Whitaker Center

Usually on Wednesdays we are home all day until we leave for church after dinner. Today we were gone for twelve hours as we left the house at 8:30 this morning to drive to Harrisburg and didn't return until 8:30 this evening after we came home from church. We met my parents at the Whitaker Center (science museum) at 10:00, and we spent two hours in the museum and then walked a very short walk (indoors) to the food court at Strawberry Square to have lunch. After lunch we saw an IMAX movie about panda bears in the museum. After that we spent about one more hour in the museum. Nadia and Ian would have loved to stay longer, but the adults were tired, and I wanted Oliver to be able to take a nap. He did sleep on the way home. His nap would have been longer, if I hadn't stopped at an Aldi's that is about 30 minutes from our house. We were needing a few items, and I rarely drive past an Aldi's so I wanted to seize the opportunity. They had eggs on sale for $1 cheaper per dozen than I've been paying lately so I bought 3 dozen, and the milk was on sale for 50% of what I usually pay so I got 4 gallons of it plus a bunch of other items we had run out of or were running low on that I usually like to buy at Aldi's. 

By the time we left the grocery store it was after 4:00 so I decided to cash in my free birthday dinner (good anytime this month) at Red Robin. I bought two kids' meals and we shared some food with Oliver so our bill including tip was $13. I tried a new burger. It had teriyaki sauce on it plus two slices of pineapple and was very yummy. I don't think I've ever had a pineapple on a burger before. After dinner we headed to church. The kids played in the playland for a few minutes before I took them to AWANA, and I headed to choir rehearsal. It was a very fun and exhausting day. I am glad the only thing on our schedule tomorrow is soccer practice at 5:30. Hopefully the practices won't get rained out.

When I asked Nadia what her favorite parts of the museum were she said the best part was being with Grandma and Grandpa, and her second favorite part was the Panda Bear movie. Ian said his favorites were racing cars and buying a toy in the gift shop. I have to concur with Nadia that although the museum was very nice, the best part was being able to see my parents whom we hadn't seen since February. They're hoping to come up and visit us in a couple of weeks. Harrisburg is pretty close to half-way between our two homes although it's a bit longer of a drive for them than us due to traffic in Baltimore. It was great to see them today!