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.

The Zoo (a.k.a. Citizen Scientists Unite)

The Point Defiance Zoo and Aquarium is a fun place to visit. They have added many things through the years. (Although I'm bummed that all the Beluga Whales are gone.) We took the kids there to explore one day. Yikes! Expensive. You are welcome zoo. We donated to the cause.

Here are all my monkeys.

We went over to the kids area first and let the kids play. The meerkats were so cute. And Tyler touched a Lemur. His foot was sticking through the fence, so Tyler just reached up and got him. (He disdainfully moved away after.) The kids enjoyed the animals, but also all the things to climb on and swing around in.

Tim and Miranda came with us to the zoo. Miranda was really nice to come even though she wasn't feeling well, so I offered to wheel her around. This was a great idea, until you remember that Point Defiance Zoo is built on a large hill. Oddly, downhill was harder than uphill because I didn't want to lose control and have her go crashing to her doom. But we were careful and there were no casualties.

I love how many zoos (and Lagoon) have peacocks wandering around.

There were many animals at the zoo, but lucky you, I'm not putting all 98 pictures of them on here; just our favorites. We liked the Rays. The touch tank was new from when I last visited. June even got to touch a shark in there.

Speaking of Sharks, they are always a favorite.

We paused in the middle of the day to watch the animal show. I would call it a show with a VERY STRONG AGENDA, and some animals in it as well. The first twenty minutes were SOOOOOOO boring as they told this story and tried to brainwash all the kids into wanting to be citizen scientists. And even when they did the rest of the show, they kept throwing in comments about citizen scientists throughout. (We get it!) But there were some cool animals to see. I liked the Serval.

And the owl.

The show was about Indiana Bones, a dog, who specialized in Barchaeology. He was hunting for a hidden Geo-cache. (Also a lot of geo-cache promoting in the show. Sheesh. Do they think no one will want to do these things unless they tell them?) Dr. Bones was a good dog, but a little feisty. He ran off at one point in the show and a whole group of zoo employees were out looking for him. We got to hear quite a few extra owl facts while the people stalled to give more time to find Dr. Bones. Those tufts on the owls head are not his ears. His ears are lower on his head and uneven; one is higher than the other. (See, facts about animals. I think that is what an animal show should be about.)

Indiana Bones was found eventually and brought back for his spectacular finale in which he flies in and saves the day.

And the treasure was very fitting.

After the show, we headed back over to the aquarium, by way of the budgie cage. The budgies were cool and close up. But don't touch them unless you buy a seed stick. (Come on zoo. I already spent enough to get in here. I should not have to pay extra to feed the birds.)

The aquarium was fun. We found a red knobbed starfish that I have never seen before. This picture is off Wikepedia since I forgot to take one at the zoo.

They had a cool touch area where the kids could touch starfish, anemones, crabs, urchins, and other interesting sea creatures. (The water was freezing. You had to be tough just to get your hand in there, let along touch a pokey critter.)

Meanwhile, we put Tim in the Hurricane simulator. On the back wall you can see the wind got up to almost 80 miles an hour. I was hoping it would be stronger, but I'm sure Tim was glad it didn't go too high. (Oh, and yes...we had to pay for that.)

Group photo in the shark's mouth.

After the aquarium, we went down to Rocky Shores, where I found out the Beluga Whales were gone, and Pearl had a huge tantrum. Good times. At least the walrus was kind enough to come up close. I took several pictures of him, but I'm going to post one with his eyes closed. (His eyes were really bloodshot and scary.)

No Polar bear, no arctic fox, as we circled around the zoo. But amazingly the Red Wolves were out. We have NEVER seen them before. I used to joke that they had made this big pen and put nothing in it. But there were plenty that day.

They were almost extinct over in the southeast of the USA, but Point Defiance has tried to increase the Red Wolf  population and introduce them back into the wild. (A better goal than trying to get everyone to be a citizen scientist, in my opinion.)

The sun was dipping in the sky, and everyone was hungry, so we decided to go home. (Sorry elephants and tigers. We'll get to you next time.) I love this picture of June and Daisy. It looks like she is holding a big rag doll.

Tim wanted a ride in the wheelchair.

I love this picture of Pearl running. She looks so free and happy.

We saw one last special resident in the parking lot.

Miranda found a perfect peacock feather on the hillside. It was beautiful. I meant to take a picture, but forgot. But I laugh to myself. I bet peacock feathers cost at least $15 in the gift shop. (Bwah hah hah hah.) And we got one for free. (Good thing Miranda was being a 'citizen scientist' and observing the world around her.)

* To be clear. I don't think it is a bad thing to be a citizen scientist. I do think making everyone watch a boring twenty minute story about it before the animal show was a bit much. And I do think the zoo was overpriced. Although our zoo at home is about the same. I just have a big family and that gets expensive. Hence why we look for free activities during the summer. But sometimes you just gotta go to the zoo.

The Mini Golf (a.k.a. Just Like Old Times)

Growing up we went to the same miniature golf course all the time. It had four different courses, and when you finished, everyone got a ribbon. There were four people in my family, and I always got the fourth place ribbon. (It was white.) I coveted the blue, first place, ribbon. But my parents are pretty good at miniature golf, and they don't let kids win to spare their feelings. I had to earn my ribbon. I remember when I finally got a yellow, third place, ribbon. Finally something besides white!! But it wasn't good enough.

I worked hard for my red and blue ribbons, and they both came in time. Eventually, it was a toss up who would win since we were all pretty good. But I have always loved mini golf and am still pretty competitive.

I have never found another place that gives out ribbons like Parkland Putters. (They even give out a trophy if you make the final hole-in-one.) I thought it would be fun to take the kids and let them live some of my childhood memories. Grandpa said he was very busy, but I told him it wouldn't be the same without him. He grudgingly agreed to come.

Here is the layout. We chose the easiest course for the kids. (Regret...the other courses are more fun. More water and sand traps.)

We are still a large group, so we split up teams again. Robyn and June were team captains and they chose their teammates. Here is Robyn's group.

And June's.

I remembered there being trees, but there was still a lot of course in the sun. It was not too bad really, but I was getting over a sunburn from Yellowstone. (I thought Tyler had sunscreened my arms but he hadn't. Sunscreen fail, yet again.)

So I found shade wherever I could.

On the back half of the course, Grandpa and I climbed to the top of a mini hill. I'm pointing at him, because he was ahead by a few points, and I was pretty sure he was going to win.

Pearl did fantastic. She let us help at first, but then she wanted to do it by herself. She wasn't half bad.

Tyler was there too. (From his absence you can tell he had the camera most of the time.) He's so handsome.

We had a really fun time. I think Grandpa was glad that he went after all; he won!! I still got my red ribbon, but I had to share with Tyler -- we tied. Grandma got a blue ribbon on her team. Good job everyone.

And some silliness.

I love my family. It was really fun to play with them. Even without winning a blue ribbon. (Personally, I like the color red more.)