Now that is school is out it’s time to start thinking of how you will keep your kiddos busy this summer. While they can certainly play outside, there will be days where it will be miserably hot. A great place to visit that will keep them cool and entertained is Discovery Gateway!

We’ve already made our first visit to Discovery Gateway this summer. As you can tell from the picture above, it’s been one of our favorite things to do in Utah since Lily was a baby. And that’s one of my favorite things about Discovery Gateway – there is something for all ages. On our latest trip, we arrived at opening and didn’t leave until 4 pm. The kids loved every second of it!

Be sure to enter the giveaway at the bottom of this post as well as check out some tips of how to get the most out of your visit. But first, here’s a little about this fun museum!

Discovery Gateway children’s museum is located in the Gateway Mall in downtown Salt Lake City. Discovery Gateway offers 60,000 square feet of interactive, hands-on fun. You can explore their engaging workshops, programs, and exhibits that invite the whole family to create, learn, and play together!

Exhibits Include:

• The Garden- A 30-foot beehive greets visitors to The Garden, an exhibit where children and adults work together to keep things “buzzing.”
• Kid’s Eye View– In the Kid’s Eye View exhibit, children can explore the big, wide world on a kid-sized scale.
• Story Factory- From classic stage to modern multimedia, the Story Factory exhibit offers visitors numerous ways to explore telling a story.
• Media Zone- Anchor the evening news or report the weather using the green screen in our Media Zone exhibit that takes visitors behind the scenes.
• The Studio- The worlds of the artist, scientist, and engineer combine in this hands-on creative space.
• The Terrace- Put your rescue skills to the test as a pilot, paramedic, or commando.

Now, we’ve been quite a few times and we’ve learned a few tips along the way about how to get the most out of your day.  Ready for some insider tips?!?!?

1.  Be on the look out for good deals! When we went last Friday, this was the best deal out there!  Loved saving 37 percent off my tickets!

2. Be there when it opens so that you can sign up for the extra classes before they fill up. They do put out additional sign-up sheets for the later classes around noon so you will want to check back in before you have lunch. These classes are one of my favorite things about Discovery Gateway. From counting fun with octopus art projects to learning about and creating their own Matis masterpieces, the classes are fun, up-beat, and educational. Our favorite day to go is Friday, because there are three different classes offered during the summer. It is the perfect way to break up the day. Check out all of the classes and times here. 

3. Take a sack lunch to enjoy at their picnic tables on the bottom floor by the entrance. I put string cheese and frozen gogurts in a small insulated bag and they were perfect for lunch time. Food and drink is not allowed in the museum so plan for snack times/meals down at the picnic tables.

4. Establish expectations before you enter the museum. My children are ages 7,5, and 3 and all love different exhibits. Before we got out of the car, we made a plan to rotate who chose the next exhibit to visit. We would stay at each exhibit for 30 minutes or until the person who chose decides it is time to go. This seemed to work pretty well for us. We also made the rule that you had to be able to see Mom at all times.

5. Ditch the purse/diaper bag and wear a backpack. I put our lunches, my wallet, changes of clothes, etc. all in a backpack so that I would have my hands free to play with the kids. This made it so much easier than having to keep track of a purse. You need both hands free to take fun videos like this of the Hurricane Simulator.

For more details about our favorite exhibits, check out this post. 

Giveaway Time!

I am excited to be giving you the chance to win a 1-year family membership for 4! This is a $115 value!

Enter using the rafflecopter widget below. You must be a Utah resident to win. Giveaway ends 6/22/15. Good Luck!

Disclosure: This blog is not responsible for prize fulfillment or shipment. I was not compensated to participate in this giveaway.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

This post contains affiliate links. 

The post Tips for getting the most out of your visit to Discovery Gateway + Family Membership Giveaway & Discount Tickets! appeared first on KeepMovingForwardWithMe.

I just got back from a week-long visit to my sister, the lovely Cambria from Live to be Inspired. She moved across the country to Pennsylvania and just had her first beautiful baby girl! I was spoiled with dozens of newborn snuggles – in between making meals and doing tiny, adorable laundry, of course.

On the last day of our visit my sister decided that she was up for a road trip. We made the drive to Gettysburg and had just enough time to see the highlights of the historic city. Here are our top five recommendations if you only have a day or a few hours in this amazing place!

1. David Wills House

Many of the museums close between 4-5 pm, but we were able to spend about 45 minutes at the The David Wills House. This was perfect to help us get our bearings of the city! The Civil War refresher course was definitely needed as well. With several interactive exhibits and short films, it easily kept the attention of my five year old nephew. Plus we were able to get maps and brochures to help us navigate the rest of Gettysburg.

Seeing the room Abraham Lincoln slept in and must have pondered the Gettysburg address in was awe-inspiring. There is something uniquely special about learning history in the places where it actually occurred. I could scarcely imagine the more than 50,000 soldiers descending upon this tiny town, much less losing their lives there. The statistics were astounding and the accounts of brother vs. brother, friend vs. friend where heart-wrenching.

2. Gettysburg National Military Park

My father, the history officiando who we had on speed dial during our trip, highly recommends beginning your visit at the National Park Service and Museum for the Gettysburg National Military Park. We arrived after hours so we were out of luck! But if you do have time, the Gettysburg Cyclorama is an excellent way to see the scope of the battle before going out into the fields.

You could truly spend hours walking the paths, but with evening approaching we spent a few quiet moments on the ridge across from the cemetery admiring the beauty of Gettysburg and feeling humbled by what took place there.

3. The Soldiers National Cemetery 

We crossed the road to the Soldiers National Cemetery – something I definitely did not want to miss as part of our evening in Gettysburg. My sister paused at the entrance with her little boy to talk about silence and respect for the soldiers and what took place there. It was a sweet moment to witness. It is important to teach our children facts and dates, but it is just as vital to teach them the morals and feelings that encompassed such events.

As you walk the paths of the cemetery, you truly get a feeling of treading on hallowed ground. The sacrifice of each man buried there became very apparent and embedded in my heart.

4. The Pub & Restaurant

To round out our visit to Gettysburg, our last stop was dinner. As we poured over restaurant recommendations in the area, we all agreed that we wanted to eat somewhere unique to Gettysburg. Hoping to find a place with a touch of history, we discovered The Pub & Restaurant in Historic Lincoln Square. Right across the street from the David Wells House! Our request to eat out on the patio gave us a perfect view of the history-steeped establishments on the square. Be sure to have quarters on hand for the parking meters around the square.

I love dining family style so we selected several appetizers and a pizza to share. The food was as amazing as the surroundings. The fresh baked Italian bread smothered in cheese and flavored with garlic was a favorite as well as the Southwest egg rolls with an avocado dipping sauce that stole the show. The Caprese pizza was just as much a crowd-pleasure with its fresh spinach, house Bruschetta mix, and mozzarella and Fontina cheeses. Feast your eyes on the ooey-gooey yumminess!

5. Child-Friendly Gettysburg

Our visit to Gettysburg was relatively child friendly. With more time I would do the junior ranger program for children at the Visitors Center. The interactive programs allow the children to experience for themselves what it was like to be a soldier in the Civil War by handling equipment, documents, and uniforms from the era (in a safe and age-appropriate manner, of course!)

While I was at the David Wills House, I picked selected a board book, The Story of Abraham Lincoln for my children’s souvenir. My children are ages 2-7 years old so it was right on their level of reading and understanding. It is available for purchase at the store or you can order it ahead of time to prepare your children for their visit to Gettysburg. My five year old nephew and I talked about Gettysburg in a simplified manner on the ride there and I think that it helped to pique his curiousity.

My evening in Gettysburg was just enough to whet my appetite for a return visit. While I am grateful for the brief time I had to walk the hallowed paths, I am eager to return to places of such historic significance. There is so much we can learn from our past and pass on to our children!

Have you been to Gettysburg?

What is your favorite historical place that you have visited?

What historical place is on your bucket list to visit?

The post What to see in Gettysburg if you only have a day! appeared first on KeepMovingForwardWithMe.

***Get your own tickets for Discovery Gateway for 37 percent off!

What my six year old hopes to be when she grows up is constantly evolving. One day Lily wants to work with horses, the next she is definitely going to be on TV, and the next she is going to be a doctor. How does one encourage such a curious child? Take her to Discovery Gateway Children’s Museum where she can spend an hour on the farm, practice being a TV anchor, and then run to the patio and become a doctor at the brand new Saving Lives exhibit, sponsored by Intermountain Healthcare.

Our family spent Saturday morning previewing the brand new exhibit that is the first of its kind! My children have always been fascinated by the Life Flight helicopter and they were so excited to see the child-sized Primary Children’s emergency department. The hands-on exhibit allows children to coordinate a Life Flight Launch in the Command Center, transport patients from the helicopter to Primary Children’s emergency department, and then join the surgical team to perform one of three surgeries via iPad apps.

Lily especially loved dressing up in doctor’s scrubs and taking x-rays of a patient. My two year old spent most of his time sitting at the front desk taking phone calls and pushing light-up buttons – doing his part to direct patients in the emergency department. Like any four-year-old boy, Cortland was on cloud nine pretending to fly the helicopter. As a mom, I loved how realistic it was and that my children could role play and become familiar with a hospital environment.

After checking out the new exhibit, we spent two more hours in the rest of the museum, including taking an art class at the new Studio 444. Lily and Cortland learned about screen printing and created their own screen-printed Life Flight helicopter on canvas. In my opinion, the classes offered at Discovery Gateway are a hidden gem and we always sign up for one at the front desk when we arrive. The classes are for children ages 18 months – 8 months and they are a great way to enrich your experience at the museum!

Discovery Gateway is located in the Gateway Mall at  444 West 100 South in downtown Salt Lake.

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I decided that my husband and I needed to try something new for our date nights … and maybe even actually take a date night. Typically we get stuck in the dinner and a movie rut. Father’s Day provided the perfect opportunity to surprise him. I arranged for a babysitter from 3:30-8:30 pm (a big things for me. I hate leaving my little people more than a few hours).

Clas Ropes Course in Provo had a Father’s Day special complete with four hours on the course, a BBQ with smores, and an optional canoe ride down the Provo River. I sprung for it all. Keep in mind – I had just run my first 5K earlier that day. I must have been feeling adventurous!

We arrived just a teensy bit late and they put us in a group with another couple and a Dad with his two preteen kids. The first few activities were typical leadership/bonding/problem solving activities. You know, the one where you both have a rope tied around your wrists and you have to figure out how to get untangled from each other without taking them off? I swear I have done it a dozen times at Girls Camp, but we still couldn’t figure it out. No worries, it was much more fun doing it with my husband!

For the next activity, we had to swing from one platform to the next. All of us. Without touching the ground. But first we had to figure out how to get the rope over to us. Johnny saved the day by sacrificing his shoes and using the laces/shoes to lasso the rope over to us. This is where the real fun began. I danced A LOT growing up, but typical sports were not my thing. I am missing whatever type of coordination I needed to be successful. Like the coordination needed to swing across an open space holding onto a rope.

I figured that I was an adult now, how hard could it be? So I grasped the rope, took a running leap, and landed right on my thigh not too far from the first platform. For my second attempt, I stood on my husband’s back (lucky man), and got a higher grip before I leapt across. I almost made it. In fact, the other guy in our group tried to pull me in, but I ended up pulling HIM in instead. Oops. Sorry random man. Our boy scoutish leader took pity on me and allowed me to stay on the platform. Whew!

Next, we had to figure out how to get our team members across a series of boards and stumps without touching the ground. It involved moving the boards around and was quite tricky!

My hubby is on the far right helping the little boy to safety.

And then came our favorite part! The part I was worried we would never get to because it took us so long to finish the bonding activities.

First we took a ride on this giant swing. You held on to a rope and your team mates hoisted you to the top. The hardest part was holding on until the very top. It was such a rush when you let go.

Next we went rock climbing. I am still attempting to figure out how people balance their feet on the itty bitty rocks.

And here we are are sitting and waiting for our turn to go down the zip line. Lucky for us, you get to climb to the top of the zip line pole. I saw lots of kiddos doing it and even a cute Grandma named Earlene doing it. It took Earlene awhile to get up there, but I figured if she could do it, so could I. So I scaled a wooden pole balancing my self on these much too small metal staples. But it was worth it because the zipline was lots of fun!

To conclude the evening, we canoed down the Provo River to Utah Lake. BEAUTIFUL! It was so relaxing and our arms definitely got a work out!

My honey on the dock.

All in all – a fantastic evening. What did I learn?
1. My kiddos will survive for an evening without me.
2. It’s good to try new things and step out of your comfort zone.
3. Anything is fun with my Johnny.
4. My body can do hard things.
5. It’s worth it to plan date nights!

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