First, when we started for the day, we stopped off at the Italian cafe where my niece, Shayna, greeted us as the hostess and even acted as the chef too!
Then we stopped at the Wildlife Clinic, but as you can tell Jayden wanted to stop being caged by Daddy's clutches so he could free roam like the wild animal he is.
I posed for a picture with Jaxson in front of the treehouse (which oddly enough you can't see in this picture). He loved being toted around in his brand new carrier... and let me tell you that this thing is an absolute godsend for the both of us!! He gets to be held nonstop as he likes and I can still snuggle with him while having my hands free (and be "ergonomically correct" since back pain sucks)!! Meanwhile, Trevan and McKenna were up inside the treehouse playing the "telephone game" with Shayna down below.
After that excursion, we stopped at the bank where my mom helped the kids "print" their own "benjamins" (that's a $100 bill for those of you who don't know), Jayden and Daddy played "Connect Four" with the dollars and coins and Jax and I posed with a picture of George Washington made completely out of coins. Trevan even helped out at the drive-up teller window (you could actually see cars pass through from outside as if they were driving up) and we found the "World of Treasures" hidden inside the secret treasure vault. 
Next, my sister's gang and my mom went downstairs to create their own St. Patty's Day artwork in the Art Studio while Jayden found the theater. If he doesn't sign up with the NBA or become a football player, he might just have a chance at being a stand-up comedian. Well, we thought he was pretty funny anyway and he seemed to laugh at our amusement... Who knew that running around and falling on a stage could be so much fun?
After washing up, McKenna and Shayna joined us at the theater in their almost-matching outfits.
It was all over once Jayden found...the trains. Yes, this kid could be occupied for hours alone just by trains. I think he'd die and go to Heaven if we ever had an exhibit of trains as large as they did. We had to wrestle him away after a half hour just so he could see the rest of the museum. He was captivated by the motorized train and everytime it came by him he's squeal all giddily, "Look Mama! Look Daddy! TRAIN!!". Oh how the smallest things can provide the most entertainment. :)
Next to the train exhibit was the plane. He knows all about any kind of transportation so this, too, was up his alley. He liked to "fly" the plane, but his favorite thing of all was the "flight control tower". You take these ping pong balls and put them into a vacuum tube (like the ones at a bank or drive-thru pharmacy) and it sucks them up into these 4 different tubes that criss-cross across the ceiling above the plane exhibit, then they fly across the room to this ramp that dumps them into a wooden box for the kids to start again. I wish I had gotten a picture of how many balls Jayden managed to carry over to his tube. I'm surprised there were any left for the other kids...
After that we stopped at the "H2O Headquarters" which was appropriately housed by a structure resembling a Washington State Ferry. Jayden loved playing with the fishies and ducks, splashing, squirting, and pushing on levers to make things spin and produce bubbles. As I've said before, bathtime is a favorite in the Andresen household and both boys take to water as well as a fish does. Even Jaxson got in on the action...and that kid is a splasher! Good thing they have aprons!! :)
The kids all gathered around in the Fire Station to slide down the slides, try on some hats, and take a picture with a very creepy, totally kid-unfriendly fireman (or at least I thought he was creepy...).
We even stopped at the farm where Jayden and Jaxson both took a turn on the tractor...and they both absolutely LOVED it! Jayden loves all things with wheels so this wasn't surprising.
And although Jayden had absolutely no interest whatsoever in the pony, Jaxson had a blast in the saddle.
Then Jayden drove a bus with Daddy before we headed up to the rooftop exhibit...
...where we all froze our butts off while the kids went down the slides, crawled through tunnels, played on the musical instruments, and Jayden attempted to uncover dinosaur fossils for like 5 seconds until some unruly grade schooler snatched the shovel he was using right out of his hand (and of course the stupid parents didn't even discipline their child even though I told the kid that he was being rude and that my son was using the shovel first). I mean, seriously, what kind of kid does crap like take a plastic shovel from a 2 year old when he's playing with it without asking? Oh yeah... the kind that gets away with everything because their parents have never heard of the word discipline. Luckily Jayden wasn't too brokenhearted and went back to playing on the slides, but I wouldn't have felt bad at all had he turned around and socked that kid and said "No, mine!". Ok, maybe I'd be slightly mortified and I might have disciplined him in public, but inside I'd be secretly laughing and feeling pretty dang proud that my kid stood up for himself (You go, Jayden...). But that didn't happen, so....
Lastly, we ended the day with Daddy and Jaxson riding in a Jeep before we walked out of the museum and back to our real cars for a bite to eat at Red Robin.
Had I not been so starving, I might have stopped to take some pictures of us at the restaurant, but really there's not much exciting about watching a bunch of people eat. The food was good, Jaxson's incessant screaming annoyed the people next to us, and I'm pretty sure that Jayden drank the restaurant's complete stock of chocolate milk while we were there. And then I had to change a very poopy diaper in the passenger seat of our car courtesy of our 2 year old... but I'm sure you really wanted to know that, right?
And no, I definitely didn't take a picture of that. It would have given you nightmares.
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