A trip to the Magic House

I've been waiting for what seems like forever to take Ryan to a children's museum. I wasn't sure if he was old enough to enjoy most of the exhibits, or if he'd get trampled by "big kids" -- so we've stayed away from them so far. Tonight, however, Purina had the entire Magic House rented out for a private party for its marketing department, so we took the chance to avoid the crowds and give it a whirl. Man, have we been missing out.

The Magic House is incredible...if you haven't been there since they completed the massive addition and renovations the last year or so, you need to go again. They have a HUGE area for kids under 6, and another separate area for kids under 2. Here's a few shots of our visit:

Daddy helped Ryan play mechanic on this car -- you can change the tires, check the oil, change the air filter, and press all kinds of buttons that make noise. Ryan's favorite? A button that "honked" the car.

Here's Ryan gassing up a more simple car.

Ah, the beauty of simplicity. Here, Ryan practices his "on-off" skills with a wall full of light switches.
There's a grocery store where kids can shop -- Ryan stocked up on milk more than anything else. (That's 3 gallons in his basket!)
Ryan's always a fan of the "beeper" at the grocery store checkout, so he loved that he could do it himself at the play store.
Ryan enjoyed a lot of opportunities to climb and slide (this place is designed to wear your kids out)!
In the little kids area, there's a big water play area, including the opportunity to squirt a water gun (inside a case, thankfully). Notice the sweet smocks - kudos to the person who thought of that one!
Here's Ryan enjoying the water table.
Ryan usually loooves bubbles, but the bubble room here was just a little out of his abilities. Here, mommy tries to get Ryan inside a bubble.
Finally, I leave you with a shot of another potential future profession for Ryan. Hail to the chief?