South Dakota Part 2: Brookings

Long-time readers will recall that Brookings has the Children's Museum of South Dakota. Josh has not forgotten it, and in his prayers at the dinner table will often include thanks for the CMSD, with special attention to the two animatronic dinosaurs they have. So we were sure to go back to the CMSD the first day (Wednesday), and again on Thursday when it stormed all day. On Wednesday the weather was beautiful and sunny. The inside exhibits are getting a little young for Sam, so he was happy to spend most of his time in the outdoor portion of the museum, which has an area with random jets of water, and a stream the children can wade and play in. 

The random-jets area

Despite his year-long fascination with the dinosaurs, or perhaps because of it, he was initially extremely reluctant to go anywhere near them. Finally after hours there he was willing to sort of sidle up to the smaller. It took til the second trip for him to go up to it and he was never willing to go close to the larger one. He would even warn the Colorado cousins (Joe, Erin and Meagan) away from them, worried for their safety.  

Here are Erin, Meagan and Josh climbing the netted indoor climbing structure. 

This is as close as he would get to "Mama", the larger dinosaur.

Sam made up a little game he would play on the random jets.

Each day was all about keeping the kids occupied, and wearing them out. The CMSD was instrumental in that, though also a surprise help in this regard was a pair of little boy-powered carts called Plasma Cars which Gene bought for the boys. These are interesting in that, by moving the steering wheeling back and forth, they propel themselves forward, even uphill, despite the kids' feet being off the ground. When you first see these in action you wonder how it is converting angular momentum into forward linear momentum. I think by leaning to the left and right the rider puts more weight on one of the wheels, increasing its friction and making it the point the other wheel pivots about. Neat toys, and the boys have been very happy riding them on long neighborhood trips. The only complication is that Sam goes much, much faster than Josh, to he is inevitably alone and bored while Josh is left in the dust. Still, on the wide, shady boulevards of Brookings that's not the worst fate you can suffer. 

When really riding these, their feet are off the ground and they move forward by rotating the steering wheel back and forth.

Also got to eat George's Pizza, twice, in Brookings, which Susan is wild about. And we were treated to a big grilled steak dinner by Gene, who got some nice sirloins from the South Dakota Meat Lab. The Ag college also sells its own ice cream, which is apparently quite good. (Reminiscent of the OSU Ag school's Honey Bee Lab, which sells its own honey.)

And so passed Wednesday and Thursday...