Police Museum Downtown PHX

http://www.phoenixpolicemuseum.com

 A few months ago my family and I traveled vis the light rail and went downtown to explore. We found the Phoenix Police Museum. 

It is FREE and hours of operation are 9AM - 3PM, Monday thru Saturday, They are closed on all holidays.

Parking is available along Jefferson Street at the meters or in the City of Phoenix parking garage located at 305 West Washinton Street. Bring your parking ticket for validation. 

There are several displays for hands on exploring and lots of memorabilia to keep the parents entertained . 

Free Computer Classes at Microsoft Store and the Apple Store

Each summer Apple and Microsoft stores host FREE computer classes for kids.  The classes cover movie making to game coding so there is something for very one. Knowledge and a free t-shirt is always welcome for me! The staff are wonderful as teachers, and my daughter really enjoyed all the classes I signed her up for. These are great ways to get kids thinking about programming.

Aquarium of the Pacific

The Aquarium of the Pacific Tour

http://www.aquariumofpacific.org

I took my children to the aquarium in Long Beach, CA. Five acres of underwater beauty filled with all sorts of fish and underwater flora was a great way to spend an entire evening.

My son's favorite animal are penguins and they have quite a few! My daughter enjoyed all the pools that you could reach in and touch the creatures.

If you have a troop you can arrange a sleepover in the Shark Den! Check the website before you go, right now everyone gets in for $14.95 at 5pm and it closes at 8:30.

AMAZON Fulfillment Center Tour

Today I took my GS Troop to the AMAZON Fulfillment Center in West Phoenix. It was amazing!

For anyone who isn't familiar with the backstory, Jeff Bezos incorporated the company (as Cadabra) on July 5, 1994 and the site went online as Amazon.com in 1995. Bezos changed the name cadabra.com to amazon.com because it sounded too much like cadaver. Additionally, a name beginning with "A" was preferential due to the probability it would occur at the top of any list that was alphabetized. It is the world's largest online retailer and the fact that it started in a garage really is incredible.

This warehouse is 7th generation in design and was but in 2010. It is 28 football fields large and at one point in the tour you are able to look out over the warehouse and you immediately flash back to the last scene in "Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark" with the seemingly endless warehouse of government secrets. In 2014 - cyber Monday - 38.4 million items were ordered via AMAZON. The facility workers and IT personnel use bicycles with large baskets attached to travel thru the facility. The order fulfillment team members walk through the warehouse grabbing products to fill orders and walk an estimated 10 miles a day.

The tour starts with everyone receiving a headset. Some parts of the warehouse are very loud and this is great so you can hear everything the guide is telling you. The tour takes you on two of the three levels of the enormous warehouse. Near the end of the tour you get to meet one of the professional boxer who are able to transform a flat cardboard box into a "regular" box taped and sealed in the blink of an eye (obviously they get a lot of practice). After the demonstration you get to try it yourself. Next, they open up a fake semi-trailer and point to a huge pile of various sized boxes and test your ability to safely fill the trailer as fast and tightly as possible.

Tours are FREE and are open to everyone (but the waiting list is long). My husband was so upset at not being able to attend today that I am setting up another tour just for all my adult friends.

Address is 5050 West Mohave Street, Phoenix AZ

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amazon.com

Flagstaff EXTREME Adventure Course

Flagstaff Extreme Adventure Course

http://www.flagstaffextreme.com

My Girl Scout troop recently bridged to Cadette and so I wanted something exciting and challenging to begin this new level for us all. Flagstaff EXTREME is a high ropes course - this is an obstacle course that runs tree-to-tree suspended 15-60 ft up in the air. The training course teaches you to safely and how to correctly navigate a suspended obstacle course while wearing a safety harness. The kids course is a series of challenging rope and suspended obstacle course that is a few feet above the ground. The adult course is a little bit higher and has 5 different levels of difficulty and looks amazing. The girls in the troop are currently 11 years old so that kept us on the kids course. I'm pleased to say that my girls were challenged and tested that morning. Several of them went further than they ever thought they could which was thrilling for them. The members of entire troop were encouraging to individuals that were too scared to get very far at all. To see them rally around each other and succeed as a group was in itself worth the trip.

It is these trips, these moments, these experiences that make Girl Scouts such a wonderful organization and help the girls overcome fear and learn how they can accomplish amazing and "scary" things when they push themselves.

This is definitely a place I will bring my family in the near future for an adventurous day in nature. 

Richard M Nixon Presidential Library and Museum

A couple of weeks ago I took my children to California and we visited a Presidential museum/birthplace of Richard M Nixon. Nixon was a polarizing person, but this museum helps present the man who became President and seeing his humble beginnings helps put things in perspective for adults while providing a glimpse of the life of a former President to children unaware of Watergate.

Nixon's childhood home

Marine One (the President's Helicopter) 

To see the home he was born in was a fascinating look into how someone born into such humble circumstance was able to rise up to become the most powerful leader in the free world during the late 1960's and early 1970's. The tour takes you through his home and culminates in a replica of the Oval Office. This illustrates to children that anyone, no matter what the circumstances they were born into can work hard and achieve anything they want to in order to make a difference in the world. The tour includes many Nixon memorabilia from his youth, service in WWII, time as a US Congressman, his time as Vice President to Dwight D Eisenhower, onto his Presidency and his subsequent resignation and retirement. Presidents Ford, Reagan, G H W Bush, and Clinton each in their time were known to call Nixon and ask for advise on foreign affairs and the museum also highlights Nixon's "Ping-ping Diplomacy" where he was able to open up relations between China and the United States (and subsequently the rest of the Western world).

After Nixon's death President Bill Clinton eulogized Nixon by stating, "Today is a day for his family, his friends and his nation to remember President Nixon’s life in totality. To them, let us say, may the day of judging President Nixon on anything less than his entire life and career come to a close. May we heed his call to maintain the will and the wisdom to build on America’s greatest gift — its freedom; to lead a world full of difficulty to the just and lasting peace he dreamed of."

The tour can take anywhere from a half-hour to several hours (depending on what you want to see).  President Nixon's helicopter (Marine One) has been placed here and you are able to walk through it as well as see the Presidential limousines used by Nixon and Ford. My children learned quite a bit on this trip, as did I, about the 37th President of the United States. No matter what your political leanings, this is a fascinating tour.

Maricopa Teen Leadership Experience (MCLE) Program

For the second year my son (14 years old) is enrolled in the MCLE program. This is a free self-paced wonderful experience that gives kids opportunities they would not ordinarily have and highlights the many careers in local government.

So far this year has he done a ride a long with the city pool inspector, volunteered with teen court, and today was with the Maricopa County Sheriffs Office. The Special Response Team was awesome! Then the K-9 deputy came in and showed his dog in action. Finally a deputy with Animal Crimes division came and spoke before we loaded onto a bus and went down to the animal M.A.S.H unit.

I have also scheduled for a ride a long with the Sheriffs Dept. Children 14-16 years old must be accompanied by a parent. YAY!

This is a program I cannot say enough wonderful things about. Next year my daughter will be old enough to enroll and I am hoping so will some of her GS friends too.

Everyone at the MCSO was nice and provided an honest and exciting view into law enforcement.

http://myhsd.maricopa.gov/mcle.aspx