Weekend Report: 9/28-9/29, 2007


The primary difference between this past weekend and the previous four (or five…I’ve lost count) is not what we did, but what we didn’t do. We did not paint. For one thing, it was rainy. Veeery convenient. Plus, we needed a break.

So, what did we do? In the search for new activities, we tried out The Works, an engineering/technology museum in Edina. It’s small, but there’s plenty for children ages 5+ to do. Ian wasn’t very interested in or how or why something worked, but more interested in what was next. That, and building things. In the past year or so, he’s gotten into Construx. Legos are for artists; Construx are for engineers. This kids going to design things, I know. Anyway, there was a nice variety of Construx pieces for him to create a race car, and then a downhill track to race against other cars. It’s kind of like the track at Legoland at Mall of America, with two differences:

  1. The Works uses Construx (obviously)
  2. Whereas Legoland has 10,000,000,000 pieces but only five wheels in the whole place, The Works hasn’t been ravaged yet, so there are plenty of wheels. One kid made a car that had eight or nine of them, and reminded me of the current Batmobile.

At any rate, two minutes after we got to The Works, I realized that I had forgotten our camera. There were some great photo ops there. However, we will definitely go back. In October, they’re making “Fizz Rockets.” What little boy wouldn’t love that?

However, taking a six-year-old boy to a place like “The Works” can also be an exercise in frustration for someone like me. At each exhibit, I wanted to teach Ian why it was working; he just wanted to do it, and move on to the next one. Hopefully, now that he’s done all of the exhibits, the next time I can spark some curiosity in him. Then I’ll have my camera…

Afterwards, it was burgers, fries and shakes at The Convention Grill, followed by a walk around Lake Harriet. We got to watch the waves and the first autumn colors.

All in all, it was much better than being up on a ladder.

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