President's Day Weekend

We spent the weekend mauling Theodore Roosevelt at the Museum of Natural History. For an entire year, the museum is celebrating his love of nature and his American conservation efforts. Check out more details here.

A bronzed Santa? 

See the cute children with mine in the top picture? My childhood BFF and her family came to visit us. Miss her love her. Growing up, our moms (also BFFs) took us on trips to museums (hello Dali!) on days off from school. Here we are doing the same for our children. I now know it was probably equally as fun for them as it was for us kids. Although I could do without the bathroom breaks!

More pictures of the gang after the jump . . .

Museum of Natural History: The Discovery Room, Our Favorite Place

The American Museum of Natural History can be packed during the summer months with camps, tourists, and locals. To escape the crowds, we sneak away to the Discovery Room. Best part for me: They limit the number of kids in the room. Sometimes we have to wait for an hour for the next session, but it's always worth it. Best part for my kids: Putting together a dinosaur skeleton. All the bones are organized in drawers and attached with magnets. It feels and looks so real! The perfect mix of learning and fun. Thanks for helping this time grandpa!

Field Trips Take 3

Every time I go on a field trip, I come back with renewed appreciation for my kid's teachers. Oh my, their job is demanding. I know field trips are more stressful and crazy than a normal classroom day, but still. Taking care of a huge group of students isn't easy even on the most mellow of days. It's a daily production!

Just the kid's untied shoe laces would be enough set me over the top. One time before we got on the bus, I looked down and found around 5 kids with shoe laces flapping in the wind. Down the line I went fixing every one's shoes. It's the small stuff that I'm amazed the teachers have the patience to keep up with.  I don't even want to get into actually teaching a kid how to read! Yikes. 

While I was on Owen's class trip to the Museum of Natural History's Butterfly Exhibit last week, I took some pictures. Much like this post, it in noway captures the essence of the field trip. But who cares. Look at their beautiful wings. It's so peaceful and lovely. Try not to imagine 35+ preschoolers and their crazy shenanigans happening in the background . . . 

And other field trips (with a positive spin!) here and here. 

Museum of Natural History Highlight: The Time Capsule

Time Capsules are so fascinating to me. Have you seen this one outside of Museum of Natural History? It's not going to be opened until January 1, 3000! Mind boggling. I found the list of things they put into it here. My favorites were: a wedding cake ornament, Weight Watchers Magazine, 51 photographs from the address 3 Times Square, and wild apple seeds from Kazakhstan. I was surprised they didn't put any clothes, shoes, or hats inside. Perhaps those items wouldn't last? Anyone know? I thought that was strange.

What would you put in your time capsule that wouldn't be opened for 5 years? 10 years? 20 years? Off the top of my head: My kids used crayons. My old shoes. A dress I used to wear everyday. My set of keys. A piece of my favorite wallpaper. Writing stories to each of the items would be my favorite part of the process.  Alone the set of keys would be boring but writing the keys into a scene from my life would be fun. I'll add more to my list in the comments section. Don't be surprised if I steal some of your ideas. And don't be surprised if I make a time capsule for a future Weekend Approved Project.

While taking these pictures, I kept having morbid thoughts of a huge earthquake sinking the time capsule and all of NYC into the depths of the earth. Or a huge bomb destroying it and everything surrounding it. Zombies. I needed to get my mind off of such stupid thoughts. Good thing I have Owen around to lighten the mood and shout, "Hey Mom, it looks like a girls wiener!".  Bravo Owen.

Natural History Museum

I've always been annoyed by parents who think everything their kids do is exceptional.  That being said: I think Oscar's dinosaur impression is legitimately funny. Did I just become that mom?  And I was also impressed by Owen's Telescope DIY. He insisted on viewing the museum through it. Again: Brilliant kid or psycho proud parent? Am I my own worst nightmare?  Give it to me straight. Anonymous comments are welcome!

All pictures by me at the Museum of Natural History. 

NYC is teaching my boys how to be science nerds

Today at the Museum of Natural History, the boys watched an instructional video on how to excavate dinosaur bones. After watching the video, they picked away at a pretend site. And then helped put together a dinosaur skeleton. The bones felt and looked real-- not some kiddie game. I'm not overselling it when I say it would be an 8 year old's dream. The bones were held together with magnets. It is found in the Discover Room.