It’s apparently part of the deal for the girls’ school to have the Thursday and Friday off from school before Halloween. The fact that it happened last year and the year before didn’t seem to register in my pea brain. The Johnsons and I wanted to think of something fun and Halloweeny for the kids to do while having that many days off from school. Upon searching the googler we learned that the Children’s Museum in Milwaukee was having a “Not-So-Scary-Halloween” event where there would be trick-or-treating and Halloween crafts/activities in and amongst the exhibits on Thursday.
Julie failed to warn me that this particular museum is in the heart of downtown (sorry I have to give her a hard time), so we made plans to eat lunch beforehand somewhere close by and then head over to the museum. But wait a second, turns out there really weren’t any restaurants nearby, and parking costs a pretty penny all over downtown. Julie vaguely remembered there being a small cafe inside the museum, so we took that risk. Whoops, it turns out the only “food” to speak of in the joint were “snacks”. So the kids subsisted on bags of chips, fruit cups, cookies, and soda. Fortunately, I also had a sippy of milk for Violet, too. Everyone managed to survive though, and we took off for our adventure quickly after eating.
Julie did warn me though that the place is usually busy and cramped tight with the exhibits. I didn’t heed her warning because I almost had an anxiety attack from the way the place was set up. The line for getting tickets has a gap between the line and cashiers which is also a walkway. They had a lady who was in charge of keeping linegoers out of the walkway and “kindly asked” us twice to stay out of the walkway. The second time I snipped back that the “snack” line we were in didn’t allow for people to enter into their gift shop. I was on edge, people. Once we got into the swing of things the stress slowly melted away, and everyone seemed to be enjoying themselves. In fact, I don’t think the kids even took notice of my agitation.
The favorite place seemed to be our first stop at the news station where the kids got to see themselves on t.v. giving news reports.
Even VIolet loved watching herself on t.v. Joey stayed by her side all day long. Unfortunately, he’s gone missing in our house somewhere (at least I hope he’s in our house somewhere). She misses him dearly.
Julie and I thought the funnest part was the life-size board game. It was based on eating healthy, and the kids had to make healthy food/lifestyle choices at each station in order to proceed. It was pretty elaborate. Everyone’s favorite station seemed to be the “Price is Right”-like spinning wheel. If it landed on junk food, then they had to keep spinning until it landed on a healthy food.
Another choice station was the video dance game.
At one point we discovered a storybook and puppet theater, and Julie and I were glad to take the break. Most of the kids got to volunteer to help out with the stories or puppet shows, so they were thrilled to get that opportunity. Right before entering the room there was a trick-or-treat station with string cheese. Each of the devoured their cheese in mere nanoseconds, so I guess the “lunch” we gave them may not have been enough food.
The girls thought they were so clever when they held up their cheese while saying cheese. Ha!
I won’t overload y’all with more pictures, but there is tons more to do at the museum. I just wish it hadn’t been nearly as busy. The kids had a ton ‘o fun though, so that’s all that really matters I suppose.
