Fun afternoon at the Bay Area Discovery Museum

The original plan was to visit the Presidio in San Francisco. Since Anna wanted to drive, I thought that it would be less intimidating for her if we came into the City via the Richmond-San Rafael Bridge rather than via the Bay Bridge (the road bottlenecks right after the toll gate going towards the bridge).

Given that route, I decided to throw into our itinerary a stop at the Bay Area Discovery Museum in Sausalito, which is found very near the Golden Gate Bridge. This way, we'd be able to see the famous San Francisco summer fog and decide whether we'd like to traverse the Golden Gate Bridge in extremely foggy conditions. I was quite happy with that decision because even I balked at the sight of the clouds (I'm contesting the use of the word "fog" to describe the thing that covers the bridge) sitting on the Golden Gate Bridge.

And so once both cars were parked at the Museum, we stopped to marvel at the fog and then proceeded to see what the museum had to offer. Note that this was my son's first trip to a museum, ever. 

After seeing all the activities in the museum (touted to be a perfect location for young families), I have to say that it's designed for toddlers and pre-schoolers rather than for one-year-old and younger babies. 

The museum had its very own sandy beach where children can dig their toes into. This was the first exhibit we visited. My son wasn't so sure if he liked the feeling of sand beneath his feet and just sat on the sand, watching other children play. Since he didn't look like he's having a lot of fun, we picked him up and went to see the other exhibits.

Going deeper into the outdoor museum space, we came across a pint-sized obstacle course. Since my son's not walking yet, he couldn't go through the course; he had fun being carried through it though (I had to walk through the zigzaggy thing with flags and the wobbly boardwalk). By the time we finished the course, he was giggling!

A giant instrument walk came up next. Larger-than-life xylophones and drums peppered the space. Toddlers and pre-schoolers grabbed at the beaters and delighted themselves by getting the instruments to make sounds. The wee one, on the other hand, did not quite catch what he was supposed to do; after all, the beaters and the instruments were at least 10 times larger than Ferguson the xylophone waiting for him in his playpen. 

There also was a bubble garden but my son's interest wasn't in the bubbles. Rather, he was fixated on the fake grass lining the pretend pots (where the fake carrot bubble makers were hiding). 

And so we moved on... until we reached a space filled with baby toys! 

Aha! Now we're in business! Once the wee one was placed on the fake grass, he started finding toys he'd like to play with. At first, he couldn't seem to find any because other, quicker kids were picking balls and ramps. But eventually, my son was able to get himself a ball that most babies couldn't even lift. It turned out to be a four-pound ball; no wonder it looked heavy! This was also my son's introduction to a climbing triangle but he didn't know what to do with it yet. An orange tube also caught his attention. While he was having a lot of fun (Anna and me too), Val, Mommy, and Daddy were sitting on the sides, watching what the little guy was up to. I was very impressed that my son just started playing and wasn't bothered by the number of kids. Maybe the concept of other babies was no longer a foreign concept for him after our Bishop Ranch trip.

An hour into the fun and games, everyone started getting hungry so we found a picnic table and I ordered our lunches at the Bean Sprouts Cafe. I had packed a lot of food (to last until dinner) for the wee one. However, he was more interested in watching than eating his lunch so he didn't eat as much as regularly did at home.

Looking back at our trip, I'd say that my son's a bit too young for the museum. I'll give him a few more months before we return. My nephew, on the other hand, would definitely enjoy running here and interacting with the different exhibits.