Indianapolis Children's Museum

Since Grandpa was in Indianapolis, we took a day off of school to go pick him up from his hotel and spend the day at the Indianapolis Childrens' Museum.  This was our second time going and it was a blast.  There is sooo much to see there and so much to do that you can just barely scrape the surface of all there is to offer at one visit.  There is a huge toddler area that was perfect for Kaylee.  She could have spent an entire day, plus more, just at this area.  It is full of tactile hands on displays to explore and play.  Her favorite was the sand table.  She spent a lot of time there with Grandpa.  They also had a life size mini house where she could "play house."  She liked this a lot since it had babies, high chairs, and a kitchen in it with play food that she could feed her dolls.  Fun times!!  

The boys took off with Dad and went to visit the Hot Wheels area.  It was full of life size hot wheels cars and activities, and motorcycles....all kinds of hot wheels everything!  The boys, of course, were in hot wheels heaven!  

The dinosaur area was huge and very interesting.  In one area the kids could dress up in paleontologist outfits and study fossils and dinosaur bones.  

If you look closely, you can see Cooper's head popping up under this big dinosaur!

Jaxton spent a really long time digging up dinosaur bones in the excavation center.  He got really into it.  He had his goggles on and he was brushing the bones and uncovering new ones.  

At the holidays, they always transform the front entrance rounded stairway into a gigantic slide!  This was super fun!  They had little fabric carpets for the kids to sit on to slide down on.  I got to take Kaylee down.  It was really a thrill!  

Lastly, and most importantly, we got to visit with Santa.  He was a very kind Santa and let us take lots of pictures with him.  The boys each took a turn to talk with him and tell him what they'd like for Christmas.  Jaxton wanted wii games and a "kid vehicle," (one of those life size jeep kids cars that actually run.....hmmm I told him that Santa may not be able to get him everything he wants. :-))  Cooper asked for a Spiderman web shooter and wii games.  It was super cute to see the sparkle in the boys' eyes being around Santa.  Especially Cooper.  They have the magic still!  As we were leaving, Cooper suddenly remembered one other thing he needed to tell Santa.  He wouldn't give up.  He had to go back.  So I took him back over and he went over to tell Santa one more thing.  I'm not entirely sure what he had to tell him, but it was awfully sweet to see how genuinely he had faith in Santa.   :-)  Kaylee would not go near him without me holding her.  So for the second year in a row, we have no pictures of Kaylee on Santa's lap.  Maybe next year!

Cooper's letter: "Please bring a game boy, wiiii

Jaxton's letter: "Kid vehicle, santa suit, wii games"