A Place of Wonder, Excitement and Imagination . . .

. . . And we did not even have to take a trip to Odyssey!! Wednesday afternoon Christina and I visited the childrens musem in London. This is a wonderful place to take your kids - a place where you can play all day, do lots of pretending and using your imagination, and learn a lot of new things at the same time. All of the kids had a great time - even the one year olds. The only time we saw sadness was when it was time to go home. Here are some (many:) pictures of our fun day out.

This is Kevin, Elyse, and Kade ice fishing in the Arctic.

And of course the most reliable mode of transportation up there also happens to be the mode of transportation that Kevin has been talking non-stop about for the last month. "Mom, I can't wait till I'm big b/c then I'm gonna buy my own snowmoblile." "If I had a snowmobile, I would probably be zooming all over the yard all day and never come inside!" "Mom, when I'm 17, would I be able to drive my snowmobile to school all by myself?" and so on . . . He did find the model below unsatisfactory as it was "so rusty, you could hardly turn it!" I didn't notice any rust myself - maybe lack of muscle power!

One of the special "visiting" exibits the museum had on was "SHARKS". There were lots of pictures and facts to read/look at. Both of my boys are fascinated with sharks since we read a book about a teenage surfer who was attacked by a shark, lost her arm, but still surfs! (This is a Christian girl who homeschools and tells a neat story - Bethany Hamilton)

Elyse and Marieke were a little nervous about sitting in this big mouth, and had to take several glances back to make sure all was well.

Next, we headed to the ocean and beach for some fun in the sand searching for shells, crabs, octopuses, treasures, and more.

We then paid a visit to Sifton Village which has everything a small town would have - Mc Donalds, Post Office, Sunoco, Valu-Mart, Goodlife Fitness, Police station, a home and more. These are the cars the kids could ride around on and this is Kylie and Emily in a tight spot/traffic jam.

The kids could also do a bit of plumbing and electrical which of course makes Dad proud!

We visited the dinosaur exhibit and the caves and the kids got to see some dinosaur teeth, claws, and poop! (which of course they had to guess what it was after feeling it!) (all were molds - except the last on the list!) My kids also love dinosaurs and often set up and play with the ones we have at home. So this "lesson" was fun for them. Oh and they got to dress up too.

Here are the budding paleontologists uncovering dinosaur bones with their paintbrushes.

And Kevin in the cave with the bats!Then we were on to the old school house and kitchen where the kids enjoyed their "imaginary snack" of jellybeans. Kade had to retrive the "Bible" from the school room as a necessary component of the dinner table.Kevin as a firefighter.

. .. and Kade.

Then on to his job as mailman.

How many places can you think of where you can work as a fireman, mailman, electrician, McDonalds employee, paleontologist, grocery store clerk etc in a few short hours?!! I was impressed even though I'd visited before.

Our last stop was the space center where the kids climbed the spaceship and I'm not sure what all else. This was near the end of the day and Christina and I found a seat and parked for a while.

So this was our very fun day out and we'll definitely be back. Thanks again for coming with us Christina! So if you are ever looking for a fun (and reasonably priced) day out, try it out and of course the fitting ending to this post would have to be . . . . But why take my word for it. Find out for yourselves when you join us on todays adventure in . . . . the museum.