Adventure!

Nashville's Adventure Science Center, that is! Kate and I met up with Becca and her mommy for some adventurous, scientific, centrist fun on Saturday. Kate was feeling so adventurous, in fact, that she tolderated the giant-flower-hat Mommy wanted her to wear. (yay!)

Kate and Becca had a grand time exploring all the fun, hands-on exhibits. I remember when Louisville's science museum rebranded itself as the Louisville Science Center. Such a fun thing, showing kids how science is fun and an integral part of so many areas of life. They walked across the giant piano keyboard...

 ...and enjoyed the model trains on display. (I loved that too--all those miniature towns take me back to my antebellum-doll-playing days.)

A major highlight of the visit was the Sesame Street planetarium show, in which Big Bird, Elmo, and their Chinese friend Hu Hu Chu (the Beijing Planetarium co-sponsored the show) taught kids about the sun, moon, Big Dipper, and North Star. Becca and Kate are both HUGE Elmo fans, but Kate didn't go as nuts as I expected. She went into awe-struck "new experience" mode (i.e. quiet) and then laid her head down on me, since it was past nap time. Nonetheless, it was a great show--only 30 minutes, since geared for the preschool set--and kids under 2 get in free, so it didn't bother me that she didn't pay attention.

After the show, we visited the Body Quest area, all about health and bodily systems and functions. My favorite thing was this mouth that opened and closed as you tried to toss balls in it. It was like an arcade game, and I could have played that all day!

 The mouth was the beginning of the digestive system corner, which ended with this big slide that Kate went on over and over. I assumed at first that it was supposed to be a big tongue...

 ...but no, it was the colo-rectal chute. Seriously. Don't believe me?

Um, yeah.

The girls had such a fun time exploring the different exhibits, and seemed to interact more than in the past. (Like when we went to the zoo a couple months ago; Becca kept trying to hold Kate's hand and Kate wanted no part of it.) This time, they seemed to play together a little more, and they can call each other by name. (Well, "Decca"... close enough.) It is so fun watching her social skills develop and seeing these young friendships blossom.

On that same note, I just have to share this pic from when Matt and I went to Kate's school last week for their Santa Claus visit. We waited around in the classroom for a while before it was their class' turn, and it was so fun to see Kate with her little friend Amy. They were running around together, and decided to hug. (I promise it was more consensual than it appears! Amy just has a funny look on her face!)

We had so much fun. Thanks for coming out to play, Becca and Nancy!