A Fun Weekend

sunrise along Turnagain Arm
November 13, 2010

What a fun four day weekend we had! There was no school here on Thursday and Friday as the teachers were in Anchorage for inservice, so the the girls and I had a few days at home before our weekend in Anchorage. On Wednesday I asked them to help me make a list of things they wanted to do on our "extra stay home days". Here's what they said:

1. play Candyland
2. play computer games
3. get out the big play tent
4. play with playdough
5. make cookies
6. paint our toenails

The list seemed do-able to me, so on Thursday I made sure we incorporated a few things off the list into the usual play. Computer games, painting toenails (and fingernails, too!), making cookies and play dough all happened on Thursday. Friday brought the play tent. And more computer games! Their favorites right now are free games from the PBS website, Curious George in particular at the moment. Sesame Street is also a favorite, but their games take longer to load and we get tired of waiting!

Saturday was "go to the hotel day" because Scott's flight left Portland at 10:05 and arrived in Anchorage well after little girls go to sleep. We stayed at our favorite Homewood Suites. They're our favorite for a number reasons 1) the pool, 2) the pool, 3) the hot tub. Wait...that's the girls' list! Really though, they do have a lovely pool and hot tub, nice 1-bedroom suites with kitchens, an excellent breakfast and in the winter they're very affordable.

Before the hotel though, I took the girls to the Imaginarium at the Anchorage Museum. FUN! The kids were not that excited about it to begin with. In their mind it was one more thing to cross off the list before they got to the hotel pool. Once they got inside and saw what the Imaginarium was though, they had a blast! The Imaginarium is the kiddo portion of the Anchorage Museum. The Museum is a very cool place from top to bottom. You could spend at least a full day going through it all. With two kids it tow I focused on just the Imaginarium portion.

First up, the BP Kinetic Space. Where the girls could have played with this interactive marble maze for two hours straight!

The marbles fall down and bounce, roll, etc. through the various paths. On this side there's a spot where they build up and you flip a little lever to let them through so they continue on down. On the back side they come out through a chute and you get to start them going again by placing them into one of two holes.

Next up were several air blowing things to play with. There was one that blew a beach ball up into a cage quickly or slowly depending how the kids adjust the airflow. Then there were these smaller blowers. If you can get your kids to keep their hands out of the way, it will keep the ball up in the air like this:

Of course, you've also got to try putting your face in the air, don't you??


And then the infrared display. We took Kelsey's coat off and on to show how it was keeping her warm inside and how she changed colors on the display...pretty neat!

There are many other things going on in the BP Kinetic Space, but I'll spare you more pictures. Lots to do, that's for sure.

Next up...bubbles!

There were several different bubble stations, all of them fun!

Next is the kids play area. There are tubs and tubs of various scientific exploration toys (gears, magnets, magnifying glasses, etc.) here as well as a tree house, puppets, a water trough, a train table, a magnetic wall marble maze, x-rays and a light table. There was even a water bed to play on!

There's lots more to see and do...more pictures of us over on Fotki. After we hit McDonald's for lunch, we headed to the hotel for naps and swimming! Of course, the swimming was a hit!


In the middle of the night, Scott arrived via the hotel's airport shuttle. Two little girls were *very excited* to see Daddy in the morning and take him swimming, too!