  Brooks was designing a quilt square. 

In the little cafe, they serve SDSU ice cream.  And so to end our day out, we enjoyed a special ice cream treat!  It was delicious! 

Carter clearly liked it!! :) 

Yep, we wore them out! 

Normally we enjoy our Saturdays at home, just being lazy.  But I'm really glad we ventured out.  We'll definitely be going back to the Children's Museum - it just wish it wasn't an hour away!