Our Summer Morning at the Science Museum

In past blogs I described that when my sister and I were kids, my parents took us to Balboa Park quite frequently.  As a kid, I very clearly remember walking down the beautifully landscaped walkway to the glittering koi pond in front of the Botanical Gardens.  I remember picnicking before watching a Shakespearean play at the Old Globe Theatre.  For me, Balboa is easily the most well-planned, kid-friendly, scenic, historic and gorgeous park in California, and it holds very special memories.  

My own family loves Balboa so much that the park was one of our main summer destinations last year.  Last summer, the kids had fun playing on the stairs at Balboa, viewed dinosaurs at the Museum of Natural History, and ate shave ice until their teeth turned blue.  

This year is no different.  We've been here for only seven days, and we've been to the park at least three times.  My sister, Ayron convinced me that I needed a pass to the Science Center Museum since they have a new kids' exhibit.  So I bought the family pass, which came complete with 8 free Imax movie tickets....nice!  Ayron was spot on with her advice!  The science center was awesome, and we will be returning many, many times!!  

All the toys are totally fun but also learning centered.  Cubby enjoyed turning the wheel on this giant set of gears.

J.D. worked on some sweet tunes on the xylophone.  His dad was very proud!

Emma turned the giant wheel to watch the little balls go around and around.

After sucking the balls in, these tubes blew air out the top, forcing the balls to shoot out into a tub at the top.  The balls then funneled back down to the bottom. The three-year-olds had a field day with this one!

We have a couple of cutie-pie firefighters on our hands!

This climbing gym was made out of stars!  Adventurous Cubby was my only child who dared to climb all over the oddly shaped playground.

Then the kids formed their own star structures.

Cool tunnel!

The increasingly technology savvy three-year-olds played games on the computers and learned their letters and shapes at the same time.

Cousin Ell loves to ham it up in the fire truck!

Now this was my favorite toy.  This super long grocery market checkout line was so fun!  Emma placed  food items on the conveyer belt, Cubby turned the wheel to make it move, then J.D. gathered the goods in the cart at the end.  

We walked over to the incredibly clear and beautiful koi and lily pad pond next.  The girls spotted lots of beautiful, colorful fish and flowers.  By the way, this is what happens when I say, "Get together!"  It's like they can't squeeze in enough.....I love it!

This is one of my favorite shots so far.  Here is poor little Gigi, who is just about plumb tuckered out, waiting for the Balboa tram to take us on a short tour of the park.  For as many years as I have been frequenting the park, I've never taken the tram, but it was 20 minutes of free fun!  The kids loved riding around with no windows while the driver described some of the park's features.

Once on the tram, we were all smiles again!

After a rigorous day of trekking around in the beautiful San Diego air, it was time for a little soft serve.  Aahhh......we love vacation.