Christmas Vacation Day 8

Wednesday morning, we packed ourselves and some snacks up and headed for Indianapolis. The boys read a little in the car, but played dsi most of the way there. We arrived in Indy around 10:15 to find the museum already PACKED - people were streaming into the garage and parking lot. I bought our tickets, and we headed downstairs to find out about getting into the free planetarium shows and theater. We managed to get planetarium tickets for 11:00 and tickets to see Dorothy and the Land of Oz at 3:00. It was smart to get there early, because I noticed later how quickly they ran out of them. Being on the lower level gave us a few minutes to enjoy the Fireworks of Glass Sculpture's "glass ceiling" installation by Dale Chihuly. I think both Zachary and I could've watched it for hours. He was pointing out shapes and interesting looking creations left and right.

We lined up early to watch the planetarium show, which turned out to be unnecessary, as all the seats inside were just fine. I think the boys enjoyed the idea of seeing what the night sky looks like right now. They pointed out how to find both dippers and the north star, then showed some constellations. I've never really understood the big deal with constellations, as they really look nothing like what they're supposed to be and I just don't get it. Both boys recognized some of the names from Greek Mythology, though (especially Zachary, who just finished the first book of the Percy Jackson series). I like that it reinforced the mythological stories that they will probably study some day.

After the planetarium, we went all the way upstairs to the science area. It turned out to be aimed at a bit younger demographic with less hands-on activities than I had been expecting. There was a rube-goldberg machine that Zachary could have watched for hours. Everything was extremely crowded, so it was difficult to stay there too long. We did go upstairs to a "lab" where families could do activities together. The only ones available were making an animated movie and creating "sculptures" from molds. They both seemed to like making the movie (you moved little bits around on a mummy, and were supposed to be learning about the process of mummification).

Also on the top floor was an historic carousel (which we didn't ride because of lack of interest and a very long line), a mirror maze, and a display of toys through the years. The boys liked playing Pong and Pac Man and seeing an original Mario game in action. They even played for a few minutes in some play houses.

On our way downstairs for lunch, we stopped in at an exhibit that talked about the importance of storytelling. Honestly, Tim and didn't find it very interesting, but they sat at old fashioned telephone receivers and listened to stories recorded by members of the local African-American community for probably a half hour. Once they sit down at something like that, they want to listen to every little thing. It reminded me of the time we went to the Freedom Center and they did the same thing with the loaner i-pods. They would not miss even ONE of the recorded segments.

We finally gave in to hunger and went looking for lunch. The food court was such a mess that we left everything (including our coats) locked away in the locker (for fear of not getting another when we came back) and went out to the car for lunch. I had brought "emergency provisions," so we had triscuits, grapes, veggies, hummus, corn chips, and cheese. Every was relatively happy with this arrangement, considering we promised them pizza later in exchange for not whining about skipping the food court!

On our way back into the museum, we stopped to check out the water clock, then waited 4 minutes to watch it change the hour (which really wasn't all that). Again, Zachary stood mesmerized, I imagine trying to figure out how it works. Just as it turned 2 PM, a snowball fight broke out in the main lobby area. OK - it was a planned activity, but I think it was the kids' favorite part of the day. The "referee" had her helper dump out hundreds of fuzzy white "snowballs" and the kids went wild. There were different rounds, like kids vs adults, on your knees, slow motion, and boys vs girls. It really was a good time, even if it was designed to get people to buy the fake snowballs (only $10 for 9 balls!). It's a good thing we already had a set at home thanks to the Hains' homemade Christmas gift to our family for the small group Christmas party!

We decided to check out the temporary frog exhibit, since we had just a little time before the theater. Thanks to a little scavenger hunt card, we looked at every single frog. Jeremy had to get to everything on the list (reddest, most poisonous, frog that can "fly", biggest, and more). The most interesting thing we learned is that the poisonous dart frog is the most poisonous creature on earth, and estimates are that the poison from one frog could kill 80 humans. However, the actual frogs we were looking at weren't poisonous at all. The diet of the frog is what creates the poison, and they are not fed the specific kind of ant that has eaten the specific vegetation that makes the frog poisonous. Kind of geeky, but I found it interesting!

We then headed back to the lower level, where we watched Dorothy and the Land of Oz. It wasn't quite as good as I was hoping it might be, but the kids actually seemed to like it (even though Zachary is adamant that he will never watch the actual movie). Neither boy had any interest in meeting the actors after the performance.

There was a large steam engine display near the theater are, so the kids took a look at that. They also spent a few minutes in a display about archaeology and ancient Chinese statues. I even convinced them to let me spend 3 minutes in the Barbie exhibit, though Zachary wouldn't actually go in. Sadly, a Barbie doll that I actually own (Western Barbie!) was on display as a "historical" toy!!

We left around 4:45, just a few minutes before the museum closed. There was an exhibit on Egypt and one on the power of Children that I had hoped to get to, but there was just no time. All in all, I think we saw about as much as we could have for one day. They are almost too old for places like this, so I'm very glad we went when we did.

Tuesday night, I had researched places to eat in Indy. Bazbeaux's Pizza kept showing up in "Best of Indy" lists, so I found one about 10 miles from the museum, and we used the GPS to get us there. It was in a fun-looking area called Broad Ripple. We had delicious pizza - the boys had pepperoni/olive and pepperoni/cheddar while Tim and I had a quattro fromagio and veggie. It was a great end to a fun day. I was completely exhausted, and everyone went to bed not long after we got home.