Post #196: In which Miss E goes to the Children's Museum

Getting eggs

This Labor Day weekend, Miss E got a visit from Grama and Grampa.  On Saturday, we took a little day trip to Brookings.  We started with lunch at Pheasant Restaurant and Lounge, which is, reportedly, where Gordon Ramsay ate when filming Kitchen Nightmares in nearby Minnesota.  (By the way, it was not a kitchen nightmare; it's supposedly his favorite restaurant in South Dakota!)  I had a vegetarian burger, which made the short list of best burgers in a 7-hour radius.  Miss E got grilled cheese, but she actually ate every French fry in sight instead.

Also notable about the restaurant is, they manage to keep it classy and have a name like "pheasant" without any taxidermy pheasants displayed in any part of the restaurant or wine cellar. This is very hard to do in South Dakota, and I was nervous, but I was pheasantly surprised (cringe!).  

Picking flowers

However, the main event was everyone's first visit to the Children's Museum.  The museum is housed in an old school, with each former classroom housing a different exhibit.  I thought Miss E would kick and scream as we transitioned to different rooms, but she was fine and each room was better than the last.  It was the most fun day we have had in a long time.  It's strange to be in a place where you are encouraged to touch and interact with the exhibits, touching, climbing, building, splashing...there is so much to do.  In one of the exhibits, (older) children can "climb a cloud" all the way up to the ceiling, of the two-story building.

Highlights for us included: 
• Giant Lite Brite

• Splash table

• MiniExplorers slides, steps, and cave

• Picking flowers and ears of corn

• Getting eggs from under the chickens

• Playing in the stream outside

• SDSU ice cream: SDSU is where "cookies & cream" was invented.  Could anyone imagine a world without "cookies & cream?"  Does anyone want to?

Also, happening this week: Miss E learned how to say her own name!  She is also repeating a lot more and pointing to get us to name things--mostly "Elsa...Anna...Olaf...Elsa...Anna...etc." 


--吴碧芙