Another Day at the Science Center

Today we had plans to go to the Science Center once again because the Husband had never been. And the kids just wanted him to see EVERYTHING! I baby sit my niece and nephew and my bestie's baby Connor so we knew we'd have a full load going there. But we're so used to it. But my sister-in-law Jen needed someone to watch her 4 kids that day and yup, that was me. With a little arranging we were able to borrow my husband's Mom's van because there was no way we'd all fit in my Suburban and we went in two cars. The morning was great. Jr and I were prepared to spend the day with 11 kids. We fed them all before we left. Everyone was being good and in the best moods. I was quite happy that everyone was so gosh darn happy!
Once we got there we made sure all the kids went potty before we started. The first destination was where they have the 4 and under play area so the babies could have some fun.


And not even 10 minutes into our wonderful trip... my nephew Ramon started crying. And if you don't know my nephew Ramon, he cries a lot and SUPER loud! So being that the place even with a good amount of people there it isn't very loud. I took him out of the area to try and calm him down. After he calmed down I took him back. But as soon as we were back with everyone he started crying again and screaming for his sisters to hold him. This happened a few times then my husband finally decided to take him completely outside the building where he continued to cry for 40 mins! While I stayed inside with the other 10 kids. Needless to say I didn't take pictures for an entire hour because I had to keep my eyes on 9 kids since Connor couldn't go anywhere because he was strapped into the stroller.


Finally I called my husband to come inside because the kids were so bummed they couldn't show him all the cool stuff they wanted to show him. We laid Ramon int he stroller and he slept the entire rest of our trip. I think he just needed a nap. And Jr finally got to play with the kids.

And the kids were super happy!

And we went into an area I didn't get to see the first time we went.

It was cool they had this screen that distorts your face and the kids thought Jr was hilarious!

My favorite thing was this white screen that you stood behind and it had all these little rain like things that poured down and kinda bounced off your silhouette. It was just so cool that we stayed there forever playing! This is Ducky, Jr, and Diego on his shoulders.

Me and my 4 kids.



My nephew Ducky and my niece Laila... and my arm cuz Laila was scared.


My nieces Tallynna and Brianna

And my and my nieces as Charlie's Angels

Then we went into the Forces of Nature area cuz we wanted Jr to see the show they play there. Easily my favorite part. I snapped a couple pics before other random people started filing into the area. I stayed out of since we had Connor and Ramon in the double stroller and I was carrying Arielle who is scared of it. But we stood by the rail and still got the same effect.


And then we decided to go home after only about 2 1/2 hours because we were so tired from the first hour where Jr dealt with a crying baby and I watched 10 kids alone. But before we left I wanted a quick picture since we had all 10 of my parents grandkids together.

And of course, an outtake :P

Arizona Science Center

So livingsocial.com had run a deal a couple weeks ago for a Summer Pass for up to 4 people to the Arizona Science Center for $32! It is good until Labor Day so I thought it was a great thing to buy seeing that 1.) I am always looking for fun things to do with my kids that are affordable and *BONUS* indoors... and 2.) We've never been there so I knew they would find it interesting for the summer. I posted the link on my facebook because I love sharing my finds with other people. My brother bought the deal and so we decided to go!

The kids were so excited and we had quite the bunch seeing as I have 4 and my brother has 4!


Right when you walk in there is this big telescope thing and the kids can look into it and it shows on a big screen hanging from the ceiling... here's Diego's eye!


The first activity we did was the water area outside. The kids LOVED this. And so did I! There was this huge structure that sends balls all over the little roller coaster type rails. Plus anything to do with water and balls is fun. All ages liked it! I took a bunch of pictures of the kids having a blast and then put my camera away so I could join in.








After a while of playing in the water... and we lasted a pretty good while... we continued on inside.






The next section I didn't see a lot of because it had a 4 and under play area and the 4 littles played in there while I sat and kept watch. But my brother played with the 4 older ones in that area.


There was a Build-a-bear house and my girls quickly gravitated towards it. They would have stayed there all day if we let them. Cooking and eating... all I kept hearing was Atalie screaming "Lunchtime!" It was adorable. Of course only I could understand her so I thought it was funny.




When my bro came and joined me I was able to leave him watching the littles while I walked around to see what the older kids were looking at.

I found Diego taking a shower...


But then I steered him to play with tools.


And Alayna was playing with shapes and making flowers and such.


And after prying the littles from the play area we were off to see more stuff.

Like this slide that is a stomach and then it farts you out... literally. The kids LOVED the fart noises!


Even though Atalie is young and doesn't quite understand what a lot of the stuff is she still had a good time in each area we went to. She has such an imagination all her own. She walked around with the magnifying glass saying, "Whoa Mommy Whoa" and looking at things.


Alayna is always off in her own world every time. While the other kids are doing the stuff that involves strength or physical things... she is always found quietly doing something hands on like puzzles or building things.


My niece Brianna doing something physical... case and point.


In the Forces of Nature area we learned about just that. The little girls liked this earthquake area. You take blocks and build a house on the platform. Then it has handles and you can shake it and see if your house withstands the quake. They found that quite enjoyable for some time.


And then there is this really cool show you can watch that goes on like every 15-20mins or so... not sure. But it was so so cool. I don't wanna give it away but it goes through talking about thunder, lighting, earthquakes, monsoons, tsunamis, tornadoes... things like that. I took these of the kids while there were talking about the monsoons. My Arielle was deathly afraid of the show. She wiggled and flipped out the entire time. It was quite hilarious. Atalie was in my arms and she liked it.




And while the big kids continued playing in there digging for minerals and such I took the little into this musical play area and we stayed there at least 45mins. The loved it. Atalie is attracted to anything musical so she was fascinated. But they also had fun played with the foam block things.




And Arille played with the xylophone for a while. She thought it was cool cuz I could played Mary Had A Little Lamb, Twinkle Twinkle, and When The Saints Go Marching In, on it. There was 2 of them so while I played one she either joined in pounding on hers or using the stick as a mic to sing as I played.




I love watching my two little girls learn so much. And I love seeing how different they are and what they gravitate towards. They're so different. But so much the same.




And after almost 5 hours (which totally didn't seem like that long) we made our way out. But Atalie caught sight of this reflection from something that was hanging on the level above us and she twirled and twirled in it. I had to literally pull her away and sit her in the stroller or she would have continued dancing.






After we left and were walking back to the parking garage there was these stairs and I got the idea to do a few group pictures. Minus Atalie because she was too busy eating snacks to care that I wanted her to be my model. But everyone else lets me do what I want with them!










It was a great Sunday! I just love exploring and learning new things with my kiddies.