Haraka, haraka, haina baraka: The new Madison Children's Museum

we have been waiting for a long time for the new Madison Children's Museum to open and it did finally last weekend. yesterday was a rather cold and grey kind of day, so the girls and i decided we should make a visit. the first thing that hit me as we walked in the front door was the level of noise. overwhelming!! the place was packed, packed, packed!! when we used to visit the old museum, it was like visiting a ghost town. everyone was there to check out the new space. and a fabulous place it is too. so worth the visit. but if you're prone to claustrophobia when around hyperactive children, i would wait until the newness of the museum has worn off. there are 4 levels to the museum, with much more space devoted to older children, so Skye was thrilled. the best part for me was the rooftop garden. you can take the elevator up to the top of the building and see the Capitol and parts of Madison. they have a chicken coop with live chickens, a sand pit, and a sweet pond with wooden boats for the children to play with. however, i was rather disturbed by a large group of children who spent their time throwing rocks at the poor fish in the pond, determined to "get the fish"...i'm sure the creators of the new museums didn't envision that activity.

once i got over the noise and overcrowding, i managed to get my camera out and take some shots.

here are the girls taping on the large glass windows on the second floor. i'm sure they were wishing they could do this at home too. :)

this was a portion of the second floor - chaotic but fun!

they had quotes painted on the walls throughout the museum - my eyes focused on them frequently, to rise above the din. ;)

my girls (including Cordelia, whose back of the head you can see here) was fascinated by this view of the water "tornado" that was exhibited near the entrance of the museum. here they are looking down a tube from the 2nd floor.