Our first stop was the U.S. Space and Rocket Center. Brian and I had taken the kids down there a few months ago and Carter was super excited to see spaceships again. They let my mom count as the second adult on my AMSE membership so we all got in for free.
The temporary exhibit there right now is Mammoths and Mastodons. There was no photography allowed but I snuck in a few photos without a flash.
Next we headed outside to see the rockets before it got too hot. It's cooled off here some (mid-90s) but it's a lot more humid now that we've gotten some rain.
Carter will pose for pictures, Rylan would rather not (he was sitting in the stroller snacking).
We made our way to the Saturn V Hall which has an awesome replica of the Apollo 11 Saturn V.
The Force is a simulated test firing of an F-1 engine. Carter was scared that it was going to be super loud (it wasn't as bad as we remembered it from the last time).
There is a stage at the end of the Hall and both boys had a blast singing and dancing on it (it's always the randomest stuff that they enjoy the most!).
Inside the command module ...
Carter, the astronaut ...
Next we headed back outside to the Apollo Courtyard.
Then Carter rode the kid's version of the Space Shot Simulator. He wasn't too sure at first but eventually started smiling.
Cute mini-astronauts ...
We spent about 2 1/2 hours at the Rocket Center and then headed over to the Huntsville Botanical Garden (which was only about a mile away) for lunch and a little play time. The kids and I got in for free with Cheekwood membership but we had to pay for my mom.
The Botanical Garden is amazing. We saw very little of it though as we headed over to the Children's Garden right away to take advantage of the water features. It was way too hot to not be in or by the water.
I had packed a picnic lunch which we enjoyed in the shade and water.
We ate lunch by these bubbling rocks. Brian and I actually saw one of these at a landscaping store a few weeks ago and have been thinking about putting one in our yard. We would love to have a water feature and these seem easy to maintain, fun for the kids to play on, and not terribly expensive or difficult to install.
Next we checked out the dinosaur area with these misting sprays.
Then we headed over to the boys' favorite spot - the Pollywog Bog wading pool. My mom and I sat under a tree on a big rock with our feet in the water so it was perfect for us too.
There was only one other family in this wading pool with us so the boys had plenty of room to play and I didn't have to worry about them getting run over by bigger kids.
Throwing the rocks that were on the bottom of the pool was so much fun (the boys only had to be reminded to throw the rocks down towards their feet a few times).
I rarely get a picture with both boys looking at the camera or with good expressions. I wish I could just combine these two!
Carter getting his hair wet in one of several sprays into the wading pool ...
Collecting little rocks on the big rocks ...
We eventually pulled the boys away from the water and checked out the rest of the Children's Garden. There are several treehouses in the gardens that are there temporarily (sort of like the ones at Cheekwood). One of them is in the Children's Garden (somehow we kept the wet boys out of the sandbox below this treehouse).
Little piggy ...
Giant Adirondack chairs ...
Adjacent to the Children's Garden is the Butterfly House with hundreds of butterflies.
There was a liquid butterfly food you could put on your hand to try to attract the butterflies. Carter was extremely disappointed that it didn't work for him.
On our way out we stopped by the Garden Railway near the exit. Right as we got there the train started running again (thank goodness!).
There was also another treehouse over here (see Carter's head through the center window?) ...
And a little pond the boys pretended to fish from.
Throughout the garden there were also tons of these butterfly sculptures that were each painted differently. They were useful to have the boys find from the stroller as we were walking so they didn't want to get out.
I hadn't planned at staying at the Botanical Garden for long, but we spent another 2 1/2 hours there. We are definitely going to be going back.
Since I wanted to get the most out of driving to Huntsville, we next went to Sci-Quest, a hands-on science center across from the Rocket Center.
A lot of the exhibits were the same or similar to things we've seen before, but it was still fun and not terribly crowded.
There was a child-sized house and treehouse in the center of the building.
Carter really liked the xylophone ...
And listening to the different vibration sounds through these pipes.
I'm not sure if it was permanent or temporary, but Sci-Quest had a bunch of the Grossology exhibits the we had fun with.
Making giant bubbles is fun too!
Making ourselves look funny in wavy mirrors ...
There was a giant Operation game. Carter thought it was easier to just pull the body parts out with his hands :)
Carter, the weatherman ...
We spent about 1 1/2 hours at the science center before I decided it was time to head home. I was tired and I could tell the boys were slowing down a lot. Rylan took a 30 minute nap on the way to Huntsville and both boys passed out quickly on the way home. Rylan wanted a banana when we got in the car and fell asleep eating it (he was out just a few minutes after leaving the parking lot). It was too funny watching him try to stay awake to eat the banana - his eyes kept shutting as he tried to take a bite from it.
We had a lot of fun and I'm looking forward to taking the boys back down to Huntsville soon!
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