MN Children's Museum

I finally snagged the library pass to the Minnesota Children's Museum!  Lest you think that's so simple, I dare you to get it!  With our free admission in hand, the four of us trekked up to St. Paul yesterday to explore the awesomeness of the Children's Museum.

We were not disappointed!  It was a kiddie dream come true.  I said to Hubs that if the kids were older, this would be the perfect place to spend an entire day totally entertained.

"Habitot" was an exhibit specially designed for 6-48 month-olds, where we began.  There were different "habitats" for the kids to explore, things to climb and slide, flowers to spin and "pick," bridges to cross, and chimes to sound - for starters.  The guys were running like the wind, so yes, these are the best of the shots we took!

N spins the sunflowers

M climbs up the net

M gets a push down the slide

N giggles down on his tummy

A great shot of N's curls

N learns about animals

N struts his stuff on the Habitots bridge

N sounds the chimes in Habitots

There were several other rooms we checked out, but were geared for older kids, so we didn't spend much time in them.  For the record, I give "Earth World" a big thumbs-down, as it contains a GIANT anthill designed for kids to (literally) crawl through, searching for their "queen."  This might be a gas for a 60-pound 10 year old, but not so much for an, ahem, bigger person, crawling after her 17-month old who is RUNNING through the tunnels.  How did this thing pass fire safety codes?!

So we ventured into Water Works, which easily tied Habitots as the coolest place in the Museum.
There was a "Tiny Tots" water table where the kids were supposed to put ping-pong balls into the tubes and watch them go through as the water moved them.  The boys were mesmerized: I think we could have stayed there for hours!

My two little scientists!

N loads up the tubes

M is concentrating hard!

There it goes!

We finished our fun family day with pizza at Cossetta's, the best Italian restaurant and market in the area.  Since it's just a block or two from United Hospital, Hubs ate a lot of Cossetta's the week I was hospitalized after giving birth.  It's a great fun old place to visit!  The boys gobbled up the pizza, of course, and then zonked out on the way home: