The Children's Museum

Ludington opened a new children's museum. My mom had seen it on a previous trip and was excited about taking the boys there. Unfortunately, the first day she tried to take them they were closed due to the power outage. Oh, did I forget to mention that not only were we on day three of nothing but rain, two sick children, cramped living quarters, and now we wake up with no power. Ah, the fun never ends... Anyhoo, we were all able to go on the second try. And I am glad we were as it was really fun. They had all kinds of stations set up that the boys could explore. Again, it had been raining for EVER so it was kind of busy. We were there for a good couple of hours, though, so we were able to take it all in. They had this fun little river set up. The water actually moved down the table so they could try to get the boats from one end to the other. They also had animals and trees out so the kids could set up the river habitat as well. Benjamin loved playing in the water. They had a stage with working microphones. I am surprised the boys didn't spend more time here but I'm guessing it was because the microphones were not all that loud. They really couldn't hear themselves performing. They had a puppet theater with all kinds of puppets. Noah really got in to puppets at school last year so he had a good with that. He did not so much like sharing the opening with Benjamin. Surprised? Me either. They had a real sail boat that the kids could play in. They could put the sails up and down - luckily it did not swing around as that could have been trouble. The boat was surrounded by those little, blue, rubber balls so the kids could practice their boat bailing. They loved that part too. (Notice the mural painted on the wall. How cool is that?) And what play area in Ludington would not be complete without a sand box? When my parents lived there tehy actually had a sand box in their basement. (My brothers had all the cool toys...) Noah's favorite part was the grocery store and the restaurant - the House of Flavors, to be exact. He took daddy's order and reported to the kitchen to prepare it. Actually, the little girl you see in the picture designated herself as the short order cook, Noah was more of just a waiter. He'd tell her what he needed and then wait patiently while she put it together so he could deliver it to the table. They also had a vet station with lots of cages and stuffed animals but, surprisingly, no one spent much time there. All in all, it was a great time. Had the sun not come out the rest of the week, we most definitely would have returned.