Science Center with 7 kids

Roll Call:
Gracie, Libby, Charlie, Alfred, Henry, Jillian and Mallory.

Monday is a homeschool day for my kids so we went to the Science Center in Balboa Park. Also, I wanted to pick up Libby who spent the weekend with her big sister. She was feeling stressed and needed a little weekend get-away so she went to San Diego to relax from her life as a responsible 5 year old.  After two days, her big sister was the stressed one so I went to go pick her up.

I told my friend that I was going and as it happened, her daughter was out of school that day. Perfect!

We all met at the Science Center since it's a fun place to be. Three mamas and seven kids. It was really busy in the museum so I warned the kids to be careful and not get mixed into a school group and end up being loaded onto a bus. It could happen!

Gracie, Charlie and I hit the road and got to Balboa Park just in time for lunch. We swung through In N Out and grabbed a picnic lunch and ate by the big fountain in the park. While we were there, we noticed a very large group of police officers. They didn't seem to be on alert or anything, just hanging out together. Charlie was fascinated! They all grouped up in front of the fountain for photos so Charlie and I went and stood behind their photographer and looked at them. He waved and yelled to them and they waved back. He loved that!  Then he went back to his food. When he and Gracie were done eating, they wanted to stick their feet in the water. I said ok, and they know they can't get in it.  Another little girl was knee deep and prancing around in the fountain, and he got the idea that would be fun. He tried not to get in, but it was too inviting and next thing you know he was soaking wet.

Back to the car for dry clothes.  At least it was just his pants.

By the time we finished lunch, Katie was there with Libby and her boys. Time for science! I gave Katie the pass that says Lexie on it and when we went in we all just held up our passes as we walked through. The lady didn't even look at them.

The kids just love this place! It has been a long time since we've been here too. They get to touch everything!

Charlie found a thing with tiny pegs in it and you put your hand or something against the pegs and they take that shape. My mom and I were just talking about these things being sold in Walmart in the toy section. Kids love them! He was fascinated and played with it for a while. Someday I'll have to learn what this thing is called.

We made a bee-line for the section upstairs called Kid City. The kids all love this part of the museum. They play and play and play and play!

Katie and I had fun in Kid City too! One of the exhibits is a magnifying camera and a video screen and we had a great time holding our wedding rings under the magnifying camera and looking at the diamonds. So pretty!

The museum had a special exhibit about guitars. The Schumachers and guitars are a perfect mix! The kids are so lucky that they've all inherited their daddy's music genes. They are all talented and have an ear for music. All of them appreciate musical instruments, especially guitars! The highlight of the exhibit was a 43 foot electric guitar laying on the floor. That was pretty cool!

Jillian and Mallory and their mom caught up with us while we were looking at the guitars. The kids had a great time working their way through the science exhibits and playing with everything. They love being together and they are all hungry to learn anything and everything that they can.

One of the exhibits that they have is more for adults than kids; it is a Hurricane Simulator booth.  For $2, you can hop in, shut the door, and stand in hurricane force fan-wind.  Well, we didn't want to do that! For some reason though, the kids enjoy squeezing into tight spots together. They all crammed into the booth (except Alfie). We laughed so hard at them! All of us moms thought it might be a good place for time-out. We need these hurricane simulator booths at home too.

Katie and her boys left to grab a coffee for Katie and Henry was done and wanted some outdoor playtime. They went to run through the butterfly garden and then rode the Balboa Park tram around the loop. Henry loved it!

The other five kids found another room, I had no idea it was there, and it was amazing! The Tinkering Room.  It was set up like an art classroom and was supplied with markers, scissors, glue and paper. There was a project of the day list on the wall and that day's project was a zip line flyer. The employee in the room was a shy teenage boy, possibly a volunteer, and he wasn't at all interested in helping the kids make a project. Like I said, it was a very busy day in the science center that day and he had probably been run ragged by the school groups. We were fine on our own. Jillian made a zip line flyer and kept making improvements on it to make it go faster and faster on the zip line that was set up in the room. The other kids were happy to draw, cut and glue whatever they could get their hands on. No help needed! They were all content in this room and they just let their creativity flow.

At this point, we had been in the science center for four hours. Leaving was not an idea we all embraced. In fact, I think the vote was 5 to 2.  You can guess who was outvoted: The moms! We bribed them with some playground time at Pepper Grove Park.  There they could get the last of their wiggles and squeals out, and have some snacks before hitting the road for home.

Katie and the boys met up with us at the park. The kids played until five o'clock. And then begged to stay longer, but the sun was going down. Nobody can argue with the sun. We all hugged and said goodbye like we'd never see each other again, and as soon as the kids were in the car they were begging for another playdate.