Day trip

Today was a brave new adventure. The girls and I headed off in grandma's minivan to New Braunfels (an hour south of Austin) with Beth and Piper to visit the McKenna Children's Museum.

In spite of some teething-associated fussiness on Piper's part, and a restaurant meltdown on Natalie's, I think the girls had a great time. They seemed to enjoy each other's company (and lots of snacks, toys and books--thanks Beth!) on the trip down. Rachel was asleep for most of both legs of the trip. On the way back there was a little bit of overtired toddler fussiness, both both toddlers did finally drift off to dreamland.

The museum itself was pretty fabulous, for the most part. At $7.50 per person over 12 months old, it was a little on the pricey end, but well worth it for an occasional day trip. The girls enjoyed having the run of a mock grocery store, ambulance, hospital, science lab, train table, bat cave (including batwing capes--see photos), aquarium, campground, ranch house, newspaper building, bank, rocket ship, mission control and a dark quiet room with interactive art projected on two walls. Their energy fizzled out before we had a chance to experience the art room (paint!) or outdoor water play area, both of which probably would have necessitated another change of clothes anyway.

The exhibits were very toddler-friendly, but also interesting enough to engage, educate and entertain older kids.

My only complaint was that the museum restaurant was poorly laid out (drinks were blocked by the cashier line, for example) and not kid-friendly.

Still, it was a great first roadtrip with friends. We might try Dallas or even Oklahoma City next time--as luck would have it, Beth and I both spent some of our formative years in OKC. Her parents still live just outside of the city. There are some high school friends I could look up and visit. And there's always McGehee's Catfish and Arbuckle Wilderness on the way up.