March...er, that was last month, right?

So here April has begun and I have posted nothing about March. Well, that's evidence that life is busy and chaotic and sometimes I just don't have much time in front of the computer.

There were several events yielding some great photographs and silly memories. The first depicted here is our Friday outing to the Phoenix Children's Museum (which is totally cool).

We decided to use public transportation to get there, so our morning began by catching the blue Orbit bus, which runs by our house multiple times a day, and take it down to the light rail station. The Metro, or light rail, has been running since January this year and is a nifty and inexpensive way to travel downtown and through Tempe and Mesa. So we bought our tickets and rode the above-ground electric train to downtown Phoenix.

The kids have taken the Orbit, which they have dubbed "the blue bus" several times since it began its route and they are familiar with its operation. Amelia especially likes to pull the chord that sounds the bell to tell the driver we're ready to get off.

The light rail metro train was another experience all together. The kids have ridden it once before but it's pretty fast and sometimes pretty crowded. Dylan was a bit nervous and only spoke in whispers the entire ride there.

Amelia wasn't nervous in the least and spent her trip munching granola bars and trying to read the signs on the buildings that we sped by.

We had to walk a bit to get to the museum, which is a refurbished school building, but it was worth the trek (although, a stroller, shopping cart, wheelbarrow, pack mule...whatever...will be required the next visit.)

Once inside the kids took off playing with all sorts of toys that engineering elves, complete with ACDC t-shirts, bad haircuts, and pocket protectors must have merrily created.

These toys were COOL.

The ceiling was filled with colorful origami cranes and bright hula hoops, one wall was a mirror of dangling CDs, there was an upstairs forest of pool noodles hanging from the ceiling, a ball room with all sorts of crazy pathways for balls of all sizes to travel, and a play kitchen decorated with giant birds, dragon flies, frogs, scorpions, and other animals or lighting fixtures made entirely of metal forks, knives and spoons, and other sundry and wild contraptions.

This was a series of wind tubes with entries and exits in which little museum patrons put plastic balls and nylon scarves only to watch them speed all through the pathways and finally shoot out the top.

Dylan was hysterical with joy.

Amelia found these crazy tricycles to propel through the sunlit concrete expanse.

(Daily, we use various hair products to prevent the feathery strands of Amelia's fine and slippery hair from escaping. When it does escape, I often hear about it and am visited the demand to "Fix my hair NOW....please.")

But this morning, there were no such demands. Amelia was engaged and focused riding round on this contraption.

I wonder if they rent them out.

Throughout the day, we did have a little of this...

And a little of that.

But mostly there was a lot of this.

After all of the excitement, Evan and I got to be the pack mules carrying the kids back to the light rail station along with the rest of the inhabitants in the Phoenix Metro area. There was standing room only on the way home, but the kids managed to squeeze together on one of the little seats while Evan and I stood hanging on to bars and rails trying to stay upright on our tired feet.

While the day was a definite success, next time, we might just drive.