As Rylie’s birthday was approaching, Aaron and I decided we didn’t want Rylie (or any of our kids) to have a lot of toys. It’s not that we’re “anti-toys,” but the heart of our decision was we want our kids to have a vivid imagination and be content with what they have rather than needing lots of material things. I’ve also heard that too many toys (especially ones that make noise) can over stimulate a child and cause them to be frustrated because they have too many options.
All that to say, we didn’t want a plethora of toys. So as we texted her birthday invites, we included that our guests did not need to feel obligated to give her a gift, but if they felt led to bless her with something, we asked for books or money to put towards experiences. Surprisingly, we had lots of people bless Rylie with a few dollars to go towards an experience, and we were able to add it all together and purchase a membership to the McWane Science Center. They have a great area for toddlers so we were really hopeful we’d be able to get a membership for her.
Shortly after her party, we purchased the family membership and the first chance we were able to go check it out as a family was this last Saturday (12.2.17). Rylie was taking everything in and enjoying touching what she could and crawling around the toddler area (called Itty Bitty Magic City). She was having so much fun and kept smiling – it was so heart filling. <3
We checked out every floor and enjoyed the variety of activities they had. Aaron and I were having just as good of a time playing around with stuff haha.
We left just in time to make it home for dinner, and Rylie went to bed exhausted that night (can I get an “amen!”? haha). We are so excited to have this membership and enjoy the learning and experience it’ll offer Rylie and our family.