Magic House

Ainsley's birthday trip to St. Louis to the Magic House finally happened toward the end of February.  We headed south late one morning with the hopes of Ainsley taking a nap on the way down.  That didn't happen.  We got to the Magic House and Ainsley immediately had a huge smile on her face looking and playing with everything. 

 

 

She didn't want to leave the different areas.  I had to keep telling her there was more to play with.  I think she could have stayed at any one area for hours without leaving.  She thought the supermarket store they have set up was really fun.  She even thought the muffins were real, and I caught her trying to take a bite out of one.  We were guaranteed to leave germ-y anyway, right?!  Checking herself out and pushing the buttons on the cash register was lots of fun!

Prettiest cashier in the store!

I went to the Magic House YEARS ago (like probably over 20 years ago now....man, I'm old!) and didn't remember much.  They have different "places" set up to look like real businesses, like a store, bank, pizza place, hospital nursery, mechanic shop, and lots we didn't see.   She liked going to the bank and pretending to be Grandma Eba!

We spent over 2 hours at the Magic House and missed an entire floor and the Sid the Science portion of it.  Ainsley could have spent the rest of the day there, but we were hungry!  We'll definitely be heading back at one point to see the rest.  I mean, the future President of the United States needs a picture of herself sitting in the Oval Office at the age of 3, right?!   (The Oval Office was on the floor we missed!)

One of the only things I remembered about the Magic House from when I was a kid was the big static ball.  I'm so glad Ainsley wasn't in one of her "I'm refusing to take any picture" moods and actually let me hold her for a picture with the ball.  She could see herself in the mirror and thought it was really funny that she had "crazy" hair!

 

I was on a mission to find her a pair of tennis shoes that afternoon when we left the Magic House, so we headed to the Mills.  We ate lunch there, and after a few tantrums from a 3 year old that was in desperate need of a nap, we headed back to the car with no tennis shoes and a very cranky little girl.  I have to say, I don't know who was more cranky, Ainsley or Joel at that point.  Mr. Debbie Downer was in rare form that day!

Even with all the crankiness, we still had a good day, and Ainsley really enjoyed it.  She looks through the pictures on my phone often and laughs when she comes to the picture of her "crazy" hair!