(
Announcing the return of The Children's Museum Blog Ambassadors—this time with a legendary twist! Throughout the year we'll hear from eight bloggers as they share about their family's time in the brand-new Riley Children's Health Sports Legends Experience® and how it inspires them to explore these sports back at home. We'll get to know four families during our "spring line-up," and another four families during our "fall line-up." But first, let's get to know our legendary team!
This post was written by Children's Museum Blog Ambassador Matt Todd. Follow his posts on the blog and follow him on Twitter and Instagram @mattdantodd.
When I was a child, I wanted to be a lion tamer.
And an astronaut.
And a paleontologist.
And a historian.
As you can see, I had a wide range of interests. That’s one of the reasons I love The Children’s Museum of Indianapolis. It’s within these friendly confines that my inner six-year-old can live out my childhood dreams and be all of these things, all within the same day.
I mean…
My kids can be all of those things. They can explore and live out their imaginations at The Children’s Museum, fleshing out their dreams in a safe, fun place. It really is a great place for all kids—including kids at heart (like me)!
I grew up in southwestern Indiana, back when Interstate 69 was considered merely a pipe dream for my fellow Southwestern Hoosiers. There wasn’t really a fast and easy way to get to Indianapolis. So I wasn’t fortunate enough to grow up with the greatest children’s museum in the world. I was a teenager when I first visited The Children’s Museum. And I fell in love with it. Later, when my wife and I had kids of our own, it should be no surprise that we started taking them to The Children’s Museum at a very young age, as frequently as we could.
That’s why I’m thrilled to partner with The Children’s Museum of Indianapolis as one of their Blog Ambassadors. Because I love The Children’s Museum! And I’m beyond excited that I get to share my family’s encounters with the new Riley Children’s Health Sports Legends Experience®! You see, our family loves sports. From basketball and soccer to football and baseball, we’re big fans of almost all things sports-related.
Don’t get me wrong. We aren’t experts (although, we do have a pretty good soccer player and cross country runner). That’s what makes the sports experience such a great concept. It gives us access to so many sports—even those we don’t know or aren’t very good at playing.
There are some areas of the sports experience that my kids are specifically looking forward to, however. As a longtime football player, Aiden (17) is particularly excited about the Indianapolis Colts Football Experience. He’s also looking forward to setting the nets on fire at the Indiana Pacers and Fever Basketball Experience. Weldu (17) hopes to continue to improve his footwork at the Subway Soccer Experience. Aly (15) has such an eye for photography, I can’t wait to see what beautiful photos she captures from the amazing views on The Children’s Museum Guild’s Fantasy Tree House of Sports. And our youngest, Mihret (10), is ready to burn some rubber on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Pedal Car Racetrack Experience.
My wife, Christy (yeah, right. Like I’m going to tell you how old she is), is also a big fan of many different sports—especially when it involves one of our kiddos. We’ve had many a date night on the sidelines of different athletic events. She’ll get to show off all of the tips and tricks she’s picked up along the way, too.
But that’s only the beginning. The Riley Children’s Health Sports Legends Experience® is huge. We’re going to run the whole gamut, from our favorite sports to the ones we really don’t know very much about—like hockey.
And I’m looking forward to sharing our family’s journey through the exhibit. But, I must say, as a Chewbacca fan, I sure hope they don’t figure out a way to include this display in the exhibit.
I hope y’all understand.
