Museum by Moonlight.

If you read this blog with any regularity, you already know that I'm a giant child (and not just because I still eat cereal for dinner). I've been wanting to attend Museum by Moonlight, an adults-only fundraiser at the world-renowned Indianapolis Children's Museum, ever since I moved here. This year, I finally bit the bullet and bought the (expensive) tickets before they sold out and I can honestly say I'll try to go every year from now on.

The Children's Museum is rated one of the best in the country and it doesn't take long to figure out why. From 8:00 PM to midnight, we had free reign of all five floors...and that wasn't nearly enough time to explore. Throughout the night, we saw outer space from an international space station, flew to China, discovered Egyptian tombs, studied pop culture through the decades, and looked at dinosaur bones. My favorite regular exhibit was the Power of Children, which discussed the difficult subjects of the Holocaust, racism/segregation, and AIDS by telling the stories of Anne Frank, Ruby Bridges, and Ryan White, children who experienced them firsthand.

We rode a carousel, zoomed down the new Willy Wonka-inspired chocolate slide, and tried our hand at various circus acts, like tightrope walking and juggling. There was a silent disco in the dinosaur exhibit, so we spent quite a while grooving among the bones. There were DJs set up on every floor and lots of restaurants from the area were handing out free samples of delicious food, including Piada, Maggiano's, P.F. Chang's, and Jack's Donuts. Oh, Sub Zero was also there making multiple flavors of ice cream with blasts of nitrogen.

Characters from Ghostbusters and Star Wars were roaming around for pictures and I couldn't get over the amazing R2-D2 that was interacting with guests. An incredible breakdancing crew did several performances throughout the night and all of the local sports teams had booths with games and giveaways (I got a free Colts scarf!). Although we didn't have time to partake, Sun King Brewery was also there giving lessons on the brewing process. Speaking of drinks, there were bars set up on each floor. Our tickets came with two free drinks and soda and water were free all night. Heaven.

We closed the night with a Children's Museum tradition, a parade down all five floors led by the dinosaur mascot, Rex. Best of all, proceeds from the event went to the Children's Museum Fund, which helps children from lower-income families experience the museum. Any excuse to play with my partner-in-crime and perpetual man-child, right?

Until next year...