Good Stuff

We were walking through the Field Museum yesterday and every other exhibit heralded a remark from one of the boys on something they'd just read in Story of the World. "I just read about that!"

Justin had to stop walking near the jade exhibiti to explain to me the differences between the dynasties of China and how long each one was, etc... It took him over 10 minutes! I nearly cried.

When Evan finally got to see the Lions of Tsavo and explained to me why they were maneless, I smiled with pride.

We spent over 5 hours at the Field Museum and never even got to do my favorite sections on the Americas and Native Americans. THAT'S how long it takes for my kids to read every plaque, investigate every diorama, discuss every cool exhibit, and watch every interactive movie. I told the kids we'd have to go back again soon so that we could go through those sections. Justin remarked,

"Really? But I practically have the entire museum memorized!"

HA. If that truly were the case, I'd be sending him to college today. But it is somewhat true that he knows much of the museum's information. And THAT? That is why I love homeschooling. Having the chance to become familiar with the educational information at top-notch museum sounds like a pretty damn good way to learn, don't you think?

No title comes to mind...

What a day!

We spent the day at the Field Museum in Chicago. Despite the fact that I didn't realize I had left our lunch bag on the grass beside the driveway until I bent down to get it out of the car, we had a great time. Thank GOD I had $6 singles, a $2 bill and $5 in quarters. We were able to get McDonald's downstairs and drank the juice boxes we had in the Flex's refrigerator.

We were lucky enough to go on a beautiful and uncrowded free day. The kids had lots of questions about everything we saw. In the Ancient Americas section, a museum employee who had gone on excavations to the sites we were looking at was very informative. It was really cool to talk to someone who had helped to pull the artifacts from the Earth.

Justin watched and did just about every interactive show they had. His favorite sections were the Ice Age and DNA. Oh, and any of the gems and minerals they had scattered about the museum, of course.

Evan loved every single diorama we saw. We couldn't pass up a single one! Sadly, the interactive children's area with the "make your own diorama" didn't have the pieces out and available to play with! They were being WASHED. At 3 pm. On a FREE DAY. I was not impressed with this poor planning, but he got over his disappointment even though he had been talking about building his own set-up ALL DAY. :( I'd post a picture of him playing with the 1 figurine they had left (a German shepherd, of all things!) at the ready-made Native American site, but, well, the cameras were in my bag, on the grass, in front of my house. (Thank God for a good neighborhood, right?)

Corinne was most interested in annoying her brothers and getting in and out of the stroller. She succeeded in the first and was able to add "annoy Mommy" to the list.

And now? Now they're killing each other in the other room. I have tons of things to organize and clean and my voice is pretty shot from yelling across the house. Gotta jet.