Spring Break Fun

Since I am now full term and can't travel anywhere, I was determined to make sure we did some fun activities with Jasmine before I went into labor. Also, it is better than plopping her in front of the TV - which I hate to do. It doesn't mean that I don't let her watch some, but I don't like it to get excessive.I have been wanting to take her to a childrens museum and since Laura was still with us I determined we would do it the first day of spring break. Since the closest one is in Baltimore, it made it more bearable to do the drive since I had a friend with me as well as my sweet daughter.
Port Discovery was a neat little museum - and it was smaller than I thought it would be. They had a lot of cute activities for the kids and Jasmine wanted to try them all. In the middle of the museum, they have a large climbing kids zone and Jasmine had a bit of fun trying that out first.Next, we went to an exhibit called Joshua's dream and Laura and Jasmine built a Lincoln Log house and Jasmine and I made stone soup at the campfire. She had a lot of fun with this and I think I may need to get her some Lincoln logs to play with at home. I loved how Laura got down on the floor with her and engaged. She says she isn't good with kids, but she is amazing with Jasmine.We also explored the farm exhibits and Jasmine brushed a pretend pony's tail and milked a pretend cow.On the second floor we went into a grocery store exhibit and let Jasmine shop for foods. I tried to explain the difference between healthy foods and not so healthy foods but if you check out her basket, I am not sure the talk sunk in. She did snag every piece of fruit she could get her hands on - so I suppose that is a good thing. We then did a check out and scanned the bar codes of the food and she had a blast doing that. She was very independent however and tried to push us away when we tried to help her.They had an exhibit that allowed kids to explore Egypt and Jasmine later told me that the exploring was her favorite part. Jasmine and Laura used the hieroglyphics wheel to spell out Jasmine and Ava's names and Jasmine had fun on the barge simulation they had. We also walked through a pretend tomb and Jasmine got Laura to hold her because she acted scared of the different noises we heard there. We acted like explorers and Jasmine really took to that - she loves a good adventure.After visiting Egypt, Jasmine got a taste of working in a widget factory and spent a little time in the younger kids play area. She also wanted to play on the pretend train.The last activity we did before we took a lunch break was learn about Venetian masks and Jasmine got to make one. I think we pushed a bit too far on this last activity because as she was so hungry, it turned into a battle and she ended up in tears by the end of it. We did finish the mask and left it there to dry and pick up before we went home.There was a McDonalds right next door so since that was fast and easy, we took that option. It was amazing to see the change in Jasmine as soon as she had food in her belly. She takes after her father in this aspect - never let Lorne get too hungry or he gets grouchy!
After lunch, we explored the 3rd floor of the museum and played on another pretend train, went to a fruit marlet, visited the Wild Wild West and played some dress up. We were sad to find out that the waterworks exhibit where the kids can play with water was closed for maintenance that day.Our final stop of the day was the Diner, where Jasmine really had fun pretending to cook food for us, take orders, pass out menus and play cashier with the pretend money. She was quite bossy with the money and didn't want other kids handling it - it was funny to watch. She had a blast there and we let her play and run wild there for about 20 minutes. Then it was time to go and so we picked up the mask (which had dried by this time) and Jasmine was happy to put it on for a picture. Please notice the pink mylar streamers that hang off the mask - Laura put them on as the symbolic tears that were shed during the making of said mask.All in all it was a wonderful day and Jasmine fell asleep in the car about 5 minutes after leaving the museum. She had fun telling Daddy all about it later and it was a wonderful way to spend a day with a dear friend and my amazing daughter! Next we'll have to try the Children's Museum in Richmond!