VISITING A TREEHOUSE WITH THE GRANDKIDS

Ogden's Treehouse Museum--March 23, 2013

Docents at the Church Museum were talking one day about the Children's Treehouse Museum in Ogden and how fantastic it was.  I found some discounted tickets online a few weeks back and planned on taking some of the grandchildren there one day.  Well, on March 23 Camille and her children and Hillary and her children, along with Isabella (her mother was out of town), were able to go with me.  

Words cannot express how wonderful this museum is!  Open since 1992, the museum is a hands-on children's museum focused on children's literature and the arts and was  just moved into this beautiful new building.  

I am so frustrated that it has taken me so long to get these pictures posted, and I have either lost or misplaced several pictures I took of the museum.  There is just no way to do this museum justice with the few pictures I'm posting, but hopefully you will have the opportunity to visit some day.  

Second floor of the treehouse that also has a spiral staircase and an adventure bridge.  Under the tree below, the children heard the story of "The Three Pigs," which was dramatically retold by the museum staff.

One of the most amazing part of the museum, is the EXPLORE YOUR WORLD exhibit where the children discover stories and activities from China, Germany, England, Mexico, Mongolia, Japan, Argentina and Kenya.  There is a life-size Mongolian yurt and Indian teepee,  etc., etc., etc.  Again, I had the best pictures of these but can't find them.

LEWIS AND CLARK DISCOVERY TRAIL--  

Hillary and her kids sitting in Lewis and Clark's boat.

Tanner with two of the many hand puppets throughout the museum.

Liam sitting in a barrel.

HEALTHY CHILD CENTER--Adelyn pretending to be a doctor who cares for babies in the mini-hospital.

BE THE HERO OF YOUR OWN STORY--

Izzy surrounded by an amazing library of books, and then you can write your own story...

...and add graphics (and shapes like Cohen is doing).

JUMP INTO THE ARTS--

Carter is playing the drums in the Play Music Room...

...and in THE AMERICAN DREAM GALLERY, he sat at a replica of the President' desk (where you could also discover interesting things about each state at the Great American Map).

THE ART GARDEN--

The kids had fun coloring and cutting out animal-shaped face masks while Camille and Carter enjoyed playing with Liam.

 DAYS OF THE KNIGHTS--

Tanner and Holland dressed up as a king and queen with Holland sitting on a throne.

Adding a few members to the court--Adelyn and Carter...

...and Izzy!

 Kids trying to pull out King Arthur's sword in the stone--

 Cohen trying to become the King of England...

...along with Elsie!

Cohen could have played with the miniature castle all day long...

...and created something with wooden blocks.  I didn't get a picture of the giant chess game area, but the pieces were as big as Liam. 

STEP BACK IN TIME--Giant map of Utah 

Elsie milking the cow in the big red barn

Tanner riding a horse in front of the Big Red Barn.

Isabella riding a horse in the Rodeo Arena.

Holland and Izzy riding a bull in the arena.

 As we were going in (and out) of the museum just across the street and to the north, we noticed the new Ogden Temple going up!  They tore the 40-year-old temple down because the foundation needed to be "more seismically sound." The completion date is estimated to be late 2014.  The old run-down downtown area is being totally revitalized.

After three hours in the museum, we were all hungry.  We walked about a half block to Pizza Factory for salads and pizza.  What a fun activity and day!  We will have to go there again.  We only skimmed the surface of all there is to do!!!