Children's Creativity Museum with Hartley

We've been trying to get together with my friend Chelsea and her daughter Hartley for the past four months, but every day she was free, we had something planned, and every day we were free, she was out of town!  The one time we both had a date circled on our calendars, all four kids were sick (the Teenies with the sniffles and Hartley with Hand-Fout-Mouth...we were NOT risking having a house full of THAT).

So our outing on Saturday was highly anticipated by everyone.  Hartley's family lives down by Union Square and she's a big fan of the Children's Creativity Museum (it used be called the "Zeum") and the carousel outside.  Uncle Kelly came along so we could use two strollers and I wouldn't have to strap Caroline to me, and because he wanted to play, of course.

They were a bit apprehensive about the carousel when we first got there, and waiting for the horses to move produced more concern, but once the music started and we started spinning, they really, really enjoyed it.  (Thanks to Chelsea for grabbing a few of these pictures for us.)  In my family we always called it a Merry-Go-Round, though when I was a kid, because I was brilliant and knew that girl horses are called "mares", called it the "Mares Going Around".  In honor of that, all three kids chose to ride on horses for their first "go-round".

"Maybe I should try that horse, Uncle Kelly"

"Which one?"

"THIS ONE! Ha, ha ha, IT'S MINE!"

I said, "Everyone look at Mommy!" - not everyone looked.

That's more like it.

There's our paparazzi!

Our entry price gets us two rides each, so for the second ride, the boys decided they wanted to try out the giraffes.

"His neck is really tall!"

"It goes all the way UP!"

Waiting to get started (notice Max is attempting to text and drive - not recommended)

I had to apprehend Max for his texting!

Caroline is starting to have second thoughts about choosing a horse

And at the last minute she switched to a Ram!

That one's my favorite expression and totally epitomizes how much they enjoyed riding the carousel.

The Creativity Museum is designed for kids aged 4-11, it says, but there was definitely plenty to keep these kids busy.  Their favorite part, right off the bat, was the green screen slide - there's a video camera that records about 10 seconds of action and then replays it with a fancy background like water or spirals or something.  Pretty cool, even if my kids were just psyched to see their faces on the screen and didn't care about the background.

There was also a section with blocks and foam building bits and other stuff for climbing, which Max liked a lot.

Caroline and Hartley sat with Chelsea for a while playing with modeling clay, but when the boys came over, Hartley decided it was time to read books and Caroline followed her brothers out into the hall.  With all of the fancy things in the museum, they spent twenty minutes or so in the hall pushing their stools around and playing with a rubber ball from Uncle Kelly's pocket.

Oh, and playing with the water fountain, of course.

They explored the terrace and found a bubble table, then went inside to dance with the big girls in the video room, and then to the drawing station to play with chalk and markers (and, almost, scissors - good thing Uncle Kelly was paying attention!).

By the end of a couple of hours, they were completely spent and barely fought as we folded them back into the strollers to head home.