Library

The library was closed for renovations. To me they were doing more than renovations. They literally tore it down to the bones and redid the entire inside. One of the biggest changes was their basement. I have no idea what it was used for originally, but now it is the home of the children's sections. We have driven past it many times and the kids have looked out the van window in awe and asking when it would be open.

We waited for a few weeks before planning a trip to the library. I wanted to wait for the hype to die down before braving what crowds we might encounter. Once that fair amount of time had passed, the kids and I decided that it was time to check it out.

When we got there, there were a fair amount of people, but I'm sure it wasn't nearly as crowed as it has been. When we walked in I didn't even recognize the place. We quickly learned that the new children's section was downstairs and could be accessed by the stairs of the door around on the South side. Since we were already in the building, we choose the stairs. When we got downstairs I was truly taken back.

When walking down the stairs you first encounter the "little" kids' computers. They had 16 different stations with all sorts of educational games available on them for kids to play. Then to either side of the stairs were game areas. Once side had a Lego table and the other side had the giant activity cube like you would see at a Doctor's office. Then to the left you found the adolescent section were they had tables, chairs, and booths filled with all sorts of board games. In that same area they had 2 giant table sized touch screens with all sorts of apps downloaded on them. They also had 4 computers that could be utilized for the internet along with a giant flat screen on the wall playing educational movies.

In the middle were all the shelves of games, movies, cd, and books that could be borrowed from the library. They also had another two touch screen tables at the South exit. To the East they had two large rooms where the classes and the summer activities were held. On the West side they had the play area. In that area they had an interactive digital wall, where kids could play the different games that appeared. It reminded me of a virtual reality type game. Not sure if that's what it was, but they kids had fun trying to figure it out. The rest of the play area had all sorts of toys; building blocks, doll house, cars, Duplo blocks, magnet toys, etc. They also had a really awesome floor that was filled with some kind of liquid that moved as you walked on it. It was the coolest floor I had ever seen. As the kids played I just swayed on one of the squares and watched the liquid move.

The kids and I were truly enjoying ourselves in the newly remodeled library. So much that almost 2 hours had past when I finally looked at my phone. I couldn't believe how much time had gone by. It surely didn't feel like 2 hours. So I told the kids it was time to go home. They all protested. I made them a deal, that if they cleaned up the toys they were playing with, we could go and find some books for them to check out. With that, they hurried and cleaned up so they could go find a book to borrow from the library.