With the summer over, we started to discuss some options for more travel involving the kids. In the meantime, we wanted to explore some fun closer to home!
This included getting the duo used to eating in restaurants that aren’t necessarily the most child friendly. If we’re going to be traveling more, we won’t want to eat at Chuck E. Cheese’s everywhere, (actually, we haven’t even made it there once, yet!) so it was important to us that they learn to behave appropriately in all restaurants.
First up was La Boca, in Middletown, CT. It’s a Mexican Restaurant right on Main Street with delicious food, and drinks. It has also been known to host events, such as a taco eating competition that TT Dad entered a lifetime ago! We were a little early for lunch, so we were seated in the bar area. The duo loved their food, and so did we! They were able to handle these two little humans just fine, bringing their food quickly and supplying coloring pages and crayons while we waited.
We ventured out to Kid City in Middletown on a chilly, overcast September day. There weren’t nearly the amount of people we had been expecting. At just shy of 11 months, the duo were granted free admission, while TT Dad and I were $9 each. Children over 1 are also $9. This seems to be a standard among museums and play areas set up for children. It seems to me they could charge a children’s price or a smaller adult price, since children are not allowed without supervision.
In general, however, this price is reasonable, compared to other museums.
Kid City’s website is easy to navigate, and very user-friendly. They include a page of tips for visitors, as well as a page of ‘Just the Facts’ including hours, prices, and directions.
Upon entering, you will find two floors of fun for older children (3+). The first level (Toddler Sea Caves) is for children 2 and under only. On the first day of each month, older siblings are allowed to join their little brothers and sisters in the Toddler Sea Caves. When you enter this area, you’ll find an entry area with cubby holes to store your shoes. Past the entry is the fun! There are slides, play tables set up with train tracks, and horses, mirrors, and lots of room to practice crawling/walking/climbing.
The duo spent approximately an hour exploring the Sea Caves. For most of that hour, we were the only patrons. Towards the end, a few other families arrived, and the children enjoyed interacting with each other. We did not explore the upper levels, as they were too little to get much out of them. There is a quite area on the main level, for anyone who needs a break from the play areas.
Loads of fun at Kid City!
We were pleasantly surprised to find the museum as quiet as we did. Their website advises that a bright sunny day is going to be less crowded than a rainy, or overcast day. As I mentioned, we were the only family in the Toddler Sea Caves for quite a while. We ran across a few older children on our way downstairs, but I wouldn’t describe it as congested at all.
Kid City offers a membership, and is part of the Association of Children’s Museums Reciprocal Network, allowing you discounted entry at over 200 museums nationwide. For more info, check out the link on our Resources page.
We look forward to returning once the duo is a little older and can really enjoy the rest of the museum!