clay center fun

We had a free Saturday with decent weather, and finally, everyone was well. So, we decided to load up and drive over to Charleston to check out the Clay Center for the day. We had a wonderful time! We've had someone sick in our family every week since we walked in the door after Christmas. With day to day business and the dreary winter weather we've been really needing just a day to get out and do something fun. Elle had been last year on her field trip, but none of the rest of us had.

A water room is always a big hit with the cubs!

The music rooms were pretty fun too!

We got lunch there, but we learned that you can take food in so we'll do that next time.

This structure goes from the bottom floor to the third/top floor. Todd loved climbing it!

The place we spent the most time was the little town.  Copper loved this area! He had so much fun on the fire truck and police motorcycle.

I'll be shocked if Todd doesn't become a police officer when he grows up. He seemed to love playing on the cycle too!

However, Todd and Copper spent a ton of time in this little pretend mechanic shop. Copper loved to move the tires around and pretend he was changing them.

I love that Todd can instantly make friends with someone!

The biggest kid had fun too!

I can totally see Reese being a doctor. She played a long time taking care of these babies.

This was an "MRI machine" they could scan the babies with.

They had a house building area, energy zone, vet clinic, theater, grocery store, and diner too. There's so much we'll have to go back again.

I love that there were books everywhere!

WVU was also there showing off robots and other tech, as well as other activities from a lot of their science departments. Todd like the marbles and marshmallow building. The girls like the chemistry table where they got to draw with sharpies, and the biology table where they made bracelets. It was such a cool activity. Different biological features, such as eye color, detached ear lobes, hitchhikers thumb, etc., determined which color of bead you put on. 

It was a great day, and we even caught one of the kids saying that!

cleveland april 2018

We finally got to make a trip to Cleveland to visit RV! It was long overdue and I wish we had more time to be there. Elle ended up staying in WV because she had a birthday sleepover and the Jr. Youth Rally at church. She had a good weekend too, but was certainly missed. It was a new season for us having one of our cubs have other activities apart from the nuclear family.

We drove up Friday evening and stayed at a nice hotel. Even though we were pushing bedtime Reese and Todd still had to go swim. RV met us at the hotel so we could have a little extra time with him.

Saturday morning we did breakfast at the hotel, then went to the Cleveland Children's Museum. It's in an old mansion, and they've done a fantastic job with it! They have a coat room where you can store all your items, which is nice so that you don't have lug everything around. The entry floor also has a great art room, with crafts set up ready to do; and there's an eating area if you want to bring food.

The bottom level had a wonderful wooden play structure, reading area, and air and water play room. I think the kids loved the water play the best.

The top floor has these fun tables for play, and tons of dolls from around the world and doll houses. Most are just to look at, but they have little flashlights the kids can use to search for the museums hidden logo in each one.

RV has always talked about the great thrift stores in Cleveland, and we ended up with a little extra time that evening to check one out. We found a few things we couldn't live without, including this great American Girl Doll game for Elle. We had a good time catching up with her on her weekend. She had a great time playing with friends at her sleepover, Jr. Youth Rally, and with some other church friends until we got home.