Discovery Center Saturday

Whew.  What a great day.  I need a nap though!  My BRF and I took andrew to the Kansas Children's Discovery Center,  to eat at Juli's coffee shop, and to the mall in Topeka.  She had never been since her kids are in college now (she had triplets, my definition of SUPER MOM), and I really wanted her to check it out and help me corral and keep up with andrew.  This place is seriously the most fun and awesome place for kids.  I can't even do it justice in words, so here is a link to their website (it loads slow so give it a minute).  If we lived in Topeka, we would have a membership for sure.  They even have a daily pass where you can go to the zoo, ride the carousel and train and some sort of play land that they have in the park, as well as the discovery center.  I think i would be exhausted after a couple of those stops, so maybe when he gets older and i don't have to tote him quite so much, we will try this option.  We had been to the discovery center several months ago and andrew was just beginning to explore past the toddler room, and as expected, today he was all over the place. Probably his favorite was the ping pong ball air table and the pneumatic tubes.

As I told another mother today, we have just as much fun as he does.  We also discovered the pond and waterfall and the new music garden.  This place never ceases to amaze me.  The pond and waterfall areas are really fun because you can not only get in and wade around (which we did not do) but you can release rubber ducks at the top and watch them float all the way down to the fish pond at the bottom.  I couldn't get any pictures because andrew really wanted to get in.  It was also bubble fiesta day and andrew had so much fun running around popping the bubbles.  Unfortunately, he ran head first into another little kid while chasing the bubbles, (i have video and it's kind of funny) but they were both fine after a little bit of crying.  You could even stand in a kid's pool full of bubble solution and make a bubble around you.  After watching one kid fall in, I decided maybe that wasn't a great idea, especially since we had other plans post discovery center.

This is inside a huge plastic/glass house that you can paint the walls.  Andrew had more fun playing with the paint brush in the paint than painting the walls so maybe next time.

I think we all had so much fun just exploring and we all even attempted the sway bridge and other obstacles that previously andrew couldn't do.  I did put my big girl panties on and let him go down the big slide by myself, although I went up with him and helped him sit down to go down. I did see him get a little air time  on the way down, so next time I will probably go down with him again.  Trying not to be a helicopter parent but he is my only true offspring and I am really not ready for that first emergency room visit:)

After a few hours at the discovery center, we headed to Juli's coffee shop.  Juli use to have a shop in our little town in wamego and we LOVED her food and coffee.  Many mornings we had breakfast burritos and coffee at her place and read the papers.  That was of course pre-baby.  We were really sad to see her move her business to Topeka, but score, she was right down the road from the discovery center so any time we are in topeka on saturdays we lunch there.  She has since moved to a bigger shop in down town Topeka that is really a beautiful old building with tons of room.  I had the greek chicken wrap today and was in heaven.  Even her grilled cheese for andrew was gourmet and so yummy.  Very rarely does he clean his plate and smile while he is eating but today, he did.  We ended the day with a quick trip to the mall to try and find some shoes for his growing feet.  Good lord, he is already in a size 8!!!!  The older he gets, the more expensive the dang shoes get too.  I refuse to pay 20 bucks for a pair of shoes he will wear for a few months, so settled on a clearance pair for 10 bucks.  You can't beat that!

All in all, the day was wonderful with minimal melt downs and one nice long nap on the way home and when we got home (which is why i can blog now:).  I am always sad when hubby has to work weekends but glad to get some one on one time with little red and my friends.