Addison's first "official" spring break and the Indy Children's Museum

This year marks Addison's first "official" school spring break. We decided to do something a little special with her in the few days we had off from work, so we took her to the Indianapolis Children's Museum. As a special treat, we stayed at a hotel with a pool - which she loves to do.

First, we trekked to Indianapolis to the Wingate by Wyndham hotel. Pretty nice. I think I like staying on the first floor - and we were close to the pool. Plus, it wasn't busy...so I'm sure that made a HUGE difference. We decided to grab a bite, then go see The Croods at a nearby movie theatre (which we had gift cards for, hint, hint). Greg and I hadn't been to Grindstone Charley's in a decade and remembered it being waaaay better than it actually was. No more GC. Me, being the unprepared mom that I am, didn't bring my poor child a sweatshirt, and it was chilly, had to buy a sweatshirt at Target while picking up our smuggled-in movie snacks...then headed to the movie. I totally recommend, by the way.  In the movie theatre, I'm reminded why I don't care for watching movies in the movie theatre. Especially kids movies. For a late Monday night, there were a shockingly high number of very small children at this movie. Then there was the multi-generational family who seemed to bring all of the children in their family and their friends. Did I miss the bus somewhere? If you have a small child who is very vocal, perhaps a movie theatre isn't the best place for you. Trust me, you find your child MUCH more charming than I do. I was nearly in complaint mode...and that's not pretty.

We made it through the movie and headed back to the hotel for some late night swimming.Being that it was late March in Ohio, it was moderately chilly those few days...and the pool was supposed to be heated. I'm pretty sure it wasn't. Brrr! Luckily, they had a hot tub. Unfortunately, I decided that I could definitely enjoy a hot tub. We flitted between the cold pool and the hot tub to warm back up. I know, I know...bad idea. Good way to have a heart attack, but we had the whole things to ourselves and it was fun. Of course Addison decides to change from her swimsuit - right where the monitoring cameras were. Whoops. Don't ask me why she couldn't use the bathroom which was less than 20 feet away.

We headed to our room for a much needed night of sleep. Addison decided she'd rather sleep in Greg's bed, so I had a queen sized bed ALL to myself. I slept in the middle all splayed out just because I could.

In the morning, we packed up our stuff, enjoyed a very nice complimentary continental breakfast (with eggs, waffles, sausage and the works - not just cold cereal and muffins like you get some other places). Afterward, we headed to the museum.

Let me just say, do NOT follow the directions from Siri, or Garmin or any other gps. Look at the map and find the way that you do not have to turn LEFT to get to the street by the museum. We waited in traffic nearly 45 minutes just to turn to get to the parking lot. Being there right at the beginning of the day, the parking garage was STILL completely full. We parked on the very top level. Every single parking space was taken.

Once we got into the museum, we waited probably another 45 minutes just to buy tickets! This place is insane! We almost bought season passes just so we wouldn't have to stay in the line any longer.

After that, we explored the museum. There is so much to see, it was overwhelming at first. I think Addison had a hard time with it being so crowded and visually stimulating that we had a difficult time getting her to interact with anything at first. It was a very nice museum though. Here's what I learned...buy your tickets in advance, see everything, then go back to your favorite displays, and if you stay the whole day - people give you their stuff when they are leaving. We got free tickets to the carousel and the little play they put on.

All in all it was a very fun trip. I'm glad we didn't get the season tickets though.