Two Moms, Four Kids and Munchkin Monday

This past Monday, my friend Jamie and I ventured out to the Science Center for Munchkin Monday with our four munchkins, Josiah (4 years old), Isaiah (3 years old), Sophia (2 years old), and Annika (almost 1 year old).  If you haven't heard of Munchkin Mondays, it's a day at the Carnegie Science Center with activities geared for children ages two through six years old.  We were late (oh my, newsflash!), and missed most of the activities for the little kids.  So the long and short of our day was that it was a fun day at the CSC, because we love the activities there, but we didn't have any special added bonuses for Munchkin Monday.  I think for a more accurate assessment, we are going to have to go again, and next time, we will be early (okay, earlier than 1 pm...).   

I texted Jamie late Sunday night asking if she wanted to go, and she said, if she felt up to it in the morning, we would go.  We started planning our day to the CSC at quarter to ten in the morning, so it's no wonder that we didn't get there until pretty late in the day!!  Jamie offered to pick me up, since CSC admission was free for her on my family membership.  My ride arrived at 12:15 pm, and after bathroom breaks, a tumble down the front stairs by Isaiah, and some finagling of carseats into Jamie's minivan, we set off.  And a short, uneventful ride ended at the Carnegie Science Center around 1 pm.  Whew, remember when going somewhere wasn't a production in and of itself?!  Yeah, me neither...

The boys in roboworld, watching b-ball.

After getting our wristbands rather quickly (one of the perks of being a member - skipping the lines!), we set off to find the Munchkin Monday activities.  We asked the employee behind the desk for some direction, and he gave us a list of events for the day with a list of the special activities geared for munchkins.  Upon closer examination, on the daily schedule for the day, Munchkin Mondays are on Monday, September 10 through October 29 from 10:00 am until 2:00 pm.  We had only an hour left of Munchkin Monday activities!!!  We already missed quite a few activities, like story time at 11:15 am and 12:15 pm and a few special shows in the Planetarium such as The Sky Above Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood at 11 am and One World, One Sky: Big Bird's Adventure at 12 pm.  Bummer.  Big time!




We wandered up to the roboworld on the 2nd floor where we had some fun!  The boys always (and I mean ALWAYS) love the basketball robot.  I am not sure what is so mesmerizing about it, but they could watch it for a long time.  Next time, maybe I should bring a book and take a break while Isaiah watches the robot play basketball...  :)  Then Isaiah and Josiah got a picture with their favorite robots, courtesy of Carnegie Mellon University!  I'm sure they didn't really know who any of the robots were, but they still had a fun time getting their picture taken!  There was also a small table with a color wheel craft for the little ones to learn about blending colors.  Boys don't really seem into coloring at all, and Isaiah wasn't there for 15 seconds before he said, "Mommy, I'm all done."  It's a miracle that Jamie snapped the photo you see below!  Sophia was into it, so maybe coloring is better for girls...  After robots, we hit up the miniature train village.  Because what trip to the CSC would be complete without trains?! 

The boys partying with their robot buddies...

Craft plus science time!

Taken during the three minutes they paid attention

There were two shows at 2:00 pm that we hadn't missed, and we decided to try one of them to round out our Munchkin Monday experience.  One was a show in the Buhl Planetarium called Stars Over Pittsburgh and the other was a demonstration in the Kitchen Theater called Taste The Rainbow.  Stars Over Pittsburgh was not aimed at munchkins, but Taste The Rainbow was, so we opted for Taste the Rainbow.  We snuck in a few minutes late, because apparently that is what we do best...  The show seemed interesting, the presenter was asking for volunteers to help populate the rainbow with coordinating vegetable and fruit choices for each color.  And we weren't there for five minutes and Isaiah told me that he was again... all done.  So, in short, our kids lasted for five minutes or less.  Sigh.  I guess our kids just couldn't wait to be picked as volunteers? 

Isaiah learning to brush teeth!

On to what I'm sure is the busiest part of the Carnegie Science Center on Munchkin Mondays, the Exploration Station Jr., the permanent exhibit aimed at three to six year old kids, complete with water, blocks, balls, body parts and animals (stuffed and live, of course).  So we just had to be there!  For Jamie and I, we could finally relax for a minute, and just watch the entrance and exit point to ensure that no kids of ours escaped.  I was tracking Isaiah from the

Annika's aim - exploration!

giant toothbrush and Annika to the water table and minutes later realized that I no longer had my phone.  Of course.  Well, I figured if someone stole it, serves 'em right, because the screen is cracked in two places.  Jamie and I combed through my bag two times each, all while she was calling it over and over.  All this while we were trying not to lose track of three rambunctious kids.  Are you tired just reading this?  Because it was tiring to live it and relive it, whew.  Finally, someone called Jamie's phone from my phone - the Security folks at the CSC had my phone in the basement.  Crisis averted.  

Sophia at the water table!

 Now back to play time!  Sophia loved the water table, she was busy pouring and measuring and pouring and measuring, while Josiah practically took a dive into the water table.  Jamie ended up having to change each child out of wet clothes TWICE.  I think they had fun, what do you think?  And, as for Isaiah, he was busy "working".  He was driving a dump truck around and around the exhibit carrying various loads of rocks, balls and whatever else he could find.  He would take a break to play with some building blocks, and then he would tell me that he had to get back to work as he drove off with his truck.  What a crazy little dude.  We finally took a quiet break to recoup down the hallway full of "quiet" activities.  And I really think it was only Jamie and I recouping, because the kids were still ready and rearing to go...  


 
Where does that energy come from?  The Lord only knows...  At least I know that the energy ends somewhere, like in the car.  We had so much fun, but it wasn't Munchkin Monday fun.  I think next time we try Munchkin Monday, we should intend to arrive closer to 11 am to take part in all the extra activities.  So take note from our lateness (which seems to be a habit), arrive early to enjoy the activities, and maybe we will see you there!  :)