Lazy Day, Rest Day

We were concerned about burning the kids out with too much travel time, so we decided to keep our sight-seeing closer to home today.

We stopped by our friendly local Bass Pro to get some photos - mainly to make Addy's Daddy jealous.

Holding hands with a grizzly bear.

Our next stop was the Alaska Museum of Science and Nature,

a small, excellent museum that's obviously a labor of love. Very hands-on, and touch (almost) everything, which the girls loved.

A child-size seal skin suit.

Then on to the big Anchorage Museum for lunch and one of the best kids discovery areas we've ever seen.

The girls would happily have spent the rest of our vacation here.

They had everything from a half-dozen different bubble making experiments,

to collaborative rocket launching,

and the most elaborate Rube Goldberg-esque ball maze I've ever seen.

We checked out a few other exhibits, including some beautiful First People's artifacts on loan from the Smithsonian,

Leia: This suit is made from rabbits! Addy: That's just wrong. That's what seals are for!

and the biggest elevator we have ever seen - 12' x 20' (not kidding) with a flat-screen TV that was at least 45" on one wall. The girls were very impressed.

Freedom Eagle and Brownie Lynx came home with us.

 

Although these exhibits were interesting, they were definitely not hands-on; the little girls decided pretty quickly that they were ready to go.

So, off to the swimming pool for us

Three different pics of Addy and all I could get was the splash. That girl is fast!

 

then dinner in our room while the girls played happily and cooperatively for hours. I love this vacation gig.