Family Stay-ca-tion Day 3: Discovery Gateway & The Lion House

Day#3 of our Family Stay-ca-tion was filled with the Discovery Gateway Children's Museum. We arrived at 9:30 am. They don't open until 10 am. So we walked to the north end of the Gateway Mall and watched the water spray out of the ground. Sweet Pea wasn't sure what to think of it. At first I thought that she wanted to go play in it, but then she decided that she just wanted to watch. Then we walked back to the Children's Museum.

Once they opened, we walked back to what is called The Garden. This area from the outside kind of looks like a bee hive, but on the inside is what we called The Ball Room. My Sweet Pea LOVEs balls. She could have sat in this room the whole time. And she didn't want anyone else to touch her BLUE balls. It was funny.

There are buckets to pick up the balls and carry to the tubes that you put them down. These tubes go all over. They suck the balls up, play notes when the balls are dropped down them or just roll all over the place.

This wall had a couple of lights that would light up if the ball touched the right pegs. Sweet Pea kept coming back to the balls. I think we came to this room at least 5 times.

After The Garden, we walked into the Kid's Eye View. In this area everything is kid size. First you walk past a mail box. (I'm not sure what it was for) And to your left is a construction zone. Sweet Pea liked to play with the tools, trucks, and huge blocks here.

She made sure that Mamma and Daddy had their hats on:


She really liked to send the blocks down the slide, but was disappointed that she couldn't go down as well.

There was a house in this area. Sweet Pea really didn't care. She walked in opened the fridge, No food. Shut the fridge walked through the living room, sat on the chair, climbed into the crib, then immediately got out. Nothing much in the house for her. She did really like the lawn mower outside the house though.

Then came the water area. There wasn't a whole lot of water. (I'm sure I should be thankful for this, but there wasn't even enough for the boats to float) Most of this area was a little high for my Sweet Pea. But there is one section of it that is low enough that she could stand and play.

Then we went into the Farmer section. There were bowls of veggies next to the garden so you could sort them. Sweet Pea liked to throw them all over the floor.

There was also some chickens where you could gather their eggs. A horse that you could get on and pretend to ride. Some tractors to play with. Oh, and a couple of cars that the kids could get into and pretend to ride.

There was a conveyer belt for kids to learn that their food comes from the Farmer, is packaged and delivered to the grocery store.

The grocery store was pretty cool. They had carts and baskets that were kid size. They could do all their own shopping. Gathering all the food possible into her little cart was fun.



We took a little trip upstairs to see what else there was. Right at the top of the stairs is a Story Factory. Here you can record sounds for a story. And I'm sure some other things, but this is definitely a Big Kid area.

Then we walked around to The Studio. The studio had a bunch of magnetic things to play with. Lots of puzzles, a doll house, some extra large legos, some block things. It was a pretty cool room, but still a little old for my Sweet Pea. She loves magnets, but there was almost too many things in this room. A little overwhelming I think.




We took a little jaunt into The Media Zone. Here (obviously sponsered by KSL 5) you can practice your reporting skills.

And outside on The Terrace is the helicopter. Sweet Pea really didn't like that it actually made sounds. It scared her. It was hard to get her into the helicopter. Funny little girl.


We didn't go into the New exhibit. We had a very hungry little girl. But overall, the museum was fun. It did keep my one-year-old's attention for 2 hours. Definitely NOT mine, but that's why it's a children's museum. I will probably wait until Sweet Pea is a little older before we go back to Discovery Gateway. But we will go back.

I was sorely disappointed with the people who worked there. They wandered around in packs of 3-4 people talking about whatever drama is going on in their 17 year old lives. They didn't do anything. They would play with the toys, sit in the kitchen of the house, or near the balls. There is a rule about no food or drinks in the museum and these workers could have cared less. There was a couple there with their little boy (not older than my Sweet Pea) and they were feeding him a chocolate bar. Which he was getting all over. They were sitting in the ball section. The parents wiped his hands off, but when soap and water is not used we all know there is a little bit of yucky left on their hands. And when you have a child that is allergic to food, this is SO NO GOOD. What about the kids that are allergic to foods just when they touch it? The workers said nothing. I was annoyed.

But we left soon after and went for a ride on the Trax train. Downtown Salt Lake is free, so we rode from The Gateway Mall to the 100 South stop. Where we got off and walked the rest of the way to The Lion House Pantry.

Although my little Sweet Pea couldn't eat anything here. I had planned for that and packed her a lunch that she could eat while we enjoyed our meal. The Lion House Pantry was also included in our Visit Salt Lake Connect Pass. So wonderful. Their food is always good and it was easy. I really liked the Chocolate cake.

(pic from stanwalks.com)