Day 40 - Mesquite Groves Aquatic Center

Going to the pool was much easier today with my husband with us.  And also because their were about half as many people there as last time I visited.

Mesquite Groves Aquatic Center is great. You can read my review about it here.

Day 39 - Birthday Partying at Chuck E Cheese's

Happy Birthday, Kid Four! My little blue-eyed thumb sucking boy is three-years-old today. For his party he wanted to play with his cousin who lives three hours away. We'll do that this weekend. Today he had to settle for his second choice, going to the new Chuck E Cheese.

This Chuck E Cheese recently opened in Chandler, AZ. You can read my review of it here.

To have a reserved party at Chuck E Cheese cost $10.99 per child. Each kid gets 40 tokens, 2 slices of pizza, a drink and the birthday kid gets extra goodies and 60 tokens. My kids don't need all that. Did you know you can have a walk-in party at Chuck E Cheese?

How to have a cheap party at Chuck E Cheese

Chuck E Cheese allows you to bring in your own cake for parties. They will even put your cake in the fridge or freezer if you need it. We forgot a lighter for our birthday candles and they had no problem bringing out a lighter for us. Then you just need to get cheap tokens using my tips here. Bring your own balloons and find a good table that isn't reserved and you're all set. Come at a time between lunch and dinner so you don't have to buy food. It is also a little slower at these times. Three-year-olds don't know about the Ticket Blaster or the other random party extras you pay for with a reserved party. Kid Four had a great time playing with his cousins, blowing out his candles, and opening presents.

Day 38 - Fun & Games with the Family

Lots of family time on Sunday. Extra fun this week with an extra aunt and some cousins in town.

The kids have been really into making movies lately. Kid One made a funny movie today called "what to do if" and Kid Two directed a movie based on the shirt he was wearing called "A Dog Ate My Homework." It's fun to watch them come up with ideas and get the younger siblings to participate. 

Games with the whole family can be a challenge. When the little ones are tired, we put them to bed a little early and play games with the 5 and up crowd. They enjoy Cranium and Sorry the most. Today we played Book of Mormon Pictionary. 

For more Sunday ideas check out this post.

Day 37 - Phoenix Art Museum: PhxArtKids Day

 I've never been super into art museums and although the kids love making art, I couldn't see them really getting into walking around looking at paintings. Today the Phoenix Art Museum was having a special PhxArtKids Day. If ever I was going to try an art museum with the kids, I supposed today was the day to do it.

All the kids loved the projects and performances offered for the kids day. The contemporary gallery and kids gallery were also really interesting for me and the kids. Kids One and Two were really well behaved. Kids Three and Four wouldn't stop touching things and running around. It was pretty stressful, especially since a security guard talked to me twice about it. You can read by Phoenix Art Museum review here.

I didn't know how long we were going to last, so of course I didn't want to pay the full $12 for me and $6 for the older 2 kids. Yesterday while we were at the library I picked up a Culture Pass. I talked about them a little in this post. They are pretty awesome. Basically, you "check out" 2 free admissions to museums in the area. The Phoenix Art Museum passes are almost always available. Kids 5 and under are free at the art museum, so I should have only had to pay one child's admission, but the staff member told me not to worry about it and let us all in for free. Awesome.

If you don't care about waiting for a kids day and can't get a culture pass (or have to many people) Phoenix Art Museum offers free admission the first Friday of every month after 6 pm and every Wednesday for 3-9pm.

Day 36 - Relaxing at Home

Waaah? At home? Ok, well, we did drive home from Las Vegas today. And this afternoon we did go to the library to cash in our reading minutes we earned while listening to Percy Jackson books in the car. But the most exciting event if the day was getting back home after 3 weeks.

The boys were excited to get back to their video games. Kid Five loved crawling all over and playing with her toys. Kid One just wanted to play with her friends. Vacations are fun but coming home is the best.

Day 35 - Wilbur D. May Museum

We only had half a day to play before we needed to start toward home today. Kid One remembered liking the Wilbur D. May Museum and requested that's what we do this morning.

This museum is a collection of artifacts from a local Rancher who traveled the world. The coolest part of this place is the huge variety of taxidermied animals. Back in the 1920's, large game hunting was considered a gentleman's sport. May went on safari to Africa and shot a lot of different creatures. Apparently, the locals liked these hunts because they were paid to be guides and the villages also got to keep the meat from the animals. May kept the heads, pelts, and horns and had some neat things made. There were elephant feet trash cans, a card table and chairs made out of antelope horns with lion law ash trays attached at each seat, and lamps that were crafted from giraffe and zebra legs. You can read my full review here.

This was such a random little place to find and not mentioned on any of the major tourist sites. Some of the best attractions are not well publicized. For tips and tricks on finding unique places while on vacation, check out this post from earlier this summer.

Day 34 - Fun Times in Carson City, Nevada

We wanted to try someplace new today. Carson City, Nevada's state capital is only half an hour away from Reno, so we headed south for the day.

There is a children museum in in Carson City, and since they happened to have a 50% off coupon on the Entertainment Book app, we visited The Children's Museum of Northern Nevada. The museum is in the old Civic Auditorium. The building was constructed about 75 years ago and has been a children's museum for about 25 years. Knowing that was pretty cool. The museum itself was a little random, but the kids loved it. You can read my review here.

Since we were so close, I wanted to stop by the Capitol Building. We took our lunch to eat on the grounds. The grounds were very well kept and there was lots of shade. There were a couple other people around eating lunch too. The kids really wanted to check out inside but I was nervous about their craziness. I asked if they could be really quiet and stay right with me. Kid Four even demonstrated his quiet voice. We went inside and a nice gentleman told us to feel free to look around where we wanted. He informed us of a museum on the top floor so we checked that out, too. It was pretty fancy in there. I'm glad I took a chance on the kids. They were very well behaved.