We drove during the morning, and spent the whole afternoon at the Space & Rocket Center - and got in free with a reciprocal deal from our Fernbank membership - that was pretty sweet! Kids were way more into it than I thought they might be - the traveling exhibit about robots kept them entertained for an hour at least. They also loved the outdoor kids play area, with a little rocket ride where you shoot up and then drop back down.
Kids love staying in hotels - the ice machine, the desk, the beds, everything is exciting because it is new. David had insisted I pick a hotel with a pool, so we did - a tiny 3-5 foot pool, but we were the only ones in it, so no big deal. Now, I did manage to fall on my tailbone as I stepped in, and Sara tried to walk towards the deep end without water wings on, but we all survived these trials and tribulations and went to bed at a reasonable hour (although Alabama time was blowing David's mind!)
The next morning we had our hotel breakfast nice and early (no sleeping in on vacation!) and were packed and ready to go before the first place opened. We were off to the Huntsville Botanical Gardens - one of the main reasons we'd come was a traveling LEGO exhibit that was closing soon. The weather was misty/rainy, but the kids didn't seem to mind. I saw other kids entering in bathing suits and wondered why. We walked around looking at the Lego exhibits, but the kids were more excited by play features like 4 foot Lincoln Logs you could build a fortress with or various sand play areas, even if it was muddy sand in the rain (we got caught in a momentary downpour and had to take shelter under a gazebo!)
We made it to the children's gardens and I discovered why kids were in bathing suits - tons of water features! An 8 foot watering can, various fountains and ponds to play in - the kids loved it. Too lazy to go back to the car for suits, I just let them get their clothes wet, and practically had to pull them away an hour later. It was at this point we discovered Sara's shoes, already on the small side, would not go back on now that they were wet. So..lunch and a trip to Payless later, we were back in business.
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| Note how Sara's left shoe is off - wouldn't fit when wet! |
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| Earthquake machine |
Our second stop of the day was a SciQuest - cute one story science center, not too big, but plenty for the kids to do. Also free with Fernbank membership! Can I say how much I enjoyed the fact that half our activities had no cost? Sara loved the big metallic echo tube, and the news station where you could see yourself broadcast the weather. David dug the earthquake machine, an air maze...and plenty more, it was another place I had to drag them away from after 2.5 hours.
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| "Sorry everybody, bad news - more rain!" |
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| Air Maze |
The last stop was a drive-through safari, billed as one of the top 10 things to do with kids in Huntsville. First of all, it is NOT in Huntsville, it is at least 30-40 minutes away. Second of all, it is CASH ONLY. I feel like it should have said that somewhere on Trip Advisor. Third of all, my children are permanently scared to death of emus. This was the type of place where (after driving back out 3 miles for an ATM) you could buy food to toss out the windows for the animals. So we see a deer and I roll down the kids' windows so they can toss food out - these aggressive emus know where the food comes from and stick their heads in the windows to get some.
Much screaming and crying ensued. It was both very sad and hilarious to watch from the front seat. The kids wanted to leave right away, but having just forked out cash, I insisted we keep driving around, away from the scary emus, and everyone eventually calmed down enough to enjoy the deer, llamas, buffalo, and even zebra the safari had to offer. There was also a reptile house to walk around afterwards, and the nice lady who runs it gave each of my kids a peacock feather for their fright.
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| So many baby turtles - they wouldn't notice if one was gone, right? |
We packed it up about 5:00 and head back to Gwinnett - with the time change and dinner, we didn't make it home until 10, but it was with a head full of memories that still make me smile!
