The Children's Museum (and the Glass Studio) and the PARKING (a.k.a. Tyler's Grumpy Day)

Tacoma has some fun stuff that I never found as a kid. With the internet it is easy to find all sorts of things to do. Blown glass is a big business in the area, and there is even a whole Museum of Glass. I wanted the kids to see people in action, so we found a glass studio nearby.

Things I learned after the fact:
* At the glass studio, people can come off the street and make their own pieces. Super COOL! (But only on the weekend.) Boo.
* Turns out the Museum of Glass also has live demonstrations. (But there is the admission cost.) But I think we will have to go there next time we are in town, for sure.

The Glass Studio does have an open shop and you can watch what they are doing. So, we sat and observed for a bit. Check out the blow torch.

The temperatures are off the charts of course. The first piece they finished was a cool purple bowl/vase thing. When they started another piece, I thought it would be red or orange, but I was fooled by the molten glass. It is that color simply from the intense heat. When it cooled, it was the same purple color.

We watched for a good while and explored the shop with many cool finished pieces. The lady there recommended we take the kids over to the Children's Museum of Tacoma. (Maybe she thought we had already seen the Museum of Glass.)

Her suggestion was a great one. The Children's Museum of Tacoma is a free place (donations welcome) for kids to explore and create to their hearts content. I was very impressed with the variety. Several of the kids went straight to the water area.

June found the 'woods' area and explored there for a moment.

Plenty of the kids spent a fair amount of time in 'Becka's Studio.' There were places to use paint and chalk. I think almost everyone painted.

In the chalk area, there were tables but also blocks you could decorate with chalk. Robyn did some of both.

June took a table.

And made a masterpiece.

I tried my own hand at the chalk table. (No lie, this place was fun for adults as well.)

This contraption was super fun. It had a constant flow of air suction. You could put scarves in and watch them swirl through the tubes and pop back out.

There were books about different subjects all over.

I found a random table with cardboard and connectors. I made this Godzilla monster who thought June was very tasty.

There was a huge section with boxes. The girls built an awesome fort. (Much better than anything I could have done.)

Tyler used the boxes for other purposes. He hid in them and would take off the top box and startle kids as they walked by. (When I said this place was fun for adults, I clearly meant the ones who are still kids at heart.)

It was really fun. Unfortunately, the day ended with a gray cloud. Parking around Tacoma is a little sketchy. We had parked (and paid) in the wrong area and had to move our car. Tyler parked somewhere else, but didn't see the sign saying he had to 'back in.' This is ironic and sad because Tyler is the king of backing in. He hardly ever pulls in forward. But there was so much traffic, he didn't want to be in the way. (Not all kind deeds are rewarded.) We got a fine. Stupid.

Let's look at it this way. We experienced the museum for free, but we donated $41.25 to the city. You are welcome Tacoma. I would say that I'm not coming back, but I still want to see the Museum of Glass. We'll just be more careful where we park next time.