On Day 2, I felt adventurous and decided to find a bus and travel to the
Exploritorium. First, I should tell you that I am not a very independent person, I don't like going to the neighborhood grocery store by myself, so to pack three kids up and herd them on a bus, take them across town in a city I am not familiar with is very unlike me. We had some bumps along the way like getting on the wrong bus from the very beginning, luckily I asked the driver if this bus went to the exploritorium and she informed me thatI needed to be catching a different bus on the other side of the street, doh, by this time Peanut and Finley were already seated at the back of the bus and I had to yell from the front to get them to hurry and run to get off so we wouldn't keep the other passengers any longer. EMBARRASSING!
Second mishap--Before leaving the hotel I asked the concierge how to get to the museum and what buses to take (didn't help) she informed me that I would need to catch bus 30 and just stay on it and it will drop me off about a block away from the building, okay easy enough. So once I was on the correct bus, (which took awhile, 3 of the correct buses had passed because they were so full they couldn't stop to pick us up) standing with a baby backpack and trying to balance myself and my two other kidlets, the bus stopped about 15 minutes later and the driver said "this is the end of my route, everybody out" WHAT??? according to the map we weren't near the exploritorium. I started to sweat. I told the driver where I was headed and he explained I needed to catch ANOTHER bus that will take me the rest of the way. luckily I had some extra cash in my wallet and was able to pay for the extra bus, otherwise I don't know what I would've done. There was another family that was going to exploritorium too, and they said I could just follow them and the teenage son even helped me with all my gear--I love nice people. So, I made it there without getting too lost, I was pretty proud of myself.
Peanut and meadow near the exploritorium, Finley refused to be in the picture.
This exhibit was based on emotions and said that this toilet had never been used and the water was perfectly safe, but not many people would drink out of this fountain just because emotions involving toilets are so strong they make it hard to put your face down and take a drink. -very true I had to convince myself it was okay.
As we walked out of the museum at closing time one of the employees was teaching about bubbles. The kids had so much fun watching and playing in these great bubbles.
After leaving, I noticed that we could see the bay if we crossed the street. so we headed over and Peanut decided she wanted to walk on the sand which ended up with her looking away for a minute and a wave coming up and getting her feet wet and pulling off her flipflops (which she was luckily able to catch), which then resulted in her feet getting sandy and us having to wash her feet off in a drinking fountain. Not a big deal, but I guess to her it was traumatic "but I didn't want to get my feet wet and the sand feels weird" was her reply.
The bus ride back to the hotel went smoother, but Finley fell asleep on my lap, meadow started crying because she was crammed into her stroller and surrounded by a dozen people standing around her and Peanut had to deal with a oriental woman trying to tell her how to make Meadow stop crying. And then I started to panic wondering how I was going to get a sleeping 4 year old, a baby in a backpack stroller, and and eight year old off of the VERY crowded bus. Obviously it all worked out and I will just say again how much I love nice people.
