The Paine Center

In keeping with our summer of family field trips, yesterday we spent a beautiful day in Osh Kosh at the Paine Art Center and Gardens. We went there in December to see The Nutcracker in the Castle. You can see our last visit to the Paine by clicking here.



One thing we were able to do today that we didn't see at Christmas time was the lower level Family Discovery Area.
Emma loved drawing in the rectangles of this poster (top photo above) to create a scene. We have seen these things at other museums, we had just never taken the time to try it out before. I forget what they are called, but once her scene was drawn {she drew dirt and a seed, then rain and sun, followed by a growing flower} we put it in the circular thing behind her and spun it to see the sequence of events. It was really cool. She also enjoyed the model of the castle where she got to design how the landscaping could look.


Rebekah enjoyed tea time at the fancy table. A favorite game for her.


Ka'iulani loved the easel and mirror set up for her to draw a self portrait. She took her time and worked carefully, I thought her picture came out cute.


You may remember from our Nutcracker visit that photography is not allowed inside the mansion. The castle is awesome, my dad and the girls were finding secret doors to closets and cabinets hidden in the wood work of the walls, and the girls were peeking in the key holes of locked doors and they could actually see light and canvases and rugs behind the doors. It seemed there were hidden treasures everywhere, but unfortunately the family area is the only indoor place where photos can be taken. Outside in the gardens was a completely different story though, we took lots of pictures...









To me it looks like she has a secret to tell in this picture.








We took a few family pictures which was so nice. Although I take tons of pictures of the girls, Dave and I rarely get into the photos unless we are on vacation or celebrating a special occasion :-)



 


Didn't the pics of my parents and the girls come out nicely?


And even more rare, a photo of just the two of us.


In the afternoon we stumbled upon Lake Winnebago where we had a picnic lunch. They have a nice park there with a train and a couple of kiddie rides and a free zoo. My mom has all those pics on her camera though, so maybe there's a part 2 to this post :-) It was a great family field trip.