Friday, November 19, 2010

Discovery Place Kids

We met several friends on Thursday and enjoyed a day at Discovery Place Kids. DPK is, in a word or two, fun and amazing and fun and wonderful and fun and educational and fun. DPK is a children's museum geared to 18-month to 5-year olds. It's the perfect place to let your kids run and play and explore while learning.

It was worth every penny of the admission price we paid and if the budget wasn't tight at this moment in time, I'd buy a Family Membership ASAP... as in, as soon as possible so that we can go back in the next couple of weeks (or days?!) because my boys haven't stopped talking about it and are begging to go back.

I, like aways, had my camera on me and was ready to snap pictures of all the fun. But, I, being the irresponsible mom, realized I had a dead camera battery about 10 minutes into our fun adventure. The following pics are from a friend who stayed busy snapping pics and kindly agreed to share them.

(Ahem, can someone please help me out with another word besides fun? I've used it umpteen times and am just getting started!)

The boys tackled a climbing wall...  

... while the girls danced and twirled by the balance beam.
I'm sure Annalyse will be in on the fun in no time. In fact, she may be the first-ever baby to crawl across a balance beam. You just never know.
I think the kids had the most, pardon the lack of a better word, fun in the restaurant area. They brought the moms menus and we placed our orders. They assembled salads, pizzas, sandwiches, and I think I even saw a ham and potatoes come out of the oven, too.
 
They were busy having fun in the restaurant for so long, that they didn't notice the grocery store or ice-cream parlor across the aisle. No worries... I'm sure we'll be back and the boys will be zipping through the grocery store pretending to shop and check out all their goods. And, ten bucks says that Grady Lee will not put anything in his cart unless he sees a "Sale" sign or unless he asks me if I have a coupon... that kid knows my frugal shopping routine!
 
Roller coaster ball races, anyone? I didn't personally try it, but it looked like fun. (Can someone pretty please find me a thesaurus?)
Oohhh! And then there was the airport! This was a giant hit. Kids checked luggage, put it on the conveyor belt, loaded it on the baggage cart, and put it on the airplane. It was all fun and games until Grady Lee decided to race the luggage cart with all of his four-year-old-might and ended up crashing a friend. Bless his heart. Self-control is not a virtue the child yet possesses.
 
Water tables were bunches of messy fun, too. I noticed several high chairs that pull up to the water tables so that infants can sit and splash right alongside the big kids. Wow - Annalyse can't even imagine the fun coming her way once she learns how to sit up!
 
Micah was excited about a large train table. "This is bigger than the one at the toy store, Mom!" I'm telling you, Toys R Us has nothing on this set-up.
I think the sun stood still and the earth stopped when my boys saw the firetruck and fire station. I'd say they had fun here, but that would be a complete and total understatement. They are so into firetrucks and pretending to be firemen that this was a dream come true!
 
 
Next to the fire station was an ambulance. Dr. Grady and Dr. Micah jumped right into action and took their role very seriously. This dear patient had his temperature and blood pressure taken, heart beat listened to, multiple shots given, and band-aids applied in the span of about three minutes. I think all their friends were at the Vet Clinic next to the ambulance and were busy caring for lots of sick animals. My boys, however, were oblivious to that and try as I may to coax them over, they wouldn't leave the "very hurt and sick person who needs a doctor right away!"
We rounded the corner from the fire station and landed in the country. The kids drove a tractor, harvested corn, picked apples, and milked a cow. Some good ole fun down on the farm.
 
 
Are you hanging with me still? This post is getting long... but I haven't even touched on all that we saw and did! There were cars to race and drive and fix (my boys have mastered oil changes and tire rotations now), construction sites to build at (with a two-story crane), a bank to deposit and withdraw money (including a drive-up window with the tube that vacuum-sucks your money from the teller to the car), and a submarine and boat to investigate (including a very loud and very annoying boat bell to ring). And, on top of all this was a two-story playground with slides and tunnels.
Have I convinced you we had fun? Hey, I know! How about if we all meet up and go together sometime soon? Wanna?

(And, just in case anyone thought we made it through the day injury-free, let me assure you we did not. After all, Micah was there. The dear child took a running leap onto a foam mattress... only to discover it backed up to a floor-to-ceiling mirror. He nosedived right into the mirror and walked around the rest of the day with a red welt on his forehead. All in a days' fun...)

8 comments:

  1. We did have so much FUN!!! and I think that's the best word for it! Looking forward to another trip up there soon!

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  2. Wow! That sounds like a really FUN place! ;) Seriously, that's definitely on the list of places to check out when we visit sometime!

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  3. This sounds like it was a LOT of fun!!! I would love to go with them sometime.! The pics were so cute!

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  4. At the risk of sounding redundant...boy, it sure does look like FUN! I'm so bummed we missed out (BOO stomach bug!) and let me know when you guys head back!

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  5. This looks JUST like the museum in Greenville. We had a blast there...and now we have one in our own backyard. How cool...I'm sure this ties in to homeschooling in all sorts of ways! Maybe we'll have to do some "learning" pretty soon! :-)

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  6. What a great post! Thanks so much for sharing (and the cute photos as well!) Please visit again soon!

    Logan Stewart
    Manager, Marketing & PR
    Discovery Place
    logans@discoveryplace.org

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  7. Awesome post! What a great place! We have been to a number of children's museums and this looks like the best yet. Before you buy a membership, check around, though. I have heard of an annual pass to Western NC Museum (or something like that) that has a reciprocal benefit to other places. It costs less, and would be great if it also worked at Discovery Place. Missy told me about it last year... and at that time it did work for DP. Blessings!!!

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  8. Hi - I just wanted to clarify something based on the above comment. The ASTC passport program (http://www.astc.org/) works for any science center, including Discovery Place and Charlotte Nature Museum... however, Discovery Place KIDS is classified as a childrens museum not a science center, and thus would not be included in the program.

    Thanks,

    Logan Stewart
    Manager of Marketing & PR
    Discovery Place
    logans@discoveryplace.org

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