Adelaida's First Birthday Outing

We decided some time ago to celebrate Adelaida's birthday with a special event rather than a traditional cake-and-presents party. We were in Indiana for her birthday, so her Daddy, her Nonna, and I took Adelaida to the most fun destination in Indianapolis: the Children's Museum. I remember going to the Children's Museum many times, both when I was younger and as a high school student -- they have great exhibits and it was always so much fun!

The Children's Museum of Indianapolis is a pretty large museum, and we had decided ahead of time to spend only a few hours there, so headed first to the Toddler Exhibit. Yes, they have several rooms of activities and exhibits just for toddlers! Adelaida wasn't walking when we went, but enjoyed the padded floors, brightly colored objects, and of course the other children.

The toddler exhibit had mirrors at just the right height!


Adelaida enjoyed the giant shape-sorter -- or at least enjoyed chewing on the shapes.


This area had padded floors made into ramps and steps.


Adelaida crawled into the enclosed bridge, but wouldn't go through it -- she insisted on crawling backwards out the same side she went in!


She had some trouble navigating the giant padded ramp by herself, but with Daddy's finger to hold onto, she could do anything!


Adelaida stops at the bridge to say hello to a new friend.


Next, Adelaida go to play in the water. Smocks were provided, but of course she got wet anyway.


We played a little longer in the toddler exhibit, rode the carousel, then moved on to the highlight of the museum (at least for me) -- ScienceWorks! This is a huge exhibit that is completely hands-on. It had several different areas, including a huge tree you can crawl through, a water area where you can experiment with different locks to change the flow of water, a house where kids can "cook" healthy meals, and a rock-climbing wall. We most enjoyed the construction area, where kids could move foam gravel with a shovel, transfer rocks in a dump truck, use a back-hoe to move real dirt, and operate a bulldozer to knock down foam walls.

Adelaida (and her daddy) enjoyed moving dirt from one location to another.


Finally, we stopped by the winter exhibit, where Adelaida found a green ball that she thought she was supposed to eat.


It was a great way to celebrate Adelaida's birthday -- she had fun and we did too!