... it sure seems that way.
Last Thursday the temps picked up into the near 40s. I awoke grumpy and with the conviction that we absolutely had to get out of the apartment. I thought that if we left by 9:30 or 10, we could hit a museum before it got crowded.
We left at 11, of course, which is hardly optimal. I had thought of walking to the aquarium, but once we were outside I just didn't feel like going that way. So with all my kids in tow, I left the known museum and the known directions and struck off in the opposite direction with a vague idea.
We walked up Michigan, and at the Trib building I found a map that showed us the way to Navy Pier. Okay, sure. So off we went. It was a shorter walk than the walk to the museum campus in the opposite direction. Once we arrived we went in the doors that said "Chicago Children's Museum" and found ... a mall. Yikes.
But malls have food courts, and that's where we headed first; four Happy Meals and a promise to myself that I wouldn't think about the nutritional implications. I found a gyro stand nearby, which I figure has slightly better nutritional implications, right? And they taste far better than Happy Meals.
At some point while I was buying said gyro, my two younger children suddenly stopped, and stared, glassy-eyed, across the building. And then they began yelling "Train! Train! I see the train! I wanna see the train! Train! Train!"
I turned.
It was a Thomas the Tank Engine store.
Doom.
So yes, we went in, and frankly, that was the highligh of the youngest children's whole year, I think. Whenever I mention "Children's Museum" now, Griffin says "train store." Ah, well.
It was probably 1:30 before I even found the entrance to the museum. There was so much to see and do and buy downstairs that I had to convince the kids that they did, in fact, want to go in to the museum. Oy.
But find it we did, and spent the next three hours wandering about. I couldn't even convince them to take a break to find some water. That never happens. My kids are always ready for a snack break. Not here. They climbed. They made paper bag puppets. They created water fountains (that accidentally sprayed the whole room). They made and tested flying machines. They dressed up like insects and chased each other. They excavated a suchomimus. They played chess.
Best moment: a couple of the kids discovered the toothbrushes they keep in the dino excavation area, meant of course to help unearth the bones in a delicate way. Griffin grabbed one. I said "You know what those are for, don't you?" He yelled "Yeah!" and ran off ... to the skull ... and brushed the dinosaur's teeth.
Boy, was I tired by the end of that day.
It was so close to dinner time that we invited Daddy to meet us there. We did the touist thing and ate at Bubba Gump's. Not bad. Took a taxi home, much to the kids' great delight.
On the following Saturday, we did it all again. Got up, walked over to Navy Pier, and this time walked along the Pier. This place must be a blast in the summer, although I'm sure it's terribly crowded. We walked the length of the pier outside, then went inside and back through. This gave us the good fortune of stumbling unexpectedly into a stained-glass exhibit, with several Tiffany pieces. It was gorgeous and the kids loved it too.
This time we bought the museum membership. I'm going to try to get us over there once a week, and to either the art museum or the aquarium once a week. The Children's Museum membership will also get us into the Museum of Science and Industry, which we'll do on weekends with Daddy. Whew.
And that brings me to homeschooling. I had decided that we'd revamp "the plan" to cut us down to basics, and leave everything else in favor of visiting museums. In practice, I feel like everything we do is "basic" except history and grammar, and Connor would never let us drop history. In reality, we'll keep doing everything we're doing, but we'll only school for three days a week.
Posted by Steph at February 23, 2004 09:15 PM