Creative Discovery Museum

We drove down to Chattanooga today to go to the Creative Discovery Museum. It's a children's museum that is located downtown near the riverfront. We got out of the house at 9:20 am and it took about an hour and a half to get to the museum. We all went running this morning which gave us the later start. I've run 4 of the last 5 days. I've run the same 2.15 mile route each morning and have improved my time each day (I was almost 2 minutes faster today than I was on Tuesday).

I was really impressed by the museum. Most of the children's or science museums we've taken Carter to are either old and run down or geared toward older kids. This one had plenty of stuff for Carter to play with. The only negative was that they had a little too much squished into a relatively small building. Luckily, even though it was crowded since it was Saturday, it wasn't as bad as I expected and Carter didn't get run down too many times. He was generally able to play with what he wanted when he wanted.

When we got to the museum, a firetruck had just arrived at the entrance for kids to look at. Even though Carter loves firetrucks, he did not want to sit in the truck. He wanted Brian to get him back out right away. He had just gotten up from a nap so I'm going to blame his behavior on that.


Carter was very happy about the Chattanooga Fire Department sticker that he got. He kept pointing to it all day.


"Ooooooo, water ..."


There was a cool multilevel play area to explore ...



Going fishing ...



After getting a little damp while playing with the water again, Carter got to wear one of the cool smocks ...


"I know I need a haircut, but Mom thought this would be more fun. I'll get one next Saturday!"


There was a giant sandbox where you can dig for dinosaur fossils. Carter found an unoccupied corner ...



Carter liked the musical instruments ...


Especially this player piano that also included several other instruments connected to it ...

And of course he loved the trains ...


And the "go-go" (or car) ...


But what could make Carter stand like this for minutes with a look of awe on his face?


This guy!


The Grossology exhibit was at the museum right now. It was interesting. And gross. Especially the smells exhibit.

Cute kid in a tree ...


Carter loved counting this dinosaur's toes over and over again. (He can't really count yet but he'll point to each thing he's counting and say "two" over and over again.)


We spent about 3 1/2 hours at the museum. We had a small lunch (more of a snack) in the cafe (which was very reasonably priced). But after the museum, Brian and I were really hungry so we ordered lunch to go from Cheeburger Cheeburger. They have the best hamburgers and onion rings. You can choose from 50 different toppings for your burgers (including weird things like peanut butter). Even though it was 3 pm, there was still a wait for a table. Because it was Carter's nap time and we didn't think both kids would make it through a meal in a restaurant, we ate in the car while Rylan slept and Carter had a snack.

After our lunch, we drove back to Knoxville. We had a lot of fun today and I'm glad Carter got a day out of the house. I've been struggling to find new things to do since it's still so hot and there aren't a whole lot of indoor activities for Carter around here.

And congratulations to Amy and Chad who welcomed baby Alek this morning (and Caitlyn who is now a big sister)! He arrived a little earlier than expected but we've heard he and Amy are healthy and doing well. We can't wait to meet him!