cosi

this morning we were going to go to the ohio state fair, but the weather was not cooperating and we wouldn't have enough time to wait it out (it later turned into a beautiful day) so we went to cosi instead. the kids were pretty excited and only vaguely remembered going last year on our way to kansas.  madelyn was super excited because "cosi on wheels" came to her school for a day of science this year.  another bonus was that this was free thanks to our museum pass!

having some green screen fun in the tv/radio section

matt and i thought this was pretty cool.  there were these 'hockey pucks' with different energy types on them.  when you placed them on different parts of the screen, it launched a website where you could read about it and the 'window' would drag around where you slid the puck.

the boys 'driving'.

and then we went to the outside exhibit.  we all love these.  it was still pretty damp and sort of misty but we had a lot of fun and had the place to ourselves.

madelyn lifting a car (or the car was lifting her)

mason lifting the car with my help (i am pulling behind him while taking the picture)

the giant 'ball popper'.  mason is putting a ball in that will be shot out the top. 

the three big boys lifting the car.

some hands on fun in the 'lilly pad'.  they had instructions to build a butterfly but the boys were making their own creatures.  madelyn completed the butterfly.

and they were all impressed with king triton and the fountains they could move around (sort of like water guns with a continuous flow that they could point in different directions without getting themselves or any one else wet).

 there was a hallway display where you pull up a bowling ball with a pulley and then let it go to try and create enough force to launch a tennis ball high enough to touch a target on the ceiling.  i don't think it was actually possible (you can only pull the bowling ball a certain height and that didn't do it) but i had a hard time getting the biggest boy to move on....

i couldn't get over the art exhibit on the walls upstairs of 'trash' butterflies.  they were so much more beautiful than they look in the pictures and quite large - maybe 5 feet by 4 feet, some bigger, some smaller.

the kids in a buggy.

who would have thought that a telephone booth would become a novelty?  the kids loved pretending that they were making calls. (i guess i did as a kid too.)

we had a little more time and decided to let all four kids play in the 'kidspace' where there are all kinds of slides and play kitchens, stores, etc. before we had to buckle in for a long-ish ride to visit some family in indiana.

one of these times we are going to give cosi a full day.  we were able to 'see' everything in the morning but we really had to hustle through and there is a lot more to do.  it was a good way to spend the morning and we completely enjoyed the short time we had.  now a quick lunch at panera and back in the car to drive to our next stop - dinner at the kids' great uncle dennis and great aunt joy's farm.  love.