We started off our vacation in the Baltimore area so I could help with my niece and nephew.  I decided to be extra ambitious and planned a couple of field trips.  I’m pretty used to taking Nick and Sally to different attractions, but it’s a whole different ball game to take 4 kids.  The first day we traveled down to the Inner Harbor and went to the Maryland Science Center.  I had given my niece and nephew a membership for their birthdays and our Cleveland Museum of Natural History membership was reciprocal.  I missed the parking deck, but was able to find on street parking in a residential neighborhood just 2 blocks further.

After entering the museum, the Rube Goldberg device grabbed everyone’s attention.

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While my nephew continued to be mesmerized by the machine, the others enjoyed some of the other attractions in the Newton’s Alley room.

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Since we got there right at 10AM on a weekday, it wasn’t crowded.

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Next, we visited the efficient car exhibit.

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The kids took turns designing cars on the screen.  Anything that you are allowed to touch usually is loved.

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Nick knew just what to do with the sound reflector.  Turns out, it wasn’t his first time seeing one.

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Eventually, we made our way to the kids room.  It was great.  It was staffed at the door and that made it super easy to keep track of everyone.  I found my lifeguarding surveillance skills being put to good use during our outing.

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Everyone seems to enjoy the train table.

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Sally’s favorite was water play.  My niece liked it too.

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There was something for everyone in the kid’s room.

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I let Nick participate in a Johns Hopkins research study about kids and math.  Nick loved it.  My favorite part was when the researcher showed him a piece of paper with a seven and a four on it.  She asked him which one was bigger.  He told her that they were the same size (meaning that the font/height was the same).  At the end of our outing, I tried to get a group shot of the kids.  Turns out there was an experiment being set up behind me, so it was hard to get them to look at me.

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So, we went over and checked out the demo before departing.  Once we got back to the car, we had picnic style lunch at the car.

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It was a great outing and gave me confidence for the next adventure.