Museum of Discovery

Surprise!  We're back down in Little Rock soaking up the end of the summer (and maternity leave).  I can't believe it's winding down.  Alli has this week and next before she heads to third grade, and I have one more week after that before I go back to work and Riley starts daycare.  We decided to hang here for another week to get as much Tata and Diddy time as we possibly could.  Today I packed the kids up and met Mom downtown at her work for lunch.  They have this delicious cafe in the Heifer Village - I've been dreaming about that turkey melt since the last time we went.  After lunch, we went to the newly remodeled Museum of Discovery.  I frequented this place as a child (and a daycare worker), but they've given it a complete facelift since I was last there.  Alli, John Patrick, and I had a great time.  Riley?  I am not sure she even knew we were there.

There were several different rooms with different exhibits.  I tried not to look too hard at the human body exhibit with the blood and lungs and hearts, but there were some cool things to do there - like check your balance:

Check your flexibility (John and I totally failed this, Alli did awesome):

There was also a hall that taught you a lot about sound and light waves.  Here's John and Alli adjusting the frequency on a sound played into a tube of tiny balls.  See the wave it made?

In the section on force and motion, Alli learned that she could pull herself up using a three pulley system, but no less:

And everyone gave laying on the bed of nails a go, even though Alli needed some convincing...

Who doesn't love the ball balancing sideways over the air?

In the weather area, Alli made cloud puffs while John Patrick created and destroyed a tornado.

And then they both gave a weather report.

We only had about an hour and a half before Riley lost patience, but Alli had a great time and was already planning her next trip.  I can't recommend this place enough to people visiting Little Rock (or even those of you who live there!).