Fun with Kids in Charlotte, NC

As I mentioned in a previous post, we did a massive road trip this year for our summer vacation.  We're trying to take our kids to see all 50 states before they graduate, mainly because I like a challenge, but also because it keeps us seeing new places!

Two years ago we did this:

We've currently done: Virginia,  West Virginia, Ohio, Kentucky, Illinois, Wisconsin, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Maryland, North Carolina, South Carolina, Alabama, Georgia, Mississippi, Louisiana, Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Tennessee, California, Florida, New York, Colorado, New Hampshire, and Massachusetts.  That's halfway!! (PS, if any of you own summer homes in Hawaii or Alaska and want to invite us out, we are totally game.)

Do we see everything a particular state has to offer? HECK NO.  That would involve way more money and vacation time than we have.  But we do have a little fun and get the flavor of each state, plus the kids have fun ticking it off a map and doing a little workbook page about each state with its flag, flower, bird, motto, etc.

Anyhow, I thought I'd share a few things from our trip. Like this awesome picture of me imitating a mug:

It's really amazing to me that I'm not more popular. 

The first leg was down to see my cousins in Charlotte, NC.  They're the same age as my kids (second marriage), which is both weird (who wants a bossy adult cousin) and awesome (because they have so much fun with my kids).  Charlotte is a lovely area, and we enjoyed trying out a few things there:

1. Discovery Place Charlotte

We were able to take the LYNX Train to downtown Charlotte, which is about a 3 block walk to the museum.  My kids have ridden the metro enough times to not care one lick that we were taking a train, but my cousins were super duper excited to get to take "the metro".  If you use LYNX, note that tickets are sold in kiosks outside the train and you just keep them with you in case of a spot check. Prices vary for kids and adults, and you'll want to not mess up and click "round trip" on the kids tickets and "one way" on the adults like I did.  #MyBad

It wasn't cheap:

Museum	$15.00	$12.00	FREE	FREE
IMAX Discovery Film	$10.00	$9.00	$5.00	$5.00
Museum + IMAX Discovery Film	$20.00	$17.00	$5.00	$5.00

But the kids had a lot of fun.  If you go, be sure to check out one of the shows, we saw Rat Basketball and a liquid nitrogen show that included a giant ice cloud the kids got to run through.  They were definitely a good time.

PS, I don't understand in any of these kid themed museums why in the heck they charge more for adults.  You know what we're going to do? Sit on a bench and take iphone pictures while our kids do all the fun stuff.  That's what. It should be more for kids and a pittiance of an "observer's fee" for adults.

I digress.  If you are a WIC/EBT recipient, you can get up to six tickets for $1 each.  Bring your card (or whatever you'd use to prove this applies to you).

2. Rock Bottom 

Rock Bottom restaurant was located just across the street from the museum, so we headed over there for lunch.  It was really tasty, I got a side of mac and cheese and a side salad.  

Because I can, people.  Because I can. 

3. Staying with friends and family is great because you can also get in a little freebie/down time.  We enjoyed hanging out at the neighborhood pool, playing games, and the kids tried to get as much time "playing minecraft together" as humanly possible when you need an adult to put a password on your ipod to get to play.  

4. Waldhorn Restaurant

My uncle being something of a foodie, and all of us being part German, he took us to check out the Waldhorn Restaurant.

This was amazing.  My daughter got the cheese spaetzale which was amazing, I had sauerbraten, people had roladen, blaukraut was passed around....noms.

All the noms.

If you don't normally have German food or if you've never tried it before, this would be a good place to start!!

Filial piety compels me to mention that their Black Forest Cake was not anywhere near as good as my mother's.  It's not their fault, they are simply too far away for her to bake for them nightly.

Following our two days in Charlotte, we left for Hotlanta, which will be coming at you next :) 

Beaches Near Prince William County

We had a reader request for beaches somewhere closer than VA Beach (which is about a four hour drive).  Here are our results from readers about beaches that are local to Manassas, Woodbridge, Dumfries, Dale City, Lake Ridge and Bristow (and any other city in Prince William County. Don't hate me for trying to get google to get my website to come up!)

Obviously I haven't been to all of these beaches, although I'm willing to give that a try.

You know, in the name of science.

Here's what I've got! Are we missing your favorite? Leave a comment below and add your thoughts!


If you'd like to stay under 2 hours (minus DMV traffic which cannot be helped on any given day)
Aquia Beach
"off courthouse rd.  Its secluded but its connected to the Potomac river...good fishing a beach and bathrooms! 25 mins."

Breezy Point
"1.5 hours from Manassas"

Calvert Cliffs
"In MD, about an hour and a half from Manassas. Beach, shallow water, and shark teeth fossils!"

Colonial Beach
"Only about an hour and 15 min away and a pretty decent beach.  We went there for Memorial Day and it wasn't packed.  If you follow the water down to the right of the pier area there's also all day parking for $5 as opposed to the 2 hour parking by the pier"
"Colonial Beach is like an hour and a half or so from 95 south entrance"
"1 1/2 hour sometimes only 45 minutes giving traffic but it is awesome, they have playground for kids, ice cream shops, little art shops where the kids can participate and for the adults there is the river boat casino and the best part, you rent golf carts to drive around the town. My kids love it there and on the 4th of July there is a firework show"
"Yes!! Colonial beach is only an hour and a half from Woodbridge! Best local places to eat, too!"
"We went to Colonial Beach last 4th of July. My 4 boys loved it!
"To those of you who went to Colonial, I found it very rocky and almost unmanageable.  Was I just in the wrong places?"
(Not copying this comment, but suffice it to say someone was less than impressed with the ambiance at this beach.)


Falmouth Beach 
"Right off the highway Falmouth exit...30 mins. Have grassy area a beach and a couple of grills...they also give out life jackets to the kids!"
"We go to River Beaches, not quite the coast. Not fancy, but the kids love it.  Free parking, 30 mins from Dale City"

Half Moon Beach 
"Past Strasburg" (Google maps says 1.5 hours from Manassas)

Lake Arrowhead Beach
"In Luray VA you have Lake Arrowhead Beach, very nice and cost very low"

Leesylvania
"Leesylvania has two tiny beaches.  Woodbridge/Dumfries area."

North Beach 
"I have heard good things about North Beach, MD but I have never personally been.  Google says it takes about 1 hour 15 min from Montclair.
"North Beach is okay, but it's a pay beach"
"No waves to worry about for the little ones.  Cute shops and a nice boardwalk."

Rappahannock Beach
"Off Rt 1. Quiet, safe, good for kids. 20 minutes from Dumfries"

Sandy Point
"Never been, but looking into Sandy Point"

Shenandoah River
"Second best for us, least crowded every time we've gone is Shenandoah River at the Shenandoah State Park.  About an hour drive."

Westmoreland State Park
"Only 90 minutes away and a nice beach"

If you think 2+ Hours is local (or worth the drive, but either way, I'm separating them out)

Bethany Beach
"Delaware. 3 to 3.5 hours. We have done day trips. They are long days, but so worth it."

Chincoteague Island/Assteague Beach
"I am a single mom and I love taking my 7 year old daughter to Chincoteague every August.  "Is that where the horses are?" is the top question I get.  Yes, but there is way more.  It is 3.5-4 hours east of us and only 30 minutes south of Ocean City. There are plenty of hotels and it is a top family vacation destination in the area.  We also like to camp there as well for only $30 a night tent camping.  The beach is really nice and has lifeguards.  Assateague beach is a notion park so there are no board walks, just shower and parking.  There is a small fee for the beach because it is a park.
"We loved Chincoteague"

Fenwick Island
"About 2.5 hours away and super family friendly. It's right next to Ocean city but removed from the crazy college crowd."

Dewey Beach
"DE, and it's beautiful and not too far, but not great for families.  Bethany, just a few minutes away is much better."

Ocean City 
"I load the kids up at 5am and head to OCMD.  It's before the traffic rush so we can be there by 8, even with a bathroom break.  Spend all day and load up the sleepy kids back into the car around 7 and they wake up in their beds.  It's a drive, but not awful."

Ocean View
"We just moved here from Norfolk.  VA Beach is cool for ocean beaches but I have small kids and we always like the Ocean View beaches in Norfolk better because the waves are smaller and the beaches are less crowded.  On a good day it's 2.5 hours from here, but it's more like 3-3.5 hours."

Outer Banks
"31/2 to 4 HRS"

In addition to reader suggestions, here are a few from the Washington Post.

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Hylton Planetarium

While the Hylton Planetarium isn't my typical Friday non-profit/charity, they do only operate based on community involvement and attendance.  New shows run between $10,000 and $20,000 a pop, and that money comes from groups coming in.  We had an awesome time, so I'm sharing today :) If you have a child who attends PWCS, they'll benefit from the awesome planetarium at some point, too! 

We had the chance to take a field trip to the Irene V.Hylton Planetarium at Hylton High School this past week, and it was so much fun!

As part of our memory work curriculum, we are learning astronomy facts this year.  My kids have memorized the parts of the sun, the planets, types of stars, phases of the moon, types of other objects in our solar system, and the names of US space missions.  Our group decided to do the Planetarium as our culminating trip, although I know another group did it as their introduction. 

The planetarium offers several different programs that homeschool groups, moms groups, retirement communities, girl scout/boy scout troops, or just a bunch of people who are super into astronomy can choose from.  We selected a program for grades 3-7 called “Earth, Moon, Sun”, which could have probably included a little more technical information for our group of kids, but they absolutely loved everything about it, especially the coyote “scientist” who kept blundering things up.  They spent a lot of time laughing and definitely liked the presentation of the material in such a 360 format.  I enjoyed the fact that they wove in some mythology and talked about how much our understanding has changed over the years.  I thought it was very well done.

Other programs are available for various age groups.  When you email the director, Anthony Kilgore, to set up your program, he can help you select for your group. 

As for details, you’ll need a minimum of 30 people, and the facility can accommodate a maximum of 60.  Shows are $10 per person, and for groups they ask that you give one cash payment or write one check.

The show was really fun.  The program isn’t anything like I remember- when I was little and you went to the planetarium, there was a giant “ball” that projected stars onto the ceiling and then the attendant would point things out with a red laser pointer.  Now, the presentations are more like movies projected on a dome, but they’re still very cool and the kids like the presentation of the material in such a fun format.

At the end of our program, the director Mr. Kilgore, who is fun and engaging with students, took our extra time to show us one song from his current holiday laser program which was amazing.  First, he explained to us that there are only three lasers in the planetarium, a red, a green, and a blue.  However, using a complex series of mirrors, he’s able to turn those three lasers into an incredible show of light coordinated to music.  The kids were in absolute awe, and I thought they  might absolutely lose their minds when at the end of the song it started “snowing” in the planetarium. 

If you’d like to catch a laser show, there are public performances each week during December:

Friday, December 6^th/13^th/20th 2013

6:00pm - Laser Holidays

7:30pm - Star of Bethlehem

9:00pm - Laser Holidays

You can purchase tickets at the planetarium Monday-Friday 7:30am-4pm, or in person if there are seats left the night of the show.  Bring $10 per person, exact change, and be sure to arrive 10 minutes prior to showtime and use the restroom before you go in! Once the doors lock, you can’t get in, although you can leave- but that means if you walk out to use the restroom, you’re not going to see the rest of the show, so prepare accordingly!

We really enjoyed our field trip, and it would be an awesome way to earn an astronomy badge, or to enjoy a fun trip for any group (did I mention that we took a group of kids to the planetarium for my oldest son’s 7^th birthday? We did.  And we schlepped all the way to the David Brown Planetarium in Arlington(!) and it wasn’t nearly as nice as Hylton’s, which is right in our backyard.  I don’t remember what made us have to go to Brown, I think Hylton was already booked the night we needed to do his birthday party, but just for comparison’s sake, Hylton has a nicer interior and equipment, as far as I can tell!

For more information about the Hylton Planetarium, or to book your group or event, please contact Director Anthony Kilgore, via email or at 703-580-4000. 

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Someone pointed out that I forgot my funny disclaimer!! My bad!!  I was not compensated or remunerated in any way for this post.  I didn't snag a discount for being awesome, either, although that's never happened so I'm not sure why it would start now.  All opinions are my own based on our experience. Your experiences may vary, and PwcMoms is not responsible for your kids trying to turn your basement into a laser show, or the crick in your neck from looking up at the show for an hour.  Try stretching first.

Culpeper Harvest Days Farm Tour: October 5&6, 2013

A free, self-guided event much like the PWC Farm Tour.  Check it out online and find a list of farms and locations you can choose from. 

Great Country Farms Cider Festival September 14&15, 2013

Celebrate the Apple Harvest & Tractor Corn Maize Grand Opening!

Bluemont, VA – Enjoy the early fall harvest at Great Country Farms Cider Festival September 14 & 15.  Apples are available for U-Pick and the whole family can enjoy tastings of fresh pressed cider and sparkling cider blends including peach, cherry and raspberry with bottles available to take home for the holidays. Adults can purchase samples of locally made apple wine from Corcoran Vineyards, hard cider and more! All ages can explore the Tractor themed Corn Maize which is sized to be especially inviting to younger children. The weekend includes live music, arts, crafts, and clown entertainment from noon – 3pm both days.

The whole family can appreciate the hard work involved with farming the old fashioned way when they take a turn cranking the wheel on the Farm’s antique cider press! The Farm is celebrating its 20^th Year anniversary with extra special events to be announced throughout the autumn season. Pre-picked produce is available in the Farm Market and homemade Cider donuts, Kettle Korn, along with apple dumplings, apple pie and other seasonal treats are served in the Roosteraunt.

Cider Festival details:

September 14 & 15 from 9am-6pm

$10/child & $12/adult admission includes cider tastings from 11am – 3pm

Farm Members, Military ID holders and kids 2 and under are FREE

Contact Jaclyn Jenkins jaclyn@greatcountryfarms.com 540-554-2073 GreatCountryFarms.com

The Big Dig: Great Country Farms

Come with an empty stomach to The Big Dig on Saturday, August 31^st & Sunday, Sept 1^st at Great Country Farms.  Celebrate the end of summer with pancakes, potatoes, trucks and tractors as the Farm hands get into the dirt. The taste and texture of fresh potatoes is completely different from typical grocery store products that are often a year old. Kids can experience first-hand how to search for spuds by digging in our potato fields. If the weather permits, Farmer Mark’s tractor will rip a row and turn over fresh taters for easier picking. The Farm Market carries pre-picked farm produce including tomatoes, fruits, and other veggies along with locally produced meat and dairy products.

The day starts with pancakes hot off the griddle piled high and topped with delicious fruit syrups, juice and coffee. The All-You-Can Eat Pancake Breakfast runs till 11:30am and is included with admission.  The hayride will take you to the fields so you can dig potatoes and visit other U-Pick areas. The Farm posts updates of produce availability on its social media pages as weather conditions affect each crop differently.

Kids can romp all over the five acre playground and visit with the friendly farm animals or do some catch & release fishing. Picnic around our featured tractors and antique truck and take behind the wheel photos of all the family members. Leashed dogs are welcome and can run free in our off leash areas. The Roosteraunt is open from 9am-4pm.

The Big Dig event details:

$10/child & $12/adult includes Pancake Breakfast until 11:30am

Saturday, Aug 31^st and Sunday, Sept. 1^st 9am-6pm

Contact Jaclyn Jenkins jaclyn@greatcountryfarms.com 540-554-2073 GreatCountryFarms.com      

Business Review: Ticonderoga Farms

Most of the "fun farms" in Northern Virginia are in Loudon County and they take some time for me to get to from my side of Prince William.  However, while Ticonderoga Farms' address may be Chantilly, and while my friend from  Aldie told me it was "just a few minutes from her" (I consider Aldie to be the dark side of the moon from where we live!) it's actually just about 5 minutes from Manassas Battlefield, which is awesome!  Here's how that works:

Where A= Manassas Battlefield Park, B= Ticonderoga Farms and C=Aldie, VA

That's about the extent of the math you're gonna find here on PwcMoms.  It's not even that math-y, but I used equals signs, so we're gonna count it. 

I found Ticonderoga Farms to be really enjoyable.  I liked that it's shaded, I liked that it's not as crowded as some of the more well-known farms, and I think that it had a lot of good options for playing, especially for younger kids in the age Preschool-Grade 1 age range.  Let's take a photo tour, shall we?




There's a pond with a wiggly bridge over the top, which my boys loved.  If you stop in the middle and look hard into the water, there are little teeny tiny sunfish! This was, apparently, a HUGE deal. We looked at the tiny fish for a good five minutes.

 There are a few cutouts for you to take your picture on, and they were in the process of "Fall-ing" up the hayride space so it'd be ready for pumpkin season and Halloween.  I think the hayride will be very fun for those visiting in the fall.




There are a few antique firetrucks for kids to climb all over, and my daughter thought this was probably the most fun she'd ever had.  Watch for any nuts or bolts, but older kids will enjoy climbing up on top and younger kids will like "driving" the truck for a minute.

 Swings! And Trees! And Chickens running around!

One of the play structures- note that there's shade involved.  We also ate lunch on one of the picnic tables in the shade.  For my kids, this doesn't matter as much, but for me, who gets a sunburn on a cloudy day wearing SPF 80, it's a big deal :)  It looked like there was a snack bar that's probably open during festival weekends, but we packed our lunch and enjoyed a picnic.

 There are, of course, the requisite slides on a hill and there's a giant inflated pillow, for lack of a better word, that the kids can bounce around on.  Your socks will get dirty, but if it's too warm out and you go without them, the plastic can be a little warm on tiny toes, so I'd bring an old pair of socks, even if your kids are rocking the crocks.

 You know, as much as anyone can "rock" crocks.

We had a fun time and spent over three hours playing outside.  This is much more "farmy" than some of the farms you might think of, but we liked that, because it wasn't as crowded.  I think my oldest son might be getting slightly too old for places like this to be "cool" for him, but he did play nicely with his siblings, and he had fun looking at the fish and jumping on the pillow.

One note- there is a bamboo maze that is a serious maze.  I think my boys would've spent hours in there, but if you're going with young children, note that this isn't like a corn maze where you wander in one direction and come out, it's a real maze with multiple twists and turns.  I can see that being an issue if you've got a child who's potty training ;)

Here's what some of my readers had to say about Ticonderoga Farms:
we LOVE going there! so much fun!

Go there for Easter egg hunts during spring. I like that its not as crazy as Cox Farms and family owned.

 Also been to cut our own Christmas tree couple years ago. Plan on taking baby soon at the end of 

August & we always bring smore's fixings to make smores there.

We love it there!!! Love!!!! We can spend a whole day there.

We go every week because its where i pick up my CSA my daughter loves it there!!

 Ticonderoga Farms offers:
* Summer Harvest Festival, Spring Easter Festival, Fall Pumpkin Festival, and a Winter Festival
* A community garden for those who'd like to grow their own produce but don't have space
* A Farm Market  including organic eggs, local honey, produce, figs, and bamboo
* Fig groves and a fig festival
And more.  The farm is also working on a botanic garden, which, from what we could see from the road, looks amazing!

Admission depends on the time of year, but for summer is $8.95/person, and hours are 10am-5pm, all week long.  Field trips, group rates, and corporate/family parties are available.
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Disclaimer: PwcMoms was provided with free admission in return for providing a review.  All opinions are our own. All information is accurate to the best of our knowledge as of the date of publishing, but events/dates/times/offerings may change over time. Please see Ticonderoga Farms website for updated information and offerings. 

Ohio: Coco Key

If you're trying to knock states off your list, you can get a few done in just a few minutes if you stay in Cincinnati.

Bam.  Three states! My mom and I actually visited this same area when we went to hang out with some great friends of our family who were staying at the Ronald McDonald House while their daughter had some very extensive surgery.  There's a great aquarium, a zoo they apparently enjoyed, and there's some really really good ice cream.  There's also White Castle, which I personally will leave to Harold and Kumar because, well, I think it's gross.  I'm sure many of you will disagree, but this is my website and I get to make outrageous claims about fast food institutions.  So there.

This time, we came to Cincinnati straight from the Creation Museum in Kentucky.  We figured that after a hard day museum-ing (and sitting in the car on the way from West Virginia following the STRANGEST Google Maps directions ever) the kids would enjoy something active.  Enter, our hotel.

(Photo Credit: Coco Key) 

We stayed at the Crown Plaza Cincinnati North, which is attached to a Coco Key Resort.  I originally found this hotel on Groupon, and while I couldn't get a stay the night we needed, I did get our park passes from Groupon.  (Travel Tip: Check the deal sites for the city you're visiting! You might score a great deal!).  I got a deal for 4, which was perfect because people who aren't swimming don't pay, and I am not water-slide material right now.  After checking in, we ran the kids over since they would only have a few hours before the waterpark closed for the night.  There's the large slides, which go outside the building before dumping the rider back inside, a larger play structure surrounded by a lazy river with a giant bucket that dumps water at regular intervals, a lazy river, and a smaller play structure for younger kids.  There's also an arcade.  Life jackets are available, and there's also a bar and food available for purchase in the waterpark area.  

(Photo Credit: Coco Key)

The kids had a really great time, and older children will be able to enjoy this waterpark without too much worry about their swimming ability (all my children are swimmers, but you wouldn't have to be to have fun here).  My mom noted that the steps were kind of grody- that waterpark lots of people feeling.  Everyone had fun and we stayed until the park closed, which was about two and a half hours, and my kids probably would've stayed longer.  Well worth the money for them to get out their energy and play like crazy! 

Tickets are $25 at the door, but do check online, both at deal sites and on the Coco Key page, as right now they're running a special for half-price tickets when you purchase online. 

Since we didn't feed the kids dinner so they could play as long as possible, we took them to dinner after showers at 10pm.  

In case you didn't know it, I'm running for mother of the year.

We decided to try Cincinnati Chili.  Not my favorite, either- it's got cinnamon in it and while I'm a fan of cinnamon in my savory food (see: Lebanese Taverna's Chicken Fatteh, which I make a mean at-home version of) the kids liked it and everyone was a huge fan of Pleasant Ridge Chili, especially their Gravy Fries.  These sound horrible- they're fries with cheddar cheese and house-made gravy on top.

They're so freakin good.  Terrible for you, but good.  This little diner-style restaurant was hopping, too! We left around 11:30 (they're open until 4:30) and every bench in the place was packed!  Definitely a great Yelp find :) 

So that was Ohio, we had a fun time and stayed up way too late! 

Official Count: 4 States Down, 47 States To Go
(Virginia, West Virginia, Kentucky, Ohio)

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Disclaimer: We got a great deal on Priceline on our Hotel and a Groupon for Coco Key, but nobody paid me, solicited my opinion, or gave us anything, and as usual, all opinions are my own. 

Kentucky: The Creation Museum

After we left West Virginia, we headed through Pennsylvania and Ohio into Kentucky, where we checked out the Creation Museum.  We homeschool, and I teach my kids multiple theories of creation, including the Big Bang, Evolution, and Creationism, offering them background and research on each one, so I was excited to bring them to check out this museum.  The Creation Museum is a gorgeous facility and focuses on Young Earth Creationism, or the idea that a literal interpretation of the Bible makes the Earth about 6,000 years old.  I realize that this post might not be for everyone, so if it's not for you, no need to start a fight, just move on to the next post.  Deal?

A lot of the museum was what I was expecting, there were beautiful exhibits showing diversity of species, there were some great exhibits detailing the differences between Natural Selection and Evolution, and there were a few great panels talking about the potential problems with radio-carbon dating as evidence of the age of the Earth.

There were some excellent collections of species diversity, and the kids really liked the displays with the insects.

When you enter the museum, there is a display on Lucy, and then there is a tunnel showing some modern issues that have arisen because of a lack of adherence to Biblical morals (they're mostly magazine covers with news stories about school shootings, etc).  After that, there is a room with some church history, and eventually you walk through a version of the Garden of Eden and a replica of Noah's Ark.

Many of the rooms feature animatronic people or animals, which are really neat.  Several of the characters will talk to you and let you ask preselected questions off a touch-screen in front of them, which the kids really enjoyed.

After you exit these portions of the museum, you enter into more exhibits detailing the differences between Creationism and Big Bang/Evolution, which was where most of the apologetics I was hoping we'd see were located.

Unfortunately, I had pretty much lost my kids at that point.  They did okay in the first room with images depicting problems we have in the world (see picture above) although the younger two found it slightly scary.  However, there's a room you walk through after the fall in the garden with video footage being projected onto the walls, and as far as I could tell, there wasn't really a way around it.  When we walked through, it was images of concentration camp victims and wars, and my two youngest were overwhelmed by it.  It would be really great if there was some kind of warning about what you were walking into, or an optional route for parents whose children might be particularly sensitive to strong images. If I had it to do over again, I would have taken my children though backwards, so we started with the exhibits on bugs, dinosaurs, and rocks, and then worked my way back, and skipped the images room and gone back to the beginning.

Photo Credit: Creation Museum

The Creation Museum has more than just the museum, although it was hot the day we went, so we opted to stay with just the indoor activities.  There's a beautiful botanical garden, a petting zoo, camel rides, a zip line, a planetarium, and frequent workshops and events for all ages.  There are also several movies that take place both as part of the tour and throughout the day, which are posted in the day's schedule.  You could easily spend an entire day here and have a lot of fun, both inside and out.  The entire museum facility is beautifully done and meticulously maintained.  Tickets are $29.95 for adults, $23.95 for seniors, $15.95 for children ages 5-12, and 5 and under are free.  Adults get $5 off on Tuesdays and Wednesdays, and all tickets are valid for two days.  The planetarium is an additional fee. There are some special promotions, as well, with Mothers free on Mother's Day, Fathers free on Father's Day, everyone free on Christmas Eve Day, and Veterans free on Veteran's Day, Independence Day, and Memorial Day.

Wether your children would enjoy seeing familiar stories brought to life, or your older children would benefit from the apologetics, this museum is very well done, with the exception of the two rooms I mentioned being too much for younger children.  There were lots of younger children at the museum the day we went who didn't seem bothered, though, so it may have just been us.
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Disclaimer: We were provided with tickets to attend the museum, but all opinions are my own.