Gilbert Discovery Village

The libraries around here do something really neat. They have what is called a "cultural pass" which you can check out from the library. the pass itself is pretty tacky. It's a VHS case with a flyer of the attraction in it. They have passes to the Pittock Mansion (one of my favorite places), the japanese garden, children's museum, Gilbert discovery village, and a few others. The pass is good for one day and gets you in to the event free.

Anyway, we decided to check out the Gilbert Village. It is a group of three houses built in the late 1800's that have been turned into a children's/science activity place. It is named after A.C. Gilbert, a toy manufacturer from the 20th century. He is mainly known for his invention of the Erector Set.

One of the displays was a bubble room, where you could even make a life-size bubble.

They also had a dinosaur room...



My favorite part was the old houses and just imagining what life was like in them over 100 years ago. I love the enormously high ceilings, the woodwork, the big windows, I'm fascinated by that kind of stuff...

But the kids liked the playground best. It was pretty amazing. They had this huge slide that went around and around and around! In the middle, it got pitch black! There were levels and stairs, and so many hiding places! Luckily the rain stopped for a few hours and we were able to play.



Michael got really excited when he saw the "Thomas." Lately he calls any train or anything related to trains, Thomas.


When Chelsea saw this truck she said "Daddy, get in the back of the truck and be garbage." So, Daddy got in the back of the truck with Michael and they made sad faces to show their hurt feelings from being called garbage.


It was a long drive to get there, but I'm glad we took the trip. It makes me wonder what other fun stuff there is to do in Portland that we haven't discovered yet...