Last summer, the National Building Museum in DC was the place to be with its Beach exhibit recreating the ocean with close to one million plastic balls. A giant ball pit for everyone – sign me up! We tried to visit while on vacation, but the wait was hours long and that doesn’t work when you have an impatient two-year-old. So we looked at the Beach from above, and played in the gift shop, and I didn’t really think about the exhibit again until I heard that Tampa’s Amelie Arena would be having its own Beach event, and it would be free to the public (just had to find available times on Ticketmaster or try for a walk-up spot).
Happily, the four of us headed to Channelside to frolic at the beach on one of Keith’s Mondays off. Since we had tickets for the first time slot of the day, we didn’t even wait in line (although Henry is much better with lines now, it’s always great when you don’t have to wait!) We ate our free ice cream, Keith put Elliot in the K’tan, and we ran for the water’s edge. Henry had a blast! He couldn’t stop jumping off the pier into the plastic balls; as soon as I lifted him out, he immediately jumped back in. After 30 minutes or so, I traded off with Keith and rested with the baby on pretty comfortable chairs (once I made it out – it was really difficult to climb out of them on my own.) I liked relaxing the best, but it was pretty fun to act like a kid again jumping off into the “water.”
