Kidzania!

Gina & I decided to let the kids play hookie and took them to Kidzania on Wednesday!  We invited Matthew to come with us to keep Stefan "company" and we just called it his birthday party!

Kidzania is this AMAZING place where the kids get to "work".  It is filled with various vocations, facilities, retail shops, entertainment, restaurants, factories, research facilities, etc.  It is all miniaturized, but the equipment is all fully functional and state of the art!  The sponsorship in this place is top notch!  Each place has their own uniform the kids don and they are taught how to do their chosen craft.

The kids can either earn or spend their Kidzos (Kidzania currency).  They open bank accounts and get ATM/debit cards.  They have to keep track of their balances in order to insure they have enough funds to support any spending they might like to do (soccer, ice-cream sunday, fill paint tubes, build multi-colored pens, etc.).  The key is to get them to work at Pizza-La, MosBurger, the ABC Cooking Studio, Morinaga or the like.  They get to eat their creation AND they get paid to do it!

Stefan has dreamed of working at the Coca-Cola bottling plant so he could have a Coke.  Happy Birthday!  Have a Coke & a Smile!!!  This was done after making a MosBurger and then followed up with a Birthday Cheesecake they got to decorate (and eat!).  And they got paid to do all this...

The glasses shop is very popular since you get to make your own sunglasses (even grind the lenses!) and take them home.

There was a considerable wait, so Gavin & Ian went to the Soccer Pavilion (only later did I see the recommended age was SIX!!!  Whoops!  They would have been declined if it was not OK - and there was no one else participating...).  They did some warm ups, kicks, got a little in-service on form AND got to be a soccer-star in a crowded stadium!  We were given sheets that show their stop-time kicking forms before and after their clinic.  And a video!

While they played soccer, Lindsey & Dougie set out to create paint sets.  And then again...  Dougie wants to collect all the metallic colors...  He has succeeded - more than once!

Ian & Gavin made Uniball pens - you get to pick out the three colors to put in your pen and assemble it.  Ian picked out orange, a slightly different shade of orange and... you guessed it...  GREEN! (ha - got you).  It is very "Catholic/Protestant" of him...

They all played a round of soccer while they waited (Gina & I went to eat lunch and missed their end-time.  They took the initiative to just go do another round of soccer!)

Stefan & Matthew were basically on their own all day.  I would scan the area and find them every now and again - usually at the ATM!  Putting them in tie-die shirts makes finding Waldo so much easier!  Regardless, I got very few pictures of them.  Here they started their shift on the Security/Rescue Team. They got to grind a key (that they got to keep), get harnessed and roped up, climb to the second story and unlock a door...  Really a dream come true!

For lunch, Dougie, Lindsey, Gavin & Ian went to the ABC Cooking Studio where they made some fancy onigiri (and got the "how to" sheet to take home).

They washed

They made their onigiri fancy - Ian had to think about it for a bit (and yes, those are knives they get to use!  Useable plastic ones so it cuts food, not fingers).

Ian decided he may as well use the knife - after all, they did give him one!  Once done, they have the kids clean up.  What great habits to teach!

After lunch, they went to put out some fires

They get their bunker gear on, load up the firetruck - two kids in the front get to announce and the kids in the back ring the bell.

Once they get to the burning building, they line up, grab their firehouses and

Put out the fire!  You can see how the fire changes as they hose the building down.

 Good job, crew!  On the way back, Lindsey and Dougie got to announce to make way...

We finished their day by going to the Morinaga Milk Shop to decorate cheesecakes.  We convinced them it was better than the ice cream because they got PAID to decorate the cheesecake and still got to eat the treat rather than PAY for decorating the ice cream...

They put on their uniforms and looked ready for a modeling audition.

The interactions on this bench alone says so much about these kids.

When the girl sitting next to Dougie realized his pose....

She moved over a couple of feet!

This is the most raw and candid photo of these four.  It is my favorite picture of the whole day.  Their expressions and body language say so much...  And it speaks volumes.  It was the end of the day - a decently long day.   And it was priceless!