Sunday, October 07, 2012

INK (10-1-12)


Making pretend soup at INK
 
On Monday (October 1st), we went to INK (Interactive Neighborhood for Kids) in Gainesville, GA with my MOMS Club. My friend Kirsten and her son Sam drove with us and we met up with Kathryn and Aubree and then another mom named Kimberly came with her four kiddos. 

Before we left, I had looked online to see how much it'd be for a year membership to INK. It's the same price as a membership to Imagine-It Children's Museum in Atlanta. Both are about 45 minutes away and both have a deal with each other until April that you get in for free with a membership at either place.

INK is $8 a person for anyone over the age of one. So for me and Gus to get in, it was $16. Imagine-It is $12.50 for adults and children under three are free. So for now, Imagine-It is the cheaper museum, but you have to pay for parking, and INK has a free parking lot.

Bottom line, both are really appealing and I had never been to either. So I decided that we'd check them both out before deciding on what to do. I read a lot of mixed reviews of INK and I wasn't 100% certain that I wanted to get a membership there. I filled out the form just in case, and decided to see if we even liked it before buying a membership.
Gus and Sam checking out the turtle

It's a really CUTE museum! There are all kinds of little rooms and each has a different theme. Gus didn't explore as much as I thought, but it was because he found the train tables and he was happy with those. I liked the museum, but parts definitely seemed dated and in need of a face-lift. However, Gus didn't seem to mind one bit.


Gus and Aubree

Off and running to the next exhibit!


A cute little classroom

A courtroom

Stenographer Gus


Magnetic gears

The castle room

The grocery store

The middle of INK

They also had a farm in the back and a giant cow that you could "milk." They also had a real police car and a real firetruck that the kids could crawl on and play. It was really neat.
Aubree in the police car

The giant cow

Gus checking out how milk is collected



 
I think his favorite thing was the 50s diner. They had a TON of play food, and then a grill, soda machine, and a working jukebox that you could pick whatever music you wanted. Gus and I had a good time dancing together while he and I made cheeseburger baskets for our customers. 






Seconds after the last picture was taken, the power suddenly went off and everything was pitch black. I immediately turned on the flashlight app on my iPhone and made sure that Gus was near. As Steve knows best, when lights go off and I am in darkness, I have TERRIBLE night vision. It takes me quite some time for my eyes to adjust.

Anyway, Gus was fine and tried to keep playing in the dark (I guess being in a dark room for bed has made him immune to the dark). He was not bothered one bit. Some kids were freaking out a bit and it wasn't too long before I heard Kathryn and Kirsten (Kimberly had just left prior to the power going out). We headed to the front and to our surprise, they gave us free passes to come back.

I had no idea what time it was, and to my amazement, it was 12:40. We were probably going to leave around 1:00 anyway, so we were all really excited to have free passes to come back and check it out again. I was excited, because I will be going to Imagine-It here shortly and I'll have a basis for comparison that I didn't have prior to our first visit to INK.

I think I'll probably get a membership at Imagine-It, and then if I want, I can use my membership to go to INK and get in for free until April and then for 1/2 price after April 2013.

We had a great time and headed to Taco Bell as a group to enjoy lunch. It was raining really hard, but we all made it home safe and sound and Gus had an AWESOME nap that afternoon!

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