the children's museum of indianapolis.

We spent the past few days down in Indiana,

visiting Chris's family and getting away from our everyday life.

It was nice.

On Thursday we took Carly to the Children's Museum in Indianapolis.

It is the world's largest children's museum.

I heard about it when Carly was a few months old and have been waiting patiently until she was old enough to appreciate it. To be honest, 19 months old was probably still a little young, but we still had a really wonderful time.

What really convinced us we had to go?

They are running a special Dora exhibit.

It was a sign.

Our experience started in on the dinosaur level.

Carly had no interest in that whatsoever, except pointing to one and calling it a doggy.

So we moved on.

[Prepare yourself for approx 28 pictures]

Next we saw the "choo choo".

[Carly pointing out the choo choo.]

Next were the "Fireworks of Glass."

These were really pretty and, even better, not breakable.

[Carly and daddy looking at the fireworks of glass ceiling.]

This crazy colorful glass tower ran all the way up the middle of the building.

It was coolio.

Next was a quick stop in Egypt.

Carly loved the pretend airplane ride to get there.

Why doesn't she act that good on an actual airplane?

[Enjoying an Egyptian lunch.]

[carly was a serious fan of Egyptian Sesame Street. had to drag her away.]

[just riding a Nile croc.]

I think I might admit my favorite part was the Barbie exhibit.

My sociological education has given me mixed feelings on Barbies, and I have yet to decided whether Carly will ever get any (personal thoughts, not pronouncing Barbies evil or anything) but this exhibit was so wonderfully girly. The little girls could dress up in girl-sized Barbie clothes. They could dress giant Barbies. Lots of different dress-up, doll stuff that would be so fun if you had a 5 year old. Carly danced to the music for a bit and was ready to move on.

Next time.

[carly did want to get her hands on all these classic Barbies behind glass]

Another cool part of the Barbie exhibit were these homemade Barbie clothes. A mom in the 60's used to make these beautiful really amazing clothes for her daughters' Barbie instead of buying them. They were really awesome; like Jackie Kennedy stuff. And there was a gorgeous wedding dress that I would have actually worn at my wedding if it was human-size. I wish I would have taken a picture. Anyway, the daughters donated the pieces to the museum, but they kept a lot more. What a cool thing to have from your mom.

Then, the main event:

Dora and Diego

[counting coins]

[where is Dora's mouth?]

Chris and I have a running joke that I have a crush on Diego. The Diego that is on Dora has a very pleasant voice in my opinion (the one in Go Diego Go is annoying). I made the mistake of telling Chris that and now I get a lot of grief for enjoying his voice. So of course I need a picture with my man (boy? ew). Oh, and that's my red carpet face. Looks like I'm going to puke. I'll have to work on that.

[heading in to Diego's jungle]

[probably could have gone back and forth through the tunnel all day]

[clueless on the rock wall]

Carly's physiologist daddy was very excited about her muscle strength and muscle endurance after her fine display on the monkey bars. I'm not sure who enjoyed the experience more.

[peek-a-boo!]

[catching estrellas]

No, wait. She could have gone down this slide all day long. It had very kid friendly stairs and she would come down and instantly circle around, climb back up, and slide down again. She probably went about 25 times.

The top floor was for older kids. It had exhibits on Ruby Bridges (first African American girl to attend a white school), Anne Frank (I hope you already know who that is), and Ryan White (child AIDS patient who fought for equal rights). They were all very interesting exhibits, but I was nearly in tears.

[heading into Ruby's school]

[Carly hitched a ride, as the big-kid floor wasn't super exciting.]

I was just about crying while looking at this jacket from an actual concentration camp that a survivor saved and donated to the museum. It was still filthy, and there was something on the collar that looked like blood, though it could have been mud, considering how old it is. But it was really touching and it was a nice experience in the middle of all the fun and games. 

After the big kids floor, we headed down to the "5 and under" play exhibit. A breeding ground of germs, to be sure. There was a sand section, but Carly has a fear of getting dirty. There was also a water section where you could to "fishing", but I didn't want to deal with a soaking wet baby. Next time I'll bring an extra shirt for her, now that I know. So we stuck with the dry, clean parts.

[Crossing the river on a log. Another favorite activity.]

We ended our adventure in the food court eating our sack lunch.

Carly was so cute the whole time, pointing at things, identifying things, playing.

She is so old.

A genuine little girl.

We had a blast.

I'm so glad we took her.

And before we even got out of the parking garage . . .