My then 7-month-old son, O.A. de la Portilla, photographed immediately above and having a great time in "The Sea and Me" gallery at the Miami Children's Museum - April 2013.

  Alright, this one's a no-brainer!  Out-of-towners with children in tow, particularly of the under-12 variety, have a place to go (at least to cover your needs for two to four hours)!  Certainly Miami is known as an adult destination, with its nightlife, haute cuisine, water sports and other "sinful" activities; but, for many parents traveling with the little ones, the Miami Children's Museum has now come to the rescue...!  

Well, actually, MCM (or "MiChiMu," as us locals affectionately refer to it as) has been around since 1983.  Originally in a mall in West Kendall (a southwest suburb of Miami), it has relocated several times until it found its state-of-the-art $25 million home on Watson Island on the MacArthur Causeway in 2003.  MCM will be celebrating its 10th anniversary in September.

The 56,000 square-foot facility boasts being among the largest of children's museums in the nation and the 14 exhibits, two playgrounds and onsite Subway sandwich shop definitely will not disappoint.

How can kids go wrong when they can be firefighters, police officers, construction workers, gantry operators at the port and recording studio engineers all within the first hour of being there?  All of those activities have a distinct Miami flavor attached to them, as well, as the exhibit props and pieces are all set with a Magic City theme.

There are volunteers and resident artists and staff conducting scheduled activities and special events regularly, so there's always something to do (even if your small companion is especially mopey the day you go).

I went accompanied by my seven-month-old son and his four-year-old sister and I expected them to enjoy it; but to adore it?

They did...

They didn't want to leave...

It was a full afternoon of entertainment and I can't say I was bored one bit, either.  The galleries are awfully nice and their Everglades-themed playground is a nice spot to switch gears to tire them out a little.  Of course, we ended the excitement at the Subway.

Beware of the gift shop, though.  There's toys in there that I even wanted for myself (and, I admit, I actually bought...)!  Thank goodness children under 12 are free!

I'm going to have to side with the kids on this one:

Mr Miami Rating: A

Trip Advisor: 4 out of 5

Yelp: 4 out of 5 stars

    Heck, I'll even throw in a gratuitous Kardashian sister's pic again for the fun of it.  After all, MiChiMu is so cool, the Kardashian gals couldn't stay away!