Technopolis
http://www.technopolis.be/nl/index.php
Technopolis is a science museum for children with hundreds of interactive experiments. I'm not sure who enjoyed it more: Elisabeth, Kate or Rich. Rich enjoyed the combination of science and technology and watching Elisabeth and Kate explore - he wants to return every weekend! There is a great room at the entrance with water play with damns and locks, fake plumbing, etc. For the younger kids there was a grocery store, pizza parlor, etc. Kate enjoyed making me pizza and bringing it to my table in a pizza to-go box. Technopolis is huge - we could have spent the whole day there and not experienced all of the exhibits.
Mechelen
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mechelen
Rather than eat at the cafe at Technopolis, we ventured into Mechelen and ate lunch at a local restaurant. Nice to explore historic Mechelen and the architecture.
Planckendael
http://www.planckendael.be/
After lunch the sky opened up and the sun peeked through the clouds. Rather than drive home to Brussels, we headed back to Planckendael in Leuven. Elisabeth brought along her sketch book and colored pencils to sketch the animals. First, she sketched a pelican. Next she sketched a peacock topiary in a garden, and finally a rhinoceros. We enjoyed resting on a bench while she sketched the animals. She tried to sketch Kate, but Kate wouldn't sit still long enough.
Planckendael is a family-friendly zoo. It is very flat terrain and very easy to navigate. There are playgrounds (with cafes for parents!) interspersed throughout the zoo. The playgrounds include trampolines, ponds with rafts and a pull line, traditional Native American tepees, petting zoos, tree houses, etc. Elisabeth enjoyed the pond and the raft. She pulled herself across it with the pull line a dozen times. Kate loves Pocahontas so she enjoyed the Native American village and the tepees. I think their favorite was having snack with the giraffes. We climbed to the second story of the giraffes "barn" and ate with the giraffes - they were so close!
One thing we did not do was take the boat from Mechelen to Planckendael. Apparently, if you park in Mechelen there is a boat that goes to Planckendael. We'll save it for next time....
