The Swervin' Ervins: Jasmine Moran Children's Museum

My friend, Terri, has been trying to get me to plan a trip to the Jasmine Moran Children's Museum for at least 2 years, I think. Finally, we picked a day and put it on calendar. The day before the day arrived with a blustering storm that knocked out our power overnight for a few hours. Despite the extra stress on my end (my phone / internet modem shorted out) and hers (her A/C unit shorted out), we didn't cancel the trip.

We got out the door on Tuesday morning only 15 minutes late - which is good for us..... Except I needed to run something by Ben's office. And meet his new supervisor. And then when I got back to the car, Maddox had a stinky diaper and my "van wipes" were in my "church bag" in the closet at home. So we went to the gas station. No wipes. Went a couple exits down to the Family Dollar and got the wipes (and an extra snack for the kids), changed the stinky diaper, and were On Our Way. Only another 45 minutes lost.

But never fear, we got to the Jasmine Moran museum in Seminole by 11:15 - enough time to poke around a little, have lunch, and then play some more, right? Right!

Just inside the entrance there's this dinosaur skeleton. Kelsey and Eva had to ham it up a bit, of course.

Connor decided that he wanted to be "the judge", so he donned the robes and called the court to order.

The jurors weren't very well-behaved.

So we moved on to the fun-house mirrors and got a kick out of how fast Connor "grew".

Kelsey even learned how to float in mid-air. It was very impressive.

Meanwhile, Maddox moved on to what he really likes to do - dig and play with big trucks.

Olivia even got in on the action and built a doorway with PVC pipes.

Our indoor adventures were quickly interrupted with the announcement of the 11:30 train ride for which we had gotten tickets. So we rushed outside and hopped aboard.

Maddox was so excited!

Connor wouldn't look at me at ALL. Looking at this picture I realized how much this boy needs a haircut!

After a lovely drive around the grounds (and screaming through the tunnels)...

...we went back inside where the kids just had to play on the Big Thing.

This is easily one of the coolest Big Things that I've ever seen.

The kids climbed up, down, and all around...

...and eventually made it to the slide. Unfortunately, there's no "chicken out" route down (as Terri put it). If the kid gets to the top of the slide and decides it's too big for them, they have to climb up, around, and all the way back down again. Which Eva did.

When we went back into the main area, the kids decided to go shopping at Homeland. This is a lot like the miniature grocery at EdVenture in Columbia, SC, only the name isn't nearly as cool. You just can't top Piggly Wiggly.

Maddox had a great time shopping with Olivia, but after checking out, he left her to clean up the mess. Typical.

One of our favorite rooms was the bubbles. For obvious reasons.

Olivia had a great time making a shrinking bubble cocoon. (video)

And breaching the bubble wall was pretty cool to watch, too. (video)

We finally made it outside for our picnic, and Maddox decided to play "king of the mountain". It was a great hill... perfect for rolling down. Unfortunately, due to a bad experience the LAST time I rolled down a hill, I'm not likely to try it again soon. One day I will, though. But not when there's a recording device nearby. Or many witnesses.

Before we went back in, we headed over to let the kids try their skills at the Castle Maze.

Terri and I went up the ramp with the boys to watch the kids from the top. This was so cool!

Olivia got through pretty quickly, but Kelsey and Eva just got the middle. Rather than keep going, they decided to take the "easy way" up and scaled the slide.

Unfortunately, what was easy for Kelsey was not as easy for Eva. Kelsey decided to lend a helping hand and lend verbal encouragement. To my amusement and Terri's, one of the things she called out to Eva was, "You can do it, Eva! It'll be okay! The Lord is with you!"