Wonderlab

We lounged around the Inn on Saturday morning, took one last swim, and then hit the German Cafe for lunch.  But we wanted something to do that afternoon before returning home.  Since we have the museum pass that allows you to visit partner museums for free, we looked to see if anything was in Bloomington.  Sure enough, we discoverd the Wonderlab.  Probably one of the best hands-on kids' science centers I've seen.

 

The bubble room was amazing.

We played for a good 15 minutes (easily) with the cloud bubbles.  You can catch them, carefully, as they form and descend from the machine.

When you pop them, they vaporize in a puff of "smoke".  Very, very cool!

These two had fun at this large bubblemaking machine.  One aspect creates a wall of bubble liquid and you push a button next to the wheel for air to shoot at the wall to create huge bubbles.  Lots of giggles from Camden as she (or Kevin) created and popped them.

A parachute drop and water table were so different and well done.

There was a pully machine where the kids could pull themselves up.

And an amazing climbing structure shaped like leaves that went up at least two stories.  Camden made it almost to the top, before deciding she was done, but she loved the challenge.

There were also Bloomington High School students doing hands-on experiments in one of the classrooms.  Camden made gluep, a homemade kazoo, and performed acid/base tests.

The best line of the day was when she was decorating a toilet paper roll to make the kazoo.  Unprompted by us, she made a big "P" on the side and declared, "P for Purdue!"  Kevin and I looked at each other and laughed.  Being in IU country we were proud that our girl knows where her loyalty lies!
 

German Cafe

We wanted to go someplace fun for lunch on our drive home.  We looked online for recommendations and found the "German Cafe."  Given our love of the stuff and the rave reviews, we decided to go 15 miles in the opposite direction. 

 

 

It was a funky little joint, decked out in ecclectic treasures in an old house.  Camden loved the teapots and the horse...who she had to have her picture with so she could remember him (what a nut!).

The food was fantastic.  Camden scarfed down her sausages!  She thought they were the best hot dogs she ever had.  If we are near this area again, we will definitely return.  They had a lunch menu with a limited selection so next time I'd like to try for more variety at dinner. 

Other Park Happenings

The first morning we left the Inn to do some exploring, we discovered we had left the car unlocked and a window down.  We hadn't left too much in there, but did have some CDs and videos, along with a phone charger.  Unfortunately, it looked like someone had gotten in.  We searched but everything looked to be there.

 

We made a quick stop at the park nature center.

 

 

Walking back to our car, Kevin pointed out that Camden had made a bunch of hand prints on the side door.  Um...honey...those are animal prints!

 

 

 

Upon closer inspection we discovered these paw prints throughout the car - on seats, arm rests, tv monitors, etc.  He was one curious critter.  We did have a few McDonald's bags in the trash, but no other food.  Thankfully he scrounged and left.  Not leaving any other "evidence" besides paw prints.

 

The state park is located in Mitchell, IN which is home to Gus Grissom.  On the park grounds is a museum with lots of his Purdue and NASA memorabilia.  As history buffs, we enjoyed this last venture before leaving Spring Mill.

Pioneer Village

A grist mill is on the state grounds, along with a pioneer village that surrounds it.  There were close to 20 buildings to tour.  Re-enactors were in several of them, but not all.  The next day was a Heritage Celebration which would have had more activities and actors, but we decided to enjoy a quieter visit.

 

Water had to be brought in from the nearby lake/creek so a long shute ran through one end of the village to the mill.

 

You can imagine the smell in the leather shop.  The leather smith showed Camden how he was binding a book cover.

I love watching her skip!  It always makes me think she is happy and enjoying herself.

Her favorite discovery was a wooden toy hanging from the ceiling in the woodworkers shop.  Once Kevin showed her how to move the bear up the rope, she was hooked!

Near several homes was a beautiful flower garden.  Camden was about done at this point, so she was not happy posing for a picutre!

After a stop at the merchantile and the apothecary (blue buildings in picture above next to mill), we stopped at the stables and blacksmith.

It was a perfect day for walking about this historic park, but we were still very hot when we left.  Thankfully just outside the grounds was a concession stand so we grabbed some ice cream treats for cooling off. 

Twin Caves

There were 4 or 5 caves on the park grounds.  All but the Twin Caves were closed due to the White Nose Syndrome, a disease affecting bats.    This one had 20 minute boat rides filled with educational facts and cool sites.  While waiting for our tour, we hiked 1/2 way on a 2.5 mile rugged trail.  Actually, we probably only did about 1/4 of it, came to a road, and Camden wanted to head to the boat, so we took the pavement back to the launch site.

 

There were 6 of us in our boat, plus the park ranger.  Camden originally sat between us, but once we headed in, we convinced her to sit in front of me so she could see.  She was careful, but the rocking boat was almost too much for me!

Off we go.

For most of the tour, the guide used her gloved hands on the ceiling and the walls to pull us along.

There were some small stalactites and several coves - some used for bootlegging during prohibition and some used as temporary morgues by Native Americans in winter months when the ground was too hard.

At the turn around the guide turned off the boat headlights and we got to experience total darkness - no natural light could reach us.  You literally couldn't see your hand in front of your face.  Coming out was beautiful as we experienced twilight when natural light started to reach us.  Very cool tour!

Spring Mill State Park & Inn

Kevin had vacation this week, so we took a few days and got away.  We headed to one of the state parks in southern Indiana.  The accommodations were very modest, but the park had lots of things to do.

 

Unfortunately the Inn was booked on Friday night, except King rooms, so we got one for both of our nights.  There was not a sofa in the room so the first night we all three slept in the bed.  While there was plenty of room, Camden is quite the tosser.  The next night we got a rollaway brought in!

The quilt pattern was beautiful.

The indoor/outdoor pool was such fun.  The shallow end was inside, but Camden did quite well swimming in the deeper end or using a floating stick or air mattress.  The water was actually warm (most "heated" hotel pools are still cold), so we enjoyed it each time we swam.

The parking lot was a short walk from the Inn.  I love watching these two together.

Cake & Presents

I was glad to have the chance to make her cake for this party.  I'm such an amateur decorator, but I like to make the birthday cakes for family.  I used the pinata as my guide and did Spongebob's body.  He would look better if the frosting was smoother and he had arms and legs, but my "good enough" syndrome kicked in.

 

I actually think he's pretty cute!

Since I used canned frosting (a normal no-no in my book), I spruced it up a bit with a raspberry whipped cream in between two layers of chocolate cake.

Finally we got to the presents.

She loved everything, but a card with a "press here" button for music and Spongebob golf balls were bit hits (Thanks GaGa!).