So we woke up and decided we were going to go to the Parque Divertido (which is an amusement park we heard about in San Jose). Pooks was super excited (since we just got done telling her all about the rides the night before), we drove there, pulled into park, and found out they were closed! They only open on the weekends when school is in session. Major parent fail! Thankfully it was redeemed by some quick thinking and lot of hyping. A quick u-turn and off to the Children’s museum we went!
We came here 2 years ago when Sabs was in my belly and Pooks was just a wee bit. We didnt make it very far inside b/c Pooks was devastated that they put a stamp on her hand and just couldnt get her little 3 year old self over it. It was crowded with field trips and she was not having any of it, so we left after about 45 minutes. We couldn’t understand what all the hype was about b/c the museum seemed crowded and dingy and the area it was in was pretty ick looking. Fast forward 2 years and here we are at the most incredible Children’s museum i have ever been to. Yes, it kicks San Francisco’s butt, NY’s little hiney, and Italy too! Wow, we really didn’t know how huge this place was and what was a 45 minute trip last time, was over 3 hours this time around!
The museum is massive, the staff is incredibly friendly and helpful, it was insanely diverse with space,science, health, nature, exhibits, etc. It was both indoor and outdoor. It had huge pint size supermarket where the kids are given money and sent off with a shopping list to do their very own food shopping. They then checked the kids out with the money and sent them back to put all their groceries away. In Italy they had a similar exhibit except it was all ripped apart from kids running through and not putting things away and was maybe 1/4 of the size. Here the kids we taught to put their things away which was great for keeping it all organized and also teaching the children respect and manners. It was literally spotless. Sophie could have spent all day food shopping.
They had an illusion room where we were brought inside in a small group and the whole little house was lopsided. This was another Pooks favorite. They had a real plane, helicopter, train, and bus that kids could explore both inside and out. They had a playground, dinosaur exhibit, toy room, coloring/building station, and a pint size kid town with a real little police station, school, fire station, etc. that was full of costumes for the kids to try on and play pretend. Ah, this place was seriously A M A Z I N G! I still can’t believe we had no clue how huge this museum was the last time we were there. Shows how much a toddler tantrum can skew things, also guessing a mega preggo belly didn’t help the situation last time around. This time it wasnt overly crowded and all the kids were super sweet and respectful of one another. Oh, and it was $12.00. TOTAL. $12.00! Anyway, on to the pics!
The inside portion is a bit dark for photos so some are a little blurry but I just love Sabs face in the pics below. She was so amazed by the coin drop. I think we did it about 6-7 times.
Controlling the rocket ship into space
Digging up fossils and learning about diff cultures
Preparing and eating some food in the little interactive kitchen (complete with fridge of food, stove, drawers of utensils, pots/pans, etc.).
Inspecting sea creatures
Interactive health station
Milkin the cow!
Fun and art zone!
Flying a plane
House of illusions!
Playground time
Food shopping fun
Kiddie town
