A Few Day Trips With Grandma (And Aunt Katie)

While we were in Rochester we took a few "day" trips. One morning we went into the city to explore the Strong Museum of Play. Later in the week we decided to explore the local amusement Park, Seabreeze.

If you're ever in Rochester with time to kill and children tagging along...the Strong Museum of Play is one of the best "children's" Museum's I've been to in a long time. And I've been to more than my share of Children's Museums. There's this great section on different genres of stories, a super Wegman's shopping area, and this cool motion/kinesthetic area. Add in the little train and carousel and it was a winner. We also bought tickets to the butterfly exhibit which was much like what we saw in DC. The kids loved it just as much and giggled every time they saw a butterfly. Erin really liked looking all around the exhibits in the reading area. Jeffrey enjoyed shopping with his own shopping cart in Wegman's (A local grocery store chain). He also got a huge kick out of riding the little train around. Erin found this shadow volleyball game that she thought was pretty cool too. There's also a huge saltwater aquarium where every child I saw inspecting it - including Erin and Jeff - would shout "Look, there's Nemo!!". It was really a great time and we were very excited that Grandma and Aunt Katie were able to take us there.

On Friday we decided to check out a local amusement park right on the lake. Erin was very excited as when she sees rides anywhere she always wants to try them out. The little tykes area is super - there's a boat ride, some rockets, a tiny turtle "roller coaster", a swing ride and best of all cars. Then Erin spotted the "big kid" rides and she was itching to try them. She was at the middle height where she needed an adult to ride with her so I had to upgrade my ticket from observer to rider. Erin jumped onto the Log Flume, the Beartrack Roller coaster (a great experience for a first roller coaster) the teacups and even spied a couple of others she wanted to try but was too short. She had an awesome time, and is clearly my amusement thrill seeker. Jeffrey thought that the green car in the toddler car ride was specifically his, and he spent 90% of the day talking about driving the "green car" and would race in line to get the green car. It was really pretty cute. He did get to ride one big kid ride - they rode an airplane ride where the planes flew up and down while around and around.

Jeffrey Driving his Green Car

Erin Sitting Waiting For Her First Roller Coaster Ride (grandma got all the other pictures of Erin on the big rides as I was riding with her)

Grandma suggested both these places and they were great. We had an awesome time Grandma.