Gettin' some culture!

School is officially out for winter break for me! I have a little bit of freedom until January 5...well, as much freedom as one can get with two children! The boys and I decided to visit the Children's Museum in Oak Ridge one day last week. I have never been there before so I wasn't sure what to expect. I thought I might as well try it out now while I'm the only one who gets charged for admission. I think Aidan was excited about his trip: he decided to dress up for the big outing.

After making sure I had the diaper bag packed (diapers, wipes, toy school bus, bottles for Conner, juice, and the obligatory half pound bag of Goldfish), we were off to Oak Ridge. The museum looks like it's in an old school house and is situated next to a large, nice playground. After plunking down $6 to cover my admission, we explored the exhibits. There was a room called Grandma's Attic and had lots of little play things in it like an old children's tea set and old clothes to play dress-up. Every room we walked in Aidan said "Wow, look at all this stuff!" I think he was mesmerized- everything was on his level. They had a NASA room but he didn't care to much for that. We really liked the Rain Forest room. There were sounds of thunder piped in over an intercom system and any time Aidan heard it he froze where he stood and said "Thunder, we have to get out of here!" The room called the Doll House was under construction and I would like to go back and see that one. Apparently, it's like a huge life size doll house kids can play in. When I mentioned the room to Ed, he said that his son did not need to play in a doll house. Guess I won't tell him how Aidan really liked to play with the old tea set.


We continued to roam and explore the museum. They had a nice display about what life was like in the Atomic City right after the war began although Aidan didn't care for that. However, he did go bananas over the train room!
They had a life size train car that flashed lights and whistled and choo-choo'd. Aidan loved it; he climbed all over it and hollered: All Aboard, Thomas, All Aboard! Frankly, I thought it was annoying but it didn't seem to bother Conner. Conner, by the way, was content to ride in his stroller, suck on his sock, and enjoy the view throughout our adventure at the museum.
Aidan really enjoyed the model trains and tiny city. I actually thought it was very cool too. But the piece-de-resistance was the water room. Here was a replica of a body of water and a system of locks and channels that kids could play in with toy boats. The museum provided little aprons for the kids to wear so they won't get their clothes. Mind you, that would probably work with ordinary kids but this is Aidan we're talking about! He had a blast playing in this room and I'm so relieved we saved it for last. I let him go crazy, which is not hard to do. I sat back and watched him play and have a grand old time.

I'm also relieved I had a change of clothes in the car because he was soaked from his head to his shoes. Somehow, Conner got wet in the process too. Not sure how that happened, though. Anyway, it was a fun adventure and the boys had a great time.