Getting Through Winter One Day at a Time

Our new place faces an enormous park, which Hazel can see from our windows, so naturally, we are there most every. single. day. Thank goodness we live somewhere with mild weather! How would I get through the winter otherwise?
Todd came with us to the park on Saturday, and we made a quick stop at the garage, where Hazel picked up this super sanitary morsel: the car wash sponge.
Hazel would not part with it. Occasionally, she would set it down on the ground and stand or sit on it, but she kept it in her clutches for ten or fifteen minutes. Funny girl.

I love this picture.
This week it has rained almost all day, every day, which puts quite an, ahem, damper on playing at the park. Hazel and I were both pretty restless by today, so I searched online for ideas and found an area jewel: the Palo Alto Junior Museum and Zoo.

It's small, interactive, and free. We spent about an hour and a half there today, and that was with just a quick walk through the little zoo while the rain took a short break. For a ten-minute drive, I couldn't have asked for a better find.

Hazel loved the stuffed animal cave:
which had some frighteningly realistic residents! I was creeped out by the raccoon claws and the furry tarantula, but Hazel adored the owl.

There were also several exhibits that used tennis balls, PVC pipe, and cranks. Hazel stayed at this one for a long time, putting balls in the tube over and over again, watching them fall into a big silver bowl.
Later on, she figured out how to climb into the bowl and put her head down at the end of the tube to watch other children's balls come through.

Any other rainy day ideas for a one-year-old?