orlando science center: daddy's theme park

we spent a wonderful few days in orlando this past week. of course i took way too many pictures to fit our whole vacation into one post... so i'll start with the orlando science center. this was my bribe to brian to take this trip. :) i knew he'd love to experience this with ethan, and i was right!


our first discovery was "kidstown", the area designed just for younger kiddos. ethan and caroline could have stayed there all day. ethan actually could've stayed at the mechanics exhibit for most of the day... it was adorable. (if fixing a car can be adorable!) you can change tires, check under the hood for various parts w/ sound affects, replace the license plates, and even slide under the car to fix the muffler.





next, we explored the orange grove factory, where the kids picked "oranges" and imitated harvesting them. the kids loved the factory noises and whistles that blew as you worked. the picked oranges go into a tube that moves the oranges along above you as you cycle. (this is the only bicycling i'm doing these days!) the oranges then plop into a bin (i know, real technical, huh?) and the kids transfer them to the conveyor belt. something may happen after that, but this area suddenly got bombarded with very-excited boys, so we moved on!





ethan and caroline stayed busy with the little red kitchen. i have actually been shopping around for kitchens for a possible christmas present for the kids, and i fell in love with this one. i found out that it is $700 from pottery barn, so i told the kids to enjoy it that day because they'd never see that one again!!



brian's favorite part about the entire museum was this water table where you can alter the flow of water with plastic dams. the kids also had fun splashing in the water and following their boats in the current. a funny story... i was with ethan in the kitchen area while brian and caroline were playing boats. she decided to join us, and brian stayed behind to finish his big levee project. :) a few minutes later, an employee walks in and sees brian playing away and notices the empty stroller with shoes in it. but no child is anywhere to be seen. he asks brian, "do you have a toddler?" brian, not wanting to be interrupted from his project, quickly says, "yes". the employee stands there and gives brian this look like, "well, where's your kid?!" as if brian was so engrossed in the water table that he lost his child. :) my husband may be no multi-tasker, but he IS mr. safety!!!!



ok... this post is already long enough, and i haven't even finished the first level of the science center! we did spend the most time in kidstown, though, and i just loved how they had so much geared toward the little ones! i will stop here for now, though there is more to come about the science center... a very very amazing norman rockwell exhibit, which i think was worth the price of admission within itself, as well as the typical science museum stuff that my husband loves. :) hope you are having a good weekend! stay tuned for more...