Which Zoo? Zeum!

This morning we decided to go to the zoo. We invited Daddy along and he drove. We packed lunches, lathered up with sunblock and confirmed that we had passes to get in.
When the time came to split for Oakland or San Fransisco, Daddy went towards San Fransisco and I started objecting and telling him to turn around. Unfortunately we were committed, so into San Fransisco we went. Apparently we had a slight miscommunication. I have passes for the Oakland Zoo, he thought we were going to San Fransisco. Oh, well. Let's see what there is to do.

We haven't ever been to Zeum, and it was right off the bridge so we stopped there to check it out. We parked in the Metronome parking garage...again we were committed...and walked down the block to Zeum. They didn't open until 1pm. It was only 10:30. OK. Let's walk to the Academy of Sciences. They were closed due to their move back into the Golden Gate park. AUGH! FOILED AGAIN!

We killed some time in the mall, where it was discovered that our Oakland Zoo passes expired two days before. I guess it was a good thing we went into San Francisco after all.
We went to Burlington Coat Factory and got Elle some pretty nightgowns. She loves to wear dresses and has, on many occasions, gotten out of bed to put on a dress.

We walked back over to Zeum, let the kids go on the merry-go-round had our lunch in the rotunda and then let the kids play in the park right there. The slides were AWESOME!

We got right in when it opened.

There were several green screen production areas where you could make a commercial, or music video or news cast. After you were done you had the option to save your project and produce it to a DVD to take home.

We got into the lower green room, but didn't realize we were supposed to pick a project first. By the time I got that set up, their interest had waned and moved on to something else. They made masks, tried on costumes and worked briefly on sound effects. It was a great museum, but I think more suited for older children who have a longer attention span.

There was a field trip there, and when they were done making a clay-mation, we got to go in and use it. Ethan made a Superhero and I helped Elle make a person. We set them up on a stage and did a frame by frame and produced the following three second video.