University of Michigan’s spring break was this week. However, my husband had a grant deadline on Friday of break, so we were not able to get away until the weekend. We talked about going to one of the hotel/water parks either over night or for the day. My daughter had swim lesson yesterday morning, so we decided that was not a good idea.
Today, we headed to The Henry Ford Museum were I have a companion membership which admits myself and one guest (my husband) for free. Children under 5 are free, so we did not have to pay for my daughter. This was my third trip since purchasing the membership on New Years Eve so we are definitely getting our money’s worth since we also plan to do Day Out With Thomas at Greenfield Village and hopefully some other events at Greenfield Village over the summer.
My daughter was extremely excited to go to the museum. She wanted to see the Oscar Mayer Weinermobile, do crayon rubbings of the Weinermobile and the 10 person bike that hangs in the sky, and build and race a K’Nex car.
As we pulled into the parking lot, I was a little concerned about how crowded the museum was going to be since the lot was full. Then I remembered their IMAX theater was playing Alice In Wonderland. Sure enough when we arrived at 10:45a, most of the days shows were sold out and people were lined up for the 11:05a show. The crowds seemed to mostly be confined to the IMAX theater.
She had a great time. We built Legos in the Your Place in Time exhibit. She worked on a house that was already there while I made a robot. She was a hot dog complete with toppings at the Weinermobile. She took us on a tour of the Dymaxion circular house where she tested the o-volving dresser. I am not sure whether she or my husband had more fun building the K’Nex car. She had Dad make her a paper airplane (Mom was only allowed to watch). My husband really impressed her when he was able to hit the target with the paper airplane.
On this trip, I discovered that the museum offers free Wi-Fi so while she was playing I was able to check my mail and surf the internet on my iPod Touch. I also discovered that there are several smaller exhibits that extend out from the museum towards the lobby. We explored clocks, and metal exhibits. We did not get a chance to see the Jewelry extension.
Her favorites are definitely the interactive exhibits where there is something for the kids to do or where she can actually climb in one of the vehicles.
We ate at the Weinermobile Cafe for lunch. The hot dogs were good and we were able to supplement the meal with yogurt, chips, and an orange. Since we were on “vacation” at the end of our trip we splurged by sharing a freshly made ice cream chocolate chip cookie sandwich from the Michigan Cafe.
It was a great trip and nice to take the day to do something fun. She was inspired by the Legos at the museum and spent time playing with her Duplos.
