Aleks, Bastian, and I got there for the planetarium show, but only made it about halfway through before they got too wiggly and noisy. It was our first shot. Maybe we'll try again in a few years. Seeing the stars and constellations was neat, but the lecture was not very fascinating or simple enough for the boys to understand. We really need to do one of those inflatable planetariums with a homeschooling group or something that's geared towards younger children. In fact, that's a good idea. Someone else should organize it.
Walking through the museum with new people was fun because they noticed things from their past visit that the boy sand I had never noticed. Having children pointing things out to children makes for far more interest than Mama trying to drag them into paying attention.
Since it was a tiny bit springy out and sunny, we went out to look at the animals (they're all rescued from injuries which is why they live there). First the littles climbed on the bear.
Then we walked around to all the animals. Ivy, Miranda, and their mom have all been going to the museum far longer than us and knew the names of the animals and a lot about them and where they came from. I think they've gone on guided tours there, which is how they learned it all. Something like that.We spent most of the rest of our time in the discovery center drawing pictures and putting together puzzles, as well as playing with all the other activities there. Donna and I were able to then sit and chat for awhile, which is always nice. Since they had to leave early for Taekwondo practice, we made a quick stop in the Brain Puzzler room, like our last visit, before heading out to climb on the Stegosaurus.
Aleks wore his new t-shirt from Shirt Woot. I ordered it before we left for Grandma's house, but it didn't arrive for more than a week. Aleks had been disappointed that it wasn't waiting for us when we got back. He immediately wanted to wear it when it arrived, so we did. The t-shirt design is aptly named "Dinosaurs who are Communist for Some Reason," which is exactly what it is.
He was very, very cool looking.
Ivy and Aleks riding the stegosaurus:
The spikes of Steggie's tale made for excellent hooks for abandoned coats.
The lighting was once again very nice for picture taking. I should always take photos in late afternoon light. It accentuates Aleks' cleft chin, casts it in deep shadow.
After our visit, we went to the bakery with a friend from Kentucky who is now attending a boarding school nearby. I'm going to try to utilize the energy of her classmates to provide volunteer forces for our Food Co-op and add some local alliances to help keep us around. The soaring cost of food and a recent two-year road project created some serious problems for us. It was nice to see her again and for the kids to get reintroduced. I can't believe it took me so long to get in touch though. Thank goodness for Facebook. Without it, I'd likely get nothing done. Wait. Scratch that. With it, I get next to nothing done.
3 comments:
I'll never forget taking Xander to his first planetarium show last year. He and his little buddy kept saying (loudly) things like, "It's time for us to go now." "Is there a bathroom here?" and "We should get up now." Granted, it was an ANCIENT one from the fifties, and the show did not involve much, a hand-cranked version...definitely not as cool as the one in Dayton that used to do the laser shows. xoxo
The planetarium is really up-to-date and nice, but my kids just don't want to look at a black ceiling of stars for half an hour, lol. Parts of it were cool and Aleks has been interested in constellations, but I think we need the sort of presentation where we can move around and talk out loud.
We're getting a brand new one here in Anchorage next year, connected to the big museum center. We'll see how it does. I'll just tell him it's like sitting in an x wing...
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