Getty visit after all!

Benjamin has been asking to go back to the Zimmer Children's Museum, so I decide to head there today and meet up with Cathy, then come back here in the early afternoon to get some packing done. Unfortunately, when I got to the Zimmer, I found out that it didn't open until 12:30 today.

Cathy was psyched to visit the Getty instead, so we went there. The kids loved the tram ride (it seemed longer than I remember) and running around in the gardens (which I am not sure was a good idea because that disturbs the tranquility that adults seek in such places). Then we sat down and ate lunch before going to the family room, which is a hands on activity room for kids. This room is divided into 5 sections. The first has a mask making activity, the second has mirrors and animal magnets, the third is a construction-type activity in which the kids attach each side of a foam cylinder to the wall (this was Benjamin's favorite), the fourth was a bed with books on it (only Joshua checked this one out), and the fifth we skipped because it seemed less exciting. The kids also enjoyed walking around a fountain which had a narrow circular walkway between two pools of water (see first picture with me, Laura and Cathy) and riding the tram back down to the parking lot.

I wasn't in the mood to take the kids into any galleries, though they have free family art treasure hunt cards that would have been fun to try. Instead, since we were passing by Westwood anyway, we went to Diddy Reese, my favorite ice cream place from my graduate school years. The kids were really excited to go out for ice cream, since we do that very infrequently. I thought that they would ask for the ice cream sandwiches (in the past 10 years, the price went up $.50 to $1.50), but they asked for ice cream in a cup with a cookie on the side. I was relieved because a 3 year old with an ice cream sandwich is very messy. Later they excitedly told Daddy that they went to a restaurant that only serves ice cream!

They were so disappointed to have missed the children's museum that we stopped there for an hour after dropping off Cathy at her car. The kids had a great time, even though it is not very big. Benjamin loved the ambulence and the water table. Joshua was excited by the stage and dress up area and the puppet theater. Laura's favorite are the airplane and the lemonade stand. I rushed them out after an hour because I was worried about traffic and wanted to get back to start dinner, but they definitely could have stayed longer. The school bus exhibit was blocked off last time we were here, but Benjamin and Laura had fun playing with it today. We've been making good use out of our Association of Children's Museums membership--I would not be so excited to go to all these different museums if we had to pay admission each time.