Arizona Science Center

Chandler, Cooper, and Tatum were my responsibility for three days this week since their mother was out of town and it was fall break for Chandler Schools. We decided to go to the Arizona Science Center one of those days. Now, I am not particularily a museum type of person so I really wasn't overly excited to do this. But, me being the good "Nana" that I am went with high expectations that it would be fun. And, IT WAS!

When we paid, the person said I could buy a "grandparent pass" for $40.00 to get ourselves and four grandchildren in free for a year. I declined because I really didn't plan on going back any time soon (expecially in a years time). We first visited the Lego exhibit. I had been warned that the previous exhibit there years ago wasn't much fun because they only had the large lego blocks for building. This time they had containers filled with the legos our kids like to use. We probably spent close to an hour with the legos.

Then we headed upstairs to the "Giant Mysterious Dinosaurs" display. I guess the exhibit had just opened the day before. It was a nice display and the kids liked it but to me all dinosaur exhibits look the same. They don't change much from exhibit to exhibit. They did enjoy digging for bones and Tatum liked the interaction with the talking dinosuars.

We all really enjoyed two other permanent exhibits at the science center. They were the "All About Me" and the "W.O.N.D.E.R. Center."

The, All About Me, you learn about how your body works and functions from the inside out. They especially enjoyed the walk through enormous working stomach complete with the sights, sounds and smells of the digestive process. In other words, you would go down this short slide and of course you would hear farting sounds. A big hit for sure!

The W.O.N.D.E.R. Center,  was an exploration of the human brain. It was wonderful and you wandered from place to place with all these interactive things to do. Unfortunately no pictures. Cooper played basketball with and without glasses trying to change his mind set, Chandler and Cooper wore helments and stared at a small rolling ball for a mind over matter excercise. There was an excercise that taught you how to breath to keep your blood pressure down when stressed. Cooper answered 18 questions to see if he was an impulsive type or a low key mind type. Tatum sat on the front row of a 15 minute presentation on liquid nitrogen and was enthralled.

The last thing we did was the water with balls. They got wet which was fine.

OK - I wish I had purchased that grandparent pass now. I would skip the dinousours and head straight to the body and brain exhibit. Those two things can keep you busy with fun and informational things for many hours.

We were right in the area of "Pizzeria Bianco" which I never been too because so popular there is always an enormous wait time so we checked out the wait time for 2:00 PM and it was 10 minutes. Hurray I finally got to eat there. I worried about the kids because they defnitely have their own taste buds for pizza plus no pepperoni available but they consumed three or more slices each and totally loved it.

So, would you believe I think the day was a success.