The Children's Museum.

It's an amazing place. Located in Seattle Center, at the base of the Space Needle this "museum" is a kiddie wonderland. We arrived this morning just after it opened at 10am, and we didn't leave until 3pm...and we had to drag Emma out of there. (We did take a break for lunch, but I swear Em only ate long enough to stave off the hunger pangs, then she was off again)

Behold the wonders....

First was the "Discovery Zone"...basically a big foam play area for kids 0-3...it also incorporated slides, a water table, "fun tubes" (big plastic tubes filled with things like balls, glitter and feathers) as well as simple puzzles and light up fish laid in the floor.

On to the Neighborhood Grocery...a tiny, fully equipped grocery store.Emma worked very hard at the counter...she "beeped" every item over the scanner and "swiped" her Daddy's future shop card to pay for all purchases.While Emma was busy working hard I took the opportunity to snap a pic of my new Coach bag...it's a total knockoff I bought from a guy outside of Pike Place Market, but I loooove it.Then it was on to the tiny taco place, where kids could serve up some great Mexican faves, and then sit down and enjoy them too. Just around the corner from the taco place was the theatre, where kids can dress up and perform....and should they not be into acting they can work behind the scenes at the fully functioning light/sound board, which is of course pint sized. (If you haven't guessed yet, EVERYTHING was)Emma and Daddy working hard in the construction zone, where kids are supplied with tool belts and tons of materials with which to get building.Visiting the "Mountain Range" meant dressing up like a bear, exploring caves, visiting a campsite and literally finding a surprise under every rock.

Now, when I said everything was kid sized in this place I meant it...it may be hard to tell, but this toilet is only about a foot off the floor...Emma was delighted with a potty and sink just her size.After a potty break we were on to the "Imagination Zone", where kids are given everything they could want to create....there is painting...

And clay....And a craft table...this month's craft theme was "texture" and they only use recycled materials for their crafts...pieces of cardboard, scraps of cloth, bits of straw, and cut up pieces of yogurt containers were some of the materials kids had to work with."Cog City" is a huge room filler with levers, pulleys, tubes and conveyor belt...kid are given ping pong balls and let loose to see what happens.What happens of I put this ball though here???At the "Global Village" Emma practiced her sewing in Africa...Rode a bike thingy in Portugal......and took a train ride in Japan....Our last stop was at the "Quiet Zone", a large room painted like an enchanted forest with an elf-filled tree at the center and giant pillows on the floor it is filled with story books for the kids and shelves of parenting books for the grown-ups.

As you can probably tell y the 800 pictures and this super long post, this was my favorite stop on our visit to Seattle...it's such a great place, and every child seemed to be in heaven....it is also connected to Seattle's Children's Theatre, which shows plays and concerts just for the 12 and under set. I soo wish we had something like this in Victoria. But the day wasn't all for Emma...just across the way from the Children's Museum is the Science Fiction Museum and Hall of Fame....3 floors of all the things a Geek like myself could love....my favorite?? The costume of "evil Kirk" from the original Star Trek series....Oh, and Indiana Jones' jacket and whip...they said we weren't allowed to take pictures, and I was going to ignore this warning, but they take the rule very seriously and there was security in every room....but in the end I did buy Chris a Star Wars tee, and I think Emma looks darn cute in it!!

Tomorrow we make our way home, stopping along the way for me to do some shopping....then Emma has her fist days of school on Thursday (meeting her teacher) and Friday (first full day)...I can't believe it's that time already. Where did the summer go??