After something like ten straight afternoons of thunderstorms, Baby A. and I have both been suffering from bad cases of cabin fever. Today we finally couldn't stand it anymore, all of our usual afternoon activities had worn pretty thin (Not another crayon!) So we decided to brave the rain and headed out to the Pretlow Library in Ocean View in hopes of finding a much-needed change of pace.
The Pretlow Library is one of my all-around favorite places to spend an hour or two (it also houses the Ocean View Station Museum, which I love and plan to write about in a later post, and a great selection of books and genealogy resources). But the obvious draw is the Kid Zone, which takes up the entire top level of the library. There are whirling and spinning light features, a soft play area with tumbling mats, a kitchen nook with all sorts of play food and utensils, stacks of blocks and puzzles and trains and books and pretty much everything a stimulation-starved kid could desire in a rainy-day destination (including a bank of computers with games for the older kids).
Some of the toys are a little moth-eaten, honestly, but in light of the age-old rule that toys that aren't your toys are always more fascinating, Baby Anne didn't seem to mind very much and happily carried around one of the saddest baby dolls I've ever seen as though it were an especially hot-ticket item. After she tired of that, she spent a good long while feeding plastic play food to the other kids (and having a few "tastes" herself) and generally making a big old noisy happy mess.
Just in case you needed more convincing, here's how we looked by the time we left (much cheerier, no?):
What are some of your favorite rainy day places?
This is *the best* local play area at a library. I like the Children's Museum for rainy days although the current second floor exhibit gives my two year old the creeps.
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