National Museum of Play - meh...

Today we swung into Rochester, NY to visit the National Museum of Play. I'd heard about it on NPR some time ago, and it's been on my radar ever since. Interesting stop, lots to see, but the girls and I were a little disappointed because so much of the stuff was either behind glass or otherwise unavailable. There was a GIANT Etch-a-Sketch that drew E's and my attention, but when arrived at the wall where it was mounted, we found it was really only a TV screen framed with an Etch-a-Sketch frame. The TV played vintage toy commercials. Not very exciting. The rest of the museum was largely the most gigantic children's museum we've ever seen. There was also an interesting display on electronic game history, but most of the games available for play required tokens. Really? This wasn't an inexpensive museum to visit, so I was surprised to find they charge for game access and carousel rides on top of admission. Oh well.

It was a fun stop once the girls got into play. E's definitely outgrown must of what children's museums have to offer. But she found the stage and some other bigger girls to play with. That made her day. V still enjoys the grocery store play, and lots of other pretend play. Helped that it was her size. (E was too tall for much of it.)

We stopped for the night at Cayuga Lake State Park on the northern end of one of the several Finger Lakes in upstate New York. SO lovely here! We all waded in the lake (nice and warm), but didn't swim because it's not allowed when guard is off duty. So, we found our way to the playground where the kids played past dark with several local kids - Mennonites, I think. Then peaceful fire and pleasant camp.