Paul took a day off during Rudy's and my spring break and we decided to take a short road trip to Reading. The Reading Public Museum had a Lego Castle Adventure exhibit that we knew Rudy would enjoy. So we left Friday morning and headed right to the museum.
The stained glass window along the stairs.
A Lego knight.
All around the room were Lego castle scenes.
You could plan a castle wall and then use a simulated catapult to see if your wall was strong enough (it wasn't).
And there were plenty of places to just build. At first Rudy was just so overwhelmed he ran from activity to activity.
The castle entrance with a throne. The stained glass window is also made out of Legos.
Another Lego knight.
The king and queen.
He can never just stand and smile for a picture!
Finally, at the garden building area, he built and played for a while.
His final scene had bad guys who were cutting down trees and good guys who were coming to fix them.
This person is running because she/he is being chased by a crocodile.
After the Lego area, we explored other areas of the museum. The knights and weapons were a big hit.
The mummies were impressive, too.
At the entrance to the museum was a jelly bean display- famous works of art created entirely out of jelly beans. Odd and impressive all at once!
It was the first sunny, not cold day we'd had all year, so we all enjoyed just being outside. Rudy loved being down by the water. (We had to keep reminding him that we had no other shoes packed so he couldn't get his feet wet.)
Like I said, never just a smile for a picture.
Or if it's a smile, it looks forced!
Tree roots growing along the bank completely exposed.
Once the tour began,we headed inside. It was a comfortable 54 degrees inside. The cave was impressive, although Rudy was disappointed we wouldn't see any bats, since they are nocturnal. (although they do have a vent that allows the bats to come and go at night.)
This is an upside down ice cream cone.
These were "vegetables"- carrots and beans hanging down.
There are crystals on the ceiling here.
Many stalactites.
A view from the highest and warmest spot (56 degrees).
The largest stalactite- about 5 feet tall and weighs about 500 lbs.
In the middle you can see what looks like Snoopy lying on his doghouse.
A profile of Jack Frost.
After our tour.
Yes, it looks like we dragged him here under duress!
After the caves, we headed to lunch, then went to visit Cabela's- a large camping/outdoor store. The animal displays were pretty cool. The store was huge and overwhelming!
After that we headed home. We all agreed we did a lot of fun stuff in about 24 hours, but it didn't feel rushed at all.
The stained glass window along the stairs.
A Lego knight.
All around the room were Lego castle scenes.
You could plan a castle wall and then use a simulated catapult to see if your wall was strong enough (it wasn't).
And there were plenty of places to just build. At first Rudy was just so overwhelmed he ran from activity to activity.
The castle entrance with a throne. The stained glass window is also made out of Legos.
The king and queen.
He can never just stand and smile for a picture!
Finally, at the garden building area, he built and played for a while.
His final scene had bad guys who were cutting down trees and good guys who were coming to fix them.
This person is running because she/he is being chased by a crocodile.
After the Lego area, we explored other areas of the museum. The knights and weapons were a big hit.
The mummies were impressive, too.
At the entrance to the museum was a jelly bean display- famous works of art created entirely out of jelly beans. Odd and impressive all at once!
Outside the museum were some paths along a small creek and some sculptures and works of art.
Rudy and an ant.
It was the first sunny, not cold day we'd had all year, so we all enjoyed just being outside. Rudy loved being down by the water. (We had to keep reminding him that we had no other shoes packed so he couldn't get his feet wet.)
Like I said, never just a smile for a picture.
Or if it's a smile, it looks forced!
Tree roots growing along the bank completely exposed.
After the museum, we checked into our hotel, went to dinner and then had a swim in the pool. The next morning we got up and headed to Crystal Cave. As we got close to the caves, we were stopped because there was a race going on. We were directed to take a different route to get to the caves. We followed the rushed directions we were given, plus had some help from our phones, and got near the caves again, only to be stopped again. We explained that we had been sent from down the road to enter here, so the man let us drive slowly down the road to the caves- what an adventure trying to find our way through windy mountain roads!
We arrived at Crystal Cave and waited for our tour.
Once the tour began,we headed inside. It was a comfortable 54 degrees inside. The cave was impressive, although Rudy was disappointed we wouldn't see any bats, since they are nocturnal. (although they do have a vent that allows the bats to come and go at night.)
This is an upside down ice cream cone.
These were "vegetables"- carrots and beans hanging down.
There are crystals on the ceiling here.
Many stalactites.
A view from the highest and warmest spot (56 degrees).
The largest stalactite- about 5 feet tall and weighs about 500 lbs.
In the middle you can see what looks like Snoopy lying on his doghouse.
A profile of Jack Frost.
After our tour.
Yes, it looks like we dragged him here under duress!
After that we headed home. We all agreed we did a lot of fun stuff in about 24 hours, but it didn't feel rushed at all.
