A Visit to: Children's Museum of Phoenix

On July 27, my little guy turned 2 years old. Two! Who can believe it? I love seeing him grow and develop every day.

For his birthday, we thought it would be a great day to check out the Children's Museum of Phoenix, located in the downtown heart of the city. It's a bit of a drive for us, but I just love the area around there - close to Heritage Square, the Arizona Science Center, Chase Field, and US Airways Center.

The cost is currently $11 per person aged 1 and up - and so worth it. Parking is free, too! The museum used to participate in the Culture Pass program, but unfortunately bowed out of that this summer. (You can still get free admission to lots of awesome places around the Valley with the Culture Pass - it's worth checking out at your local library.)

Although the museum is usually closed on Mondays, they make an exception during the heat of the Arizona summer and open for Mondays in June and July. That was great news for us since his birthday fell on a Monday this year.

We were also able to bring along my husband's cousin and his son, who is about 3 months older than Tripp. We knew the boys would have a great time together. I packed sack lunches with sandwiches and snacks for us since I had read up on the museum beforehand and knew they had a cafe with an area to bring your own food. It worked out very well as we added a selection of drinks to our lunch and ate before we checked out the museum (can't have fun on an empty stomach).

The museum has lockers, with keys, for 50 cents per use. If you don't want to lug around a diaper bag, lunch pail, etc., definitely bring a stash of quarters. It's so nice to explore the museum without feeling like your kid's pack mule.

We just loved the museum! Everything there seems engineered to delight and encourage a child's imagination. It's so nice to be able to let kids run around, play, and be their fun-loving selves. This museum offered 3 stories of fun, and we'll definitely be back.

Highlights of our day there:

The Schuff-Perini Climber, a huge tower of climbing, eye-catching fun.

Sand art

Tricycle Carwash (with three styles of trikes so that everyone could enjoy the make-believe fun)

Cute critters in the art room

And the Under-Threes Room, which was probably Tripp's very favorite room. With lots of natural light and wood, this room was a great spot for our little guys to explore.

There's much more to explore, and a couple of rooms we didn't even get to on this visit. I'm looking forward to making the trek to Phoenix quite a few more times!