Letters from the Evans: Children's Museum (Downtown Edition)

Because I have a fabulous Mom, a fantastic sister-in-law (Marissa), and she has a lovely sister (BreAnna) with a sweetheart of a daughter (Ruthie), Clara and I had a really great time at the Children's Museum located in downtown Houston.

We have been the one in The Woodlands a few times now, and I've really enjoyed it too. They are both pretty different, which is nice. I'm seriously considering getting a season pass so that we can visit whenever we would like without me having to think about if if it's wise to spend the money or not. If you visit 3 times in a year it's already paid for, and I'm pretty certain we'll visit that many times - especially the one closer to us.

The museum has changed a lot since I was there last (over 6(!) years ago when I was interning at Volunteer Houston - I seriously can't believe it's been that long). Now the "main" area for the big(ger) kids is a town - complete with a diner, bank, voting booth, ambulance, art studio, grocery store, truck delivery (which made me giggle) and a whole lot more. If I was a kid I would love playing in there.

--- Okay, I admit it. I need one of those as an even BIGGER kid :) ---

Oh wait. I don't like grocery shopping ... or riding in an ambulance ... hmmm, nevermind.

My point is that it was very cool :)

BUT my munchkin and Miss Ruth are too little for the town and the other exhibits around the museum, so we went upstairs where there's a Toddler Room just for kids 35months and under (hooray!) - and I did not see many kids that looked older than 24 months really, so I felt very safe letting Clara explore to her heart's content (which she definitely did).

After removing shoes per the rules, we checked out the patio area first. There are tons of little ride-on toys, ride-in toys, traffic signs, cones, a "gas station" and a few other doodads for the kids to play with. CB would have gladly remained out there indefinitely, but I thought I was going to melt, so into the A/C we needed to go.

For the record, the makers of this Taxi Cab should be ashamed. The whole purpose of the Children's Museum is for kids to explore and LEARN.

Where, I ask, is the room for the PASSENGER?!

If a Taxi Cab Driver cannot earn cab fare, how will they make a living?

Totally misleading.

AND there was a Police Car with no room to put a law-breaking person in the back. What's up with that? If they want a police vehicle without room for a passenger, shouldn't it be a motorcycle? bicycle? horse?

Don't worry, I talked Clara through the fact that if she does end up taking on professional taxing, there should be room for other people to sit as well, since that's the whole point. I think you can tell by her expression what she was thinking. That's either confusion on why the makers of this vehicle were trying to lead her astray ... or confusion about what in the world Mommy was talking about. You can pick :)

Misleading miniature vehicles aside, once we were in the A/C again (thank goodness), the girls wasted no time jumping right in exploring (and learning I'm sure :)

Until Clara saw through the window that the patio was still there. Doh.

It's okay, we distracted her.

She caught on quickly to the concept of picking the balls up from the bottom and popping them into the holes placed higher. She even figured out how to turn the knobs when the ball would get stuck part way down. Smart cookie!

Found the balls, which is staring to learn how to roll and bounce.

Climbing/walking/crawling all over the arced ramp built into the middle of the room. Ruth was actually the bigger fan of this feature I think, but Clara still enjoyed the mirrors, peek-a-boo windows, bumpy areas and steps.

The girls sitting side by side taking a (very quick) breather.

Here you can see Ruthie still on the arc ramp thingy to the right with a musical toy, and Clara climbing on a small obstacle course to the left.

Ruth liked putting the cars on the track to go vroom down. Clara liked standing guard over the cars and passing them out one by one to other kids. Little goofballs.

Ohhhh, cars!

I would like to know where Clara got the idea that you're supposed to sit in the MIDDLE of the front seat to drive. We couldn't convince her to pick one chair or the other. She settled right in, and had a lot of fun playing on this.

(Note the gas station to the left - the numbers actually go up when you put the nossel into the car!)

Ruth and Clara trying to decide who should drive and who should ride shotgun.

Time for some climbing/sliding action.

Hmmm. There's something wrong with this slide, Mom.

Nope, your feet are just getting stuck!

Thankfully BreAnna and Marissa were available to help show her how to left up her feet so they wouldn't slow her down so much!

Ruthie was a quick study and did it over and over - I think she really enjoyed it.

Truck driver with a fireman's hat. What could possibly make more sense? Or look cuter?

Nothing. Absolutely nothing.

Again, she'd rather not sit on the seat. I would love to know where she got this idea from?

She liked spinning the wheels, turning the knobs, and pressing the gas pedal to make the car sound like it was speeding up.

(So focused)

Hanging out with Lulu and Auntie M

We are so blessed.

"Hi Mama"

If you've spent time with babies/toddlers, you know that they really enjoy hoping and closing doors. This was a big hit - AND there was a super cute baby behind the door! Who knew?