Discovery Place (Uptown)

I've been wanting to go to Discovery Place (the main museum uptown) for a while now. I used to take my 5th graders on field trips there and always had so much fun. While the museum has plenty of toddler appropriate exhibits, it was certainly not designed for such young children. We have a membership to Discovery Place Kids, which caters towards children five and under. I wasn't sure if it would be worth it to take the trio to the main location.

One of my many family goals during Jesse's spring break (aka this week) was to go to Discovery Place. We could either pay $42 for a one-time admission, or pay $30 to upgrade our membership to include both Discovery Place locations. Clearly we chose the latter. (Frightening fact: Once the trio turn two in July, it would cost our family $78 for daily admission without the membership!)

Jackson and I share an appreciation for uptown. As we were driving through the city, Jackson kept pointing and providing commentary on all the skyscrapers. The only reason we don't go uptown more often is the difficulty in finding free parking.

By the time we finally got our wristbands, we only had an hour and a half before closing time. There were several areas we didn't even enter. Here are the highlights from our afternoon.

Jackson had a hard time understanding that the animals were real but not alive.

Everyone enjoyed the eye-level aquariums.

Jellyfish--my favorite!

Attempting to learn some geography

So many great physics lessons!

James just swatted the ball and blocked the air vents. Go figure

Jackson bravely laid on the bed of nails.

We spent the least amount of time in the building area, thanks to some overzealous adult builders.

Everyone got a turn walking across the rope bridge in the rain forest.

The boys were the only ones willing to walk by themselves.

What's not pictured is the tennis ball being propelled upwards 50+ feet

There's an entire frog exhibit

Amelia and Jackson liked to watch one of the frogs jump. Maddie kept tap dancing.

The last exhibit we saw was one on optical illusions. The girls were confined to the stroller by this point.

Goodbye, polar bear. James kept petting him.

 I don't think I'll be taking the kids to this museum by myself, but it will be fun to return this summer. All in all, it was a very stimulating and interesting afternoon together.