new jersey children's museum

We spent this afternoon at the New Jersey Children's Museum. Sarah, of course, didn't want to go but found herself having a wonderful time and not wanting to leave several hours later. Zach was a busy little beaver enjoying all of the boy things the museum had to offer. The place is an imaginative play mecca with room after room set up as different areas in which to play. They had a doctor's office, a dollhouse area, a castle, a restaurant, a teepee, a grocery store, a cave, a farm area, a train area, sandboxes, a house area, a construction zone, an ambulance, a fire truck, and a number of other spots. Sarah and a friend ventured around to all of the different spots trying on costumes and playing, playing, playing. Their favorites were the "house," the restaurant, and the grocery store. And the dollhouse. And the castle. Zach was enthralled by the trains. He played trains until I dragged him off to somewhere else with the big kids. If I took my eyes off him for a second, he escaped and found his way back to the trains-over and over and over again. At least he's predictable. Occasionally, he found his way to the different sandboxes where he scooped and dumped and scooped some more. But then it was right back to the trains. And more trains. And then even more trains. By the time we left late in the afternoon, he had a mental map of that entire museum. He could find his way to the trains from anywhere.