Staycation 2011, Entry One

No big vacation planned this year -- a combination of high gas prices and lack of planning! So we're trying to take advantage of places in the Metroplex we haven't visited before. Yesterday we went to the American Airlines' C.R. Smith Aviation Museum. I went almost 15 years ago, pre-kids, and found it interesting but remembered it as not particularly kid friendly. Either I misremembered, or it changed, because it was really great for the kids. They especially liked the Cyberchase exhibit, where they got to solve math problems in the context of code-breaking, music-making and other fun things.

There's even an activity center where the girls played games and made parachutes to fly in the wind tunnel.

There's an old airplane -- DC 3, I think -- that you can go into and everything.  Mimi remembers taking one like it when she was 10 and returning to France from Madagascar.

The undisputed highlight for both girls, though, was the flight simulator!  A retired pilot helped them to take off, fly around the DFW area, and land.  Afterwards, Maya whispered that she had a secret -- she didn't really do anything other than hold onto the steering wheel (or whatever it's called on an airplane), the pilot did all the flying!

At the gift shop, the girls found really cool American Airline posters -- one for Beijing and one for Asia (they left the Shanghai one behind since they've never been to Shanghai!).  They liked them enough that they actually bought them with their own money! (We're flattening them here preparatory to hanging them outside the playroom!).

And since the museum isn't close to where we live, we got to go to a restaurant off our usual path, Italianni's, where they had the BEST. KID'S. MEAL. EVER!  Make your own pizza!

So this is entry one in Staycation 2011.  Stay tuned!